By Christine Snyder
This week’s featured artist in honor of Pride Month is Ethel Sands! Ethel was born in Rhode Island, but moved to England with her wealthy parents at a young age and eventually became a British citizen. In 1894, Ethel began studying art in Paris. This is where she met her lifelong partner of 64 years, Anna Hope Hudson. Anna was also American-born and traveled to Paris to study art. Not only were women often excluded from the art world during this point in history, but the couple also faced adversity as open lesbians in the early 1900s.
Ethel Sands had a love of helping people. She worked as both a nurse and a factory forewoman at a facility producing overalls worn in munition factories during WWI–all while becoming a successful artist. She and Anna even opened a hospital in France during this time. Ethel’s ambition and talent were so inspirational, that famous modernist author, Virginia Woolf, befriended and wrote about her.
Ethel enjoyed the social scene of London, while Anna preferred the quieter, French lifestyle. For this reason–and because they had the means–Ethel and Anna spent their time between England and France until Anna’s death in 1957. I’m inspired by their ability to compromise on a lifestyle that ensured mutual happiness. I’m honored to bring awareness to Ethel, her work as a nurse and important contributor to our country’s ally during the first world war, and her LGBTQ+ representation in art history.
Walter Richard Sickert, Portrait of Ethel Sands, 1913-1914
Anna Hope Hudson
Ethel Sands, Auppegard Church from the Chateau
Ethel Sands, Still Life with a View over a Cemetary
