Sophie Brzeska

Sophie Brzeska
Born	Zofia Brzeska near Kraków, Poland
Died	Barnwood, England
Nationality	Polish
Known for	Writing, Muse

Sophie Suzanne Brzeska or Sophie Gaudier-Brzeska (1873–1925) was a Polish writer and artistic muse most noted for being the companion of sculptor/artist Henri Gaudier-Brzeska (a man half her age). They met in 1909 at the Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève in Paris, and began an intense symbiotic relationship. Henri annexed her surname although they never married. Much of what scholars and historians have been able to trace about Sophie Brzeska has come from her personal correspondence with Henri. Long an admirer of Gaudier's work, the art collector and historian, H. S. Ede acquired her estate in 1927 from the British Treasury Solicitor. This acquisition included not only her writings, but also the estate of Henri Gaudier, with many of his works and papers. Ede drew extensively on the letters written by Gaudier to Sophie and her writings and other material when he published A Life of Gaudier-Brzeska (London: W. Heinemann) in 1930. The papers he used for this account are now in the archives of Cambridge University, Essex University and the Musée d’Orléans. Time Magazine called his book a "sympathetic but perfectly impersonal... biography." In 2008 Sophie's writings were finally published unexpurgated.

Early years

Sophie Brzeska was born near Kraków, Poland in 1873 to a family of eleven. She described her mother as "weary" and her father as "womanising", both of whom both believed she was a "burden needing to be married off." She resisted and fled Poland for Paris to become a writer. She accepted a succession of jobs as governess, one of which involved her living in the United States for several years. These ventures with other people's families left her contemplating suicide. In June 1910 Henri met Sophie, describing her in a letter to a friend as, "a Polish ex-governess twice his age."

Life with Henri Gaudier-Brzeska

Sophia was a companion and her relationship with Gaudier resembled a co-dependency, since both suffered from mental health issues and stress brought on by poverty. Henri was devoted to Sophie, even taking her last name as his, but Sophie was often dismissive and cold towards Henri's romantic overtures (according to Ede they either never had sex, only once or twice or rarely). They were often apart and Sophie would buy Henri prostitutes for his enjoyment instead of having sexual relations with him.

Writings

Sophie Brzeska referred constantly to her "work" and aspirations to be a published writer. She wrote a number of versions of her autobiography entitled ‘Matka’ but nothing in her own words was published until 2008. The book Matka and Other Writings (London: Mercury Graphics; includes some texts translated from French by Gillian Raffles) is from manuscript sheets which have lain forgotten and unpublished for over fifty years. One part of this group of papers is a version of ‘Matka’ and it includes her first meeting and her life with Henri Gaudier, and their adoption of the name Gaudier-Brzeska. It contains her account of what happened to her immediately after Henri Gaudier-Brzeska was killed at the Front in France in 1915 and graphically recounts her efforts and trials to arrange a memorial exhibition of his work, and gives a frank view of how she felt his friends, T. E. Hulme, Ezra Pound, Robert Bevan and others behaved towards her. Also included are later postcards and letters to the artist Nina Hamnett.

Sophie Brzeska wrote in both French and English and it is clear from the language and tempo of the writings that she was highly strung and emotional. When writing in English her spelling becomes progressively more chaotic as did her handwriting in both languages. The intention of the editor has been to keep these elements evident in the translation and transcription in order to be true to her character and escalating emotional intensity, and to hear her unique voice. Her ignoring of conventional punctuation has been retained for the same reason.

Death

Sophie died intestate in the Gloucestershire mental hospital at Barnwood in March 1925. She is often left out of accounts of Gaudier's life. Savage Messiah, Ken Russell's 1972 film, focuses on Sophie and Henri Gaudier's relationship giving them both an equal amount of importance in shaping each other's lives.

Sources

• Pound, Ezra, Gaudier-Brzeska: a Memoir. London: John Lane, 1916; rpt. New York: New Directions, 1970 ISBN 0-8112-0527-4 (a memoir of Pound's time with Gaudier-Brzeska, including letters and photos of sculpture)
• "We the Moderns": Gaudier-Brzeska and the Birth of Modern Sculpture. Cambridge: Kettle's Yard, 2007 ISBN 1-904561-22-5 (catalogue of an exhibition of the same name)

Further reading

• Ede, H. S. Savage Messiah: a biography of the sculptor Henri Gaudier-Brzeska; with new texts by Sebastiano Barassi, Evelyn Silber and Jon Wood. Leeds: Henry Moore Institute, 2011 ISBN 1-905462-34-4

External links

• Tate Collection
• Tate: TateShots: Gaudier-Brzeska's Sketchbook. 2011.
• Background to the film Savage Messiah
• Article on Henri Gaudier-Brzeska and Ken Russell's film