Stella Bowen: Sisley Huddleston

Sisley Huddleston

Sisley Huddleston
drawn in Paris, c. 1925
pastel with pencil 51.2 x 34.2 cm
signed l.r., pencil “Stella Bowen”, not dated
inscribed l.c., pencil “Sisley Huddleston”
private collection

Sisley Huddleston (1883–1952) was an English writer who adopted France as his home. Posted to Paris during the First World War, Huddleston became an expert in French politics and history. He also found time to socialise with and write about the literary and artistic expatriates of Paris, including Ford and Bowen. In fact, he was so often to be found at the famous English-language bookshop, “Shakespeare and Co.” that he was dubbed “Mr Shakespeare”.

Huddleston was ambivalent about the social and political changes he witnessed in his beloved France after the First World War and came to sympathise with the emerging right wing movements of the 1930s. During the German occupation he remained in France and was a vocal supporter of the collaborationist Vichy Government, leading to his imprisonment after the Allied liberation. However, always a journalist, Huddleston continued to write throughout his public rise and fall.

 

Paintings

 

 

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