swooninglysteenie

[swooninglysteenie]

Rare Alternate Photos These are rarely-seen photos from the same photo shoots of commonly-seen photos of Stephen Tennant. I haven't seen these online before, so I'm adding them here.

Here is the well-known photo of them dressed in jerseys. Beautiful models! Cecil Beaton on the left, Stephen on the right.

(Source: "Cecil Beaton At Home: An Interior Life" by Andrew Ginger) Here is an alternate photo. Wonderful that it tells us their jersey colors! All this time I thought they were the same. It's lovely to see Cecil and Stephen spending time together, experimenting with new photo ideas. * *

This familiar one of Stephen sick with tuberculosis at Haus Hirth (Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Bavaria) when his lungs began to worsen. This photo is seen tucked into Siegfried Sassoon's journal, I believe.

(Source: "Edith Olivier: from her Journals" by Penelope Middelboe) An alternate photo of a reclined close-up shot. You can really see his beautiful makeup and the lighter shade of grey for his blue-green eyes in this one. I can't imagine how he must have felt before receiving a pneumothorax (purposely collapsing each lung to allow it to rest to slow the growth of TB bacteria). To have it done weekly must have been a new level of torture for him, poor dear. He looks pensive yet resigned. * *

(Source: "Serious Pleasures" by Philip Hoare)

This photo I think most of us are familiar with if you've read Stephen's biography. I believe that this was taken during the same weekend that they played a cruel prank on vain & verbose Elinor Wylie at Stonehenge. Everyone is posed perfectly. Edith Olivier, snuggled up with Stephen with her hand daintily touching her fur collar, her elbow resting on Stephen's arm. Rex, standing away from everyone else, staring at Stephen. But, why?

Here is another image that I've discovered. Everyone is looking at Stephen, who is holding Edith's arm. It's possible that he's posing her, telling her to lean her chin against her hand to look casual. If that is the case, naturally I'd assume that he posed her for the first photo as well.

Since Rex disappeared, I'd assume that he's the one who took this premature photo? Cecil has traded places with Rex and could possibly be giving directions to him about how to use his camera which is why he looks so attentive. lol

If I'm not mistaken, all of these photos are by Cecil Beaton or with his camera. Not certain.

[swooninglysteenie]

I've just found a lot of info regarding Haus Hirth, the hideaway in the Bavarian landscape for Stephen Tennant, Siegfried Sassoon, Rex Whistler, and so many others who stayed. After reading about Walther and Johanna Hirth, I had questions.

Question: After the Bright Young Things gifted money to Walther for a new roof, does the little haus still exist today?

So, here is the odd thing about the "Serious Pleasures" book. It shows Rex's advertisement drawing from Haus Hirth and also a photo of a supposed "Haus Hirth", yet they look like two different houses with different roof types. A place currently called "Hotel Hirth" exists at Loisachstraße 59, 82491 Grainau, Germany, which matches Rex's drawing almost exactly. Down the street, a neighboring home at Loisachstraße 63, 82491 Grainau, Germany matches the photo that is shown in the book, including the stone porch and farm landscape in the foreground. They are two different houses. I'm going to trust Rex's drawing for this, since he was present. I'm not sure why Philip put in a photo of a house with a pyramidal roof and called it Haus Hirth when it doesn't match Rex's art at all.

Since the 20s, extensions have been built on in every direction. Hotel Hirth, is run by the Mullers (Muellers?) who seemed to carry on the tradition of being such welcoming people that all the reviews rave about being treated like family.

The Bright Young group would've spent £1 per night in 1928 which would be approx £80 today.

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Question: Did Johanna, who had contracted tuberculosis from Stephen, live long after Stephen and Sieg departed to a more private rental abode in the country?

On Ancestry, I managed to find Walther Hirth listed and it also lists his wife. Walther was born in 2 Apr 1881 - München, , Bayern, Germany, with no death date available. Johanna Preetorius lived a long life, from 1889 - 1977.

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Question: Why did Stephen specifically stop to stay in Bavaria or Switzerland as a recovery place before moving on to France or Italy?

Haus Hirth was labeled a "Tuberculosis spa" along with dozens of other TB spas that popped up in the high altitude, mountainous areas of Germany and Switzerland. This was due to Thomas Mann releasing the book "The Magic Mountain" (1924) which ushered in tons of TB treatment sanitoriums and spas. However, erroneously, the book thought that rich people couldn't get TB, labeling it a disease of the poor (who couldn't afford sanitoriums).

Back then, they knew that fresh air was mandatory which was why Stephen slept on every loggia and balcony available to him, being "rained on, and snowed on." In sanitoriums, patients would be placed in open-air solariums for this reason. They didn't know it was a bacterial air-born disease but they knew that fresh air helped. Stephen would sunbathe his body to become "plump and pink," which may sound odd to us. But for someone with TB, hoping to be chubbier and gain a normal flesh tone would be an indicator that his TB has become "latent" (dormant) in his lungs, because two signs of active TB are pale wan skin and looking emaciated. This would mean that he'd soon have enough energy to explore, shop, dance, and work on personal projects.

This subject of Stephen and his TB could be an entire post by itself, honestly. *

Further research: I'm going to leave various pages I've collected about this subject here. There are too many chapters about Haus and the Hirths in Stephen's book as they would visit them every year, so I won't post the pages here. But I have found a few other places. (sources: "Siegfried Sassoon" by Max Egremont. "Serious Pleasures" by Philip Hoare. "Travelers in the Third Reich" by Julia Boyd.)

If this is interesting to you all, I can delve into other interesting locations that Stephen and Sieg have visited in Serious Pleasures if you like. I never know if buildings capture your interest like they do mine. I enjoy seeing a place through their eyes and standing where they've stood. If the walls could talk, I'm sure they'd have so many funny, sad and salacious stories to tell. 😄

[swooninglysteenie]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO STEPHEN TENNANT! 🎂

Here is an art piece finished just in time for his birthday. He's wearing the "fashionable" ski hat and plus-fours (trousers) from his Paris trip with Rex! He said that he wore the hat over one eye, and I was curious of what that looked like, especially with the trousers. 😊

Photo of Stephen in South of France, 1927.

[swooninglysteenie]

What does Stephen Tennant sound like? We've all heard that it was bass, or baritone, "affected" or "ultra-refined" (Siegfried's words). I had trouble visualizing it in my head, especially when a deep voice is the last thing you'd expect from someone with such a youthful face. I was curious to know if anyone living or dead had a similar voice to his as a reference point.

So, I asked Hugo Vickers, Cecil Beaton's biographer, what Stephen Tennant's voice sounded like!

He responded: "How interesting. I remember Stephen's voice very well - surprisingly deep so yes very bass baritone - with a rather poetical intonation. You might be able to hear him as he was filmed a few times in old age - would he be on YouTube? Very hard to describe his voice. Maybe Stephen Fry a little close to it? I did once impersonate him on the telephone to a friend and took him in! Years ago." As a side note.. Ever since this discussion, I've been wanting to beg him to do his impression of Stephen, but I just couldn't gather the courage to ask. It's such an awkward thing to ask of someone, and it's been so long now since this discussion that it would be on the verge of ridiculous.

Hugo continued: "He appears in a 1984 Beaton film by Adam Low (The Beaton Image). Also Lord Pembroke filmed him." * RESEARCH

A broadcast article for The Beaton Image. I've traced it to a BBC/Radio Times archival site which claims that it is in their possession, but there is no way of accessing it.

These two recordings have been nearly impossible to find. Henry Herbert (Lord Pembroke) has an IMdB page, and in his Trivia area it states "Directed a film in which Stephen Tennant (famous, but reclusive, aesthete) was interviewed by Nicky Haslam (the designer). So far, this film has not been shown publicly." * HELP THE FANS

I feel that no one will show Stephen the same care and respect that Cecil Beaton has received with documentary films, surfaced videos, and photograph books. Philip Hoare's book "Serious Pleasures" has garnered a small following of devoted fans and we would love to see more content than what is currently available to us. Even Philip describes photos in his book that do not exist online or in books, which proves that more exists out there beyond what we have available to us. So many of them could rest in private collections.

If you're out there, and you have the ability to access either of these films, we would be forever grateful!

[swooninglysteenie]

Stephen wrote to his photographer friend, Cecil Beaton:

"Too beautiful," cried Stephen, as they proceeded to shoot rolls of film, he disavailing himself of his clothes to bare his torso for some more revealing exposures. "I'm nearly crazy at their beauty," he said when his prints came. "I just go on looking at them in a dream of bliss, the mackintosh looks so romantic & the positions are nearly all good, I think... About 7 or 8 are quite perfect, luscious & dazzling & melting & the bare shoulder ones are like sculpture, too beautiful for words! The one that looks down yet sideways takes my breath!" He sketched the shot, half-naked and posed like a Hollywood temptress, to illustrate his point. (quote from "Serious Pleasures" by Philip Hoare) Above is the sketch that Stephen made. I have yet to find this photo of Stephen that matches the art. However, below is a photo of Cecil Beaton in nearly the same pose! I can only assume that this is what Stephen would look like and how Cecil would pose him. I hope it surfaces one day.

[swooninglysteenie]

Hello Darlings!

I have been pouring over countless pages of Lascar lately. So many pages of Stephen writing in margins and between lines in smaller and smaller text until it becomes illegible in various colors of ink. Chapter 3 is very difficult to decipher due to that. However, some have been revised and some pages are even typed! In 1943, he said that he began to learn how to type, so finding typed pages was very exciting to see.

This is a single page from Chapter 5 entitled Manuel's Dream. I've transcribed it for you below. * * *

Manuel's dream.

Manuel dreams that he is climbing over the roofs of Marseilles under a canopy of stars - scaling gutters - sitting astride penthouses, looking down over that city of strange vitality - now comparatively quiet in the dead of night, -- of the second longest city in France, Paris, Marseilles, - then Lyons." he thought, contentedly setting for a rest near some chimney stacks.

Passing various lighted windows he eventually reaches Villa Persune. There he climbs into Mrs Neffus' bedroom where she is sitting with Hortense, writing a letter to him - she tells him Pierre is safe - he is somewhere in the Villa or on the beach or garden.

But he cannot find Pierre - he searches with the scared horror of dream haste - & at last find Pierre dead, lying on the beach - with tiny waves lapping his hair & little shells near his limp hands. Manuel carries him up to the house - & to Mrs Neffus - (The sea, the old enchantress.) "I've brought him back, you see, I promised I would." "But he is dead" said Manuel, in anguish, "He is drowned" - "Death is only a word." said Mrs Neffus, smiling her wonderful mad, tender smile; - he often sings to me from somewhere in the garden, you know what a fine voice Pierre has." - he sings that greek sailor's song he's so fond of. - - Like me, it's an old song." - Then Manuel woke - sweating - shivering - & in the morning he told Paul his dream. * * * Keep in mind while reading this that fictional Mrs Neffus has a magical quality about her, she's a fortuneteller and has magical abilities. Pierre has been an interesting character, he's not unlike Stephen in the small pieces that I've read. Mrs Neffus has called him a "beautiful young man" and had invited him to look at her garden at one point. So when learning of him having a dream-death of drowning like Percy Bysshe Shelley, holding seashells in his hand, I'm not at all surprised. lol It's very Stephen. I have yet to read much of this, but Manuel seems to fit the Siegfried Sassoon role, doesn't he? Stephen's savior. When Stephen and Siegfried separated during the battle of Nurse May vs Siegfried, Siegfried stayed in Ascona, Switzerland with Willie Walton and Imma for 10 weeks, and in that time, he would have similar nightmares of attempting to rescue Stephen from dangerous situations such as defending him from a lion which carried him away and similar nightmares. Sieg was always left feeling helpless and alone. It showed how he truly felt being so far away from Stephen while he was sick with a terrible flare-up of tuberculosis. Manuel's dream sort of mirrors that concept. I'm not saying it is proven to be connected in any way. It's simply from my own perspective that I see the similarity. Stephen began to write Lascar a few years after their relationship ended, but Stephen's mind is very good at retaining bits and bobs of information, even decades after they had happened. I'm curious if Sieg ever told Stephen about those nights.

=

This was in the top-corner of the page. He often writes cute poetic lines at the tops of pages or on the last page. This is in French and dog-eared pages do not help. "Never sommes les passengers parmis des choses passe"

This is as close as I can get, I think. The last word could be passe, passer or who knows. "We are never passengers among things that happen" ?

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What I find interesting is that he photo-copied several pages of The Clash, The Human League and other things, then he writes on the blank backs of them for each title page, shown below. There may be more, but these repeat throughout. Perhaps someone gave him these? Or he had to photo-copy an entire magazine of "Frozen Motion" to get photos that he wanted, so he was left with these? Whatever the reason, it shows a glimpse into the decade that he was still working on Lascar. 1977ish? Anyone know about this magazine? It could've even been from several mags I'd imagine.

Looking over his work, it does feel like it took Stephen a lifetime to create this story (1930s-1980s), and it would take me a lifetime to unravel it all and sort it all out. LOL But I will find more goodies and attempt to bring them here.

[swooninglysteenie]

Hello darlings! Birthday presents have arrived, a large stack of books all centered around Stephen and his social set. More is on the way! I will share with you what I glean from them as I comb through them all. "Edith Olivier From Her Journals" holds a wonderful reference of the cast of characters that you may find while reading any book about the Bright Young Things. Edith's notes are specific to her social set in Wiltshire that would involve Cecil Beaton, Stephen Tennant, Siegfried Sassoon and Rex Whistler. I must admit that her first impression of Hetty Sassoon made me laugh. I immediately wondered if Siegfried himself knew, or if she allowed him to stay oblivious to it. 🤭 More reading to be done!

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Lil birthday present I did for the amazing @swooninglysteenie 💙💙

[swooninglysteenie]

On my journey to understanding how to draw Stephen, the first thing that I did was trace over his face in various photos to learn his face and skeletal structure of his body (proportions). The second phase was figuring out his basic color palette as best as I could, considering there are no color photos to sample from except his photo with David Hockney in the 1970s. His hair turned white in his 20s and dyed it with henna and other shades later, so impossible to say. I stared for hours at various dark golden hair that would match and the blue-green eye color of every Tennant I could find, settling on Colin. This is as close as I believe I could get based on guessing alone. It's said that he had over 40 eye shadow palettes and used to dye his hair purple, so purple eye shadow is a possibility. Makeup is sampled from actual makeup from the time period. It was stated that he had crimson lipstick in "Serious Pleasures", which I made it slightly pink to possibly have someone misinterpret it as magenta. 😊 He seems to favor pinkish shades. I tried to replicate the gold dust in his hair to make it shine. I'll never know if I'm close to correct. LOL This started as a simple photo colorization project and ended as a full painting. I painted over everything except the background. The original photo was so blurry and pixelated, I couldn't let it stand the way it was.

[swooninglysteenie]

PHOTO CONNECTIONS Stephen's leopard print dress in Cap Ferrat, France.

Cecil seemed to love leopard-print dressing gowns. He’d take a dressing gown similar to this one with him to France when Stephen, Cecil, and Rex planned a photo shoot by the sea. Typical of Cecil, when inspiration strikes, he'd use what’s on-hand to create last-minute costumes. He took apart his dressing gown to fashion a dress for Stephen to wear.

The dress has a halter-top bodice which wraps around the neck and crosses over the chest in a figure 8 shape which originally appear to be the shoulder pieces that run between the neck and sleeve pulled opposite of each other and attached together at the back. The dress would have most-likely had an open back to allow Stephen to shimmy into it. The lower portion was designed as a high-low skirt which is cut short at the knees in front while the back portion is approx ankle-length, displaying Stephen's beautiful legs. There is something resting between his legs which I cannot figure out, whether it's part of the dress or something else that he had brought with him such as a butterfly net. The dress has a defined line at the waist (seen beneath his folded arms), which means it either had a belt or it was a separate top and skirt. Photo by Cecil Beaton.

Bonus content! Rex on the rocks, looking fabulous draped in nothing but a loin cloth made from a scarf-like length of fabric, it uses the same wrap technique. Photo by Cecil. It's a guess on my part that this is from the same photoshoot, it looks so similar. It's clear that they spend hours designing and creating a fun dress for Stephen and then just threw something on Rex. But it still works very well! When I'd heard that Stephen commissioned Charles James to create leopard-print pajamas for him, I wasn't surprised. He looks so good in it!

Nothing really scientific or validating here. I just really enjoy these photos, their creativity and the thought of them huddled in a hotel room giggling excitedly as they create it and Stephen giving a twirl in the finished product like a princess. That's only my head canon though. lol

[swooninglysteenie]

MULBERRY HOUSE IN LONDON

Stephen’s first attempt at interior design was his bedroom in Mulberry house, quite a large home owned by Pamela that they would use when needing to visit London or as a stopping point before heading to the train station for trips to Paris or Italy.

We know that Stephen’s room - the Silver Room - was by a street lamp, which are all still there today. A journalist who had come to write an article on his newly-designed bedroom was shocked that the lights were mostly turned off and he mostly used the light from the streetlamp below which shined onto the ceiling and silver walls.

It said his room was on the first floor, which is quite impossible as all the bedrooms are on the second and third floors. I have the floor plans.

Since Pamela owned the place, I’m assuming that the master bedroom belonged to her. I’d imagine Stephen would have the second-largest room, but it’s difficult to say. I would assume that they meant the second floor in Bedroom 2, down the hall from Mummie, which is the largest room that has a massive closet dividing the room and its own bathroom.

From the photos, you will see that his room has strange rectangular-shaped indents into the walls like this one, similar to Bedroom 2 where they’ve installed 2 cabinets or tables. Here is a photo of him standing at one of the indented areas, placing a curtained cabinet there, the top adorned with flowers. Behind him is a mirror-topped “occasional table” (a small table that isn’t frequently used) with a bird cage and flowers on it. The curtains on the walls seem to serve no purpose other than to add extra sparkle to the room. On the map above I’d say he’s standing where it says “5.97”

Colorized Black & White photo of how it might look.

His shiny silver bed with brocade sheets and blankets. Every sparkly metallic fabric he could find. The headboard looks to be covered in silver satin and sequins. The two posts of his bed seem to have lamps on top of them (the switch is hanging on the left post) with waterfalls of tinsel trim falling down from the lamp shades.

Note the birdcage like the photo above, sitting on a glass table. I think all of this is against the same wall, which would be the wall the TV is hanging on in the photo below.

Here is what I would imagine the format of his room to be:

If he’s in Bedroom 2, and if things are positioned the way I think they are based on photos, then this is how his room may have looked. Perhaps his friends' signatures that were written on the wall were placed in the gap between the curtains behind the bird cage? Not sure. Imagine a Sapphire blue ceiling like the flower vases and lights turned off, with only the lamp outside lighting it by reflecting onto the blue ceiling. It must have looked so magical with the silver foil walls and sparkly fabrics catching the light. The brochure for Mulberry House with its history: https://media.onthemarket.com/properties/1546884/doc_0_18.pdf Googling "sapphire blue and silver room", this is what it may have looked like. The walls would be shiny reflective silver, catching the light sources and dark objects in the room. Edith Olivier mentioned that he had gold and silver pillows.

His leather chair (velvet here) and reflective occasional table may have looked similar to this.

Source: https://artfasad.com/sophisticated-room-looks-using-sapphire-and-silver-color-schemes/

[swooninglysteenie]

I learn about form of face and body by drawing over the top of many photographs, committing the contours to memory. Here are several that I've done of Stephen Tennant so that I could freely draw him in my own poses after gaining an understanding of how he is built. I had to guess a bit on the body because it was clothed, but I could see legs and how the shirt hugged his chest and waistline. Tall people come in such a variety of torso and leg lengths, but Stephen seemed to be fairly evenly distributed. He is completely unique because tuberculosis had changed his form to become excruciatingly thin and very pale, so I had to keep that in mind.

I hope this helps you draw him if ever you need to. Pic 1: Photo by Cecil Beaton, 1927ish (first set he took) Pic 2-3: "home movie" footage taken in 1928 Pic 4: 1929 in Garmisch (perhaps taken by Siegfried? Unsure)

[swooninglysteenie]

Siegfried Sassoon about his wife and Stephen Tennant be like

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so lote by shola von reinhold is just a big fucking mood

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losing it over this quote about Stephen Tennant and Siegfried Sassoon’s relationship in 1927

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cecil beaton study

been looking through cecil beaton's photography today since im focusing on bright young things as part of one of my portfolio projects! soft faces and dramatic makeup are visually my favourites but technically my most challenging subjects LOLOLOL (more examples below)

also cleaned up the miles maitland profile from last night. figures i would have made a few questionable proportion choices seeing as i blasted through most my research last night 💔💔

ykw. at leasy im getting the hang of mouths. that is all i can really ask for.

[swooninglysteenie]

Miles Maitland and some real-life inspirations for his character.

The reference to “Miles Malpractice” and his Edwardian brougham suggests a nod toward Stephen Tennant, and Tennant made the identification himself. In fact, “Miles Malpractice” is a refinement of later editions. His original, cast aside after complaints, was “The Hon. Martin Gathorne-Brodie,” a composite of three notoriously flamboyant ornaments of the scene, Martin Wilson, Eddie Gathorne-Hardy and Paddy Brodie. Certainly Miles’s vocal style […] seems closest to Gathorne-Hardy. — D. J. Taylor, Bright Young Things