Nancy Cunard
Nancy Cunard (1896-1965) was a multifaceted British poet, publisher, and political activist known for her vibrant contributions to the arts and social issues. Born into a wealthy family, she moved to Paris in 1920, where she adopted a bohemian lifestyle and engaged with influential figures in the avant-garde movement, including Louis Aragon and Henry Crowder. Cunard was not only celebrated for her beauty but also for her artistic talents, modeling for prominent artists and compiling significant literary works, such as the anthology *Wheels* and her long poem *Parallax*, published by Virginia Woolf.
In addition to her literary pursuits, Cunard was a trailblazer in addressing racial issues, exemplified by her encyclopedic work, *Negro: Anthology Made by Nancy Cunard*, and her journalism during the Abyssinian crisis and the Spanish Civil War. She played a crucial role in mobilizing intellectuals around political causes, notably in her pamphlet *Authors Take Sides on the Spanish War*. Despite her impactful career, Cunard's innovations and contributions have often been overlooked. She left a lasting legacy as a pioneer of modernist thought and advocacy, with her life reflecting a deep commitment to the arts and social justice.
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Subject Terms
Nancy Cunard
Writer
- Born: March 10, 1896
- Birthplace: Neville Holt, Leicestershire, England
- Died: March 17, 1965
- Place of death: Paris, France
Biography
Nancy Clara Cunard was born in 1896, the only daughter of Sir Bache Cunard, heir to the Cunard shipping fortune, and Maud Alice “Emerald” Burke, an American heiress. Some speculate the novelist George Moore was her natural father. Cunard attended boarding schools in London and Germany and a Paris finishing school. She had many avant-garde friends, including the poet and actress Iris Tree.
A political and social activist, Cunard moved to Paris in 1920. She embraced a bohemian lifestyle of drink, drugs, and sexual freedom, and her lovers included the French Surrealist Louis Aragon and the African American jazz musician Henry Crowder. She appeared in Vogue magazine with Aragon and was photographed by Man Ray in 1920. Noted for her beauty, she also modeled for several other famous painters and sculptors. Cunard spoke several languages and traveled extensively. She had a great passion for the visual and performing arts and later became an expert in African art. She married the Australian army officer Sydney Fairburn in 1916. They separated two years later and divorced in 1925.
Cunard engaged in literary pursuits her entire life and actively promoted the work of her contemporaries. From 1916 to 1921, she compiled the annual poetry anthology Wheels, which included work by such notables as Aldous Huxley. Seven of Cunard’s own poems appeared in the first volume. In 1925, Virginia Woolf published Parallax, Cunard’s five hundred-line poem inspired by T. S. Eliot’s poem The Waste Land. Many critics consider it Cunard’s best early work, although some discount it as derivative. Cunard operated the Hours Press from 1928 to 1931, and handprinted the work of important modernist poets such as Samuel Beckett and Ezra Pound. In 1934, she financed and created an encyclopedic compilation of photos and writings called Negro: Anthology Made by Nancy Cunard, 1931- 1933.
Cunard covered the Abyssinian (Ethiopian) crisis for the Associated Negro Press in 1935, and reported on race issues for a variety of newspapers over the next thirty years. During the Spanish Civil War, she worked as a journalist and translated the work of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. She also teamed with him to produce several antifascist pamphlets. For one of them, Authors Take Sides on the Spanish War,Cunard called on major British writers to answer the question, “Are you for, or against, the legal Government and the People of Republican Spain?” Their responses were printed in a special issue of the Left Review in 1937. The poetry Cunard wrote about her experiences in Spain appeared in 1938. She worked as a translator during World War II and later published several books, including memoirs about novelist and essayist Norman Douglas and novelist George Moore. Cunard died in a Paris hospital at age sixty-nine.
Cunard’s major achievements include her work as a poet, journalist, publisher, and political and social activist. With Authors Take Sides on the Spanish War, she harnessed the views of leading intellectuals and used them as a political tool. She has not, however, received due credit for her innovation.