Circle of Christopher Wood

1901 - 1930

A key figure of British art between the Wars, Christopher "Kit" Wood was educated at Marlborough College studied medicine and architecture before being encouraged by Augustus John to pursue an artistic career, first studying at the Académie Julian in Paris, where he met Picasso, Cocteau and Diaghilev, then travelling in Europe and north Africa and producing set designs for Constant Lambert and the Ballets Russes. He joined the London Group and the Seven and Five Society, meeting Winifred Nicholson and discovering the work of Alfred Wallis, which had a strong influence on his development, particularly of his Cornish and Brittany subjects. A bisexual, Kit Wood met José Antonio Gandarillas Huici, a Chilean diplomat. and their relationship survived Kit's affairs with women, continuing until his death in 1930 when, after a psychotic episode, he jumped under a train at Salisbury Station.

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