Simon, Edith (writer and artist) (1917-2003)
Dates
- Existence: 1917-2003 - 2003
Biography
Edith Simon was born on 18 May 1917 in Berlin, Germany, to Walter and Grete Simon. Educated at the Fürstin-Bismarck Gymnasium, she showed a talent for art and history, and enjoyed early success with the publication of her drawings whilst still only 10 years old. Her father Walter, a decorated Great War veteran and successful businessman, moved with his young family to London when Edith was just 15, as the political climate in Germany became increasingly threatening. Edith, alongside her younger sister Inge, arrived in the British capital in 1932.
Edith studied for a short time at both the Slade School of Fine Art and the Central School of Art and Design. She also became an early member of the Artists International Association (AIA), which formed in London in 1933.
Writing Career
Embarking on her professional writing career, Edith’s first book was a children’s adventure story which she wrote and illustrated, titled Somersaults and Strange Company, published by Lawrence & Wishart in 1937. She had also begun working at this time as a book jacket illustrator, demonstrating her signature style and draughtsmanship. In 1938, she translated Arthur Koestler’s The Gladiators into English, which was published a year later. Her first novel, The Chosen, was published in 1940 by John Lane, The Bodley Head, when Edith was still only 23.
She would go on to author 17 books, including contemporary novels, historical novels, and histories, as well as contributing to edited collections. Her published work includes:
Somersaults and Strange Company (Lawrence & Wishart 1937)
The Gladiators by Arthur Koestler, (UK Johnathan Cape 1939; US Macmillan - New York 1939) (translated by Edith Simon)
The Chosen (The Bodley Head 1940)
Biting the Blue Finger (The Bodley Head 1942)
Wings Deceive (The Bodley Head 1944)
The Other Passion (The Bodley Head 1948)
The Golden Hand (UK edition Cassell & Co. Ltd. 1952; US edition G.P. Putnam's Sons 1951)
The Past Masters (UK edition Cassell & Co. Ltd. 1953; US edition 'The House of Strangers', G.P. Putnam's Sons 1953)
The Twelve Pictures (UK edition Cassell & Co. Ltd. 1956; US edition G.P. Putnam's Sons 1955)
The Sable Coat (Cassell & Co. Ltd. 1958)
The Piebald Standard: A Biography of the Knights Templar (UK edition Cassell & Co. Ltd. 1959; US edition G.P. Putnam's Sons 1959)
The Undying Past, ed. Orville Prescott (Doubleday 1961) (contributor)
The Great Forgery (UK edition Cassell & Co. Ltd. 1962; US edition Little, Brown & Co. 1962)
The Making of Frederick the Great (UK edition Cassell & Co. Ltd. 1963; US editions Little, Brown & Co., reprint Greenan Press)
Friedrich Der Grosse, Das Weiden eines Königs (Rainer Wunderlich Verlag, Hermann Leins, Tubingen, 1963)
The Book of Books – A Treasury of Great Bible Fiction, eds. Irwin R Blacker & Ethel H Blacker (Holt, Reinhart & Winston NY, 1965) (contributor)
The Reformation (Time-Life 1966)
Die Reformation von Edith Simon und der Redaktion der Time-Life (Time-Life 1967)
The Saints (UK edition Weidenfeld & Nicolson 1968; US edition Delacorte Press 1968)
Luther Alive (UK edition Hodder & Stoughton 1968; US edition Doubleday 1968)
The Anglo-Saxon Manner (Cassell & Co. Ltd. 1972)
The Makers of Modern Thought (Horizon Books American Heritage Books – subsidiary of McGraw Hill 1972) (contributor)
‘Frederick II the Great of Prussia’ (Encyclopaedia Britannica 1974) (contributor)
In addition, Edith also wrote two plays ‘The Inimitable’ and ‘Love Me, Scum’, neither of which were ever performed, and she completed a film script entitled 'A Perfect Marriage'.
It was in London in 1942 that Edith met the noted scientist Dr. Eric Reeve, whom she married that same year. The couple moved to Edinburgh in 1947 to facilitate Eric’s new role with Edinburgh University’s Genetics Department. They lived first at Mortonhall House, alongside a team of geneticists also working at the University. They would subsequently move to Roseberry Crescent, and Lansdowne Crescent, before settling permanently in Grosvenor Crescent. They had three children, Antonia (b.1950), Simon (b.1952), and Jessica (b. 1954).
Art Career
Edith returned to her artistic practice in the early 1970s, participating in an early exhibition at the Demarco Gallery in Edinburgh in 1970, followed by her first one-woman show at Gallerie Balans in Amsterdam in 1971 where she presented mobile sculptures and her signature papercut bas relief paintings. Edith would go on to stage and appear in over 50 exhibitions throughout her career. She experimented with and explored many mediums and forms including continuous line drawings, papercut bas relief scalpel paintings, rope sculptures, mobile and soft sculptures, sculptures in stained wood, ciment-fondue, vacuum formed perspex, cast polyester resin, cold-cast bronze, copper, aluminium, metal sheet, and carved plaster. She also utilised painted glass, as well as undertaking murals in paint and wood veneer. For over thirty years, she exhibited annually at the Edinburgh Festival, with her final show being held in 2001. [A full list of exhibitions (1970-2003) is available on the Edith Simon Gallery website cited below.]
In 1995, Edith contracted a respiratory infection which revealed an existing condition, widely known as emphysema. This necessitated the use of daily oxygen for the remainder of her life. Edith Simon died in Edinburgh on 7 January 2003.
Biographical information has been taken from ‘Moderation be Damned: Edith Simon’, published by Antonia Reeve in 2005, alongside the artist’s biographical note on the Edith Simon Gallery website, available at edith-simon.com.
Found in 450 Collections and/or Records:
Papers concerning unrealised works, 1941-1972
Papers consist of typescripts, notebooks, some brief correspondence, and research material concerning books, plays and/or other projects which appear, as far as can be determined, not to have been realised.
Papers of Edith Simon concerning applications and proposed projects; and posthumous obituaries, bulk: 1975, 1983, 2003, undated
Papers regarding the luncheon to mark the publication of Winston Churchill’s first volume of 'A History of the English-Speaking Peoples', held at the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh, 1956
File contains a programme, a seating plan, invitations for Edith Simon, a logistics card, and a booklet on the Cassell Building.
Papers relating to ‘House Repairs’ at Edith Simon's Grosvenor Crescent residence, 1978-1983
File contains quotes and invoices from contractors; and brief correspondence with Edinburgh City Planning Department personnel.
Personal and professional correspondence of Edith Simon , 1930-2003
This series contains Edith Simon's personal and family correspondence alongside more professional communications with her literary agents, publishers, gallerists, and members of the public.
Personal and professional papers of Edith Simon
Photocopied pages from a visitors' book, possibly related to an exhibition or event held by Edith Simon, 1984
Originally part of the general correspondence file for 1984
Photograph album documenting Edith Simon exhibitions, 1979-1993
Photograph album documenting Edith Simon exhibitions, 1994-1999
Photograph album documenting Edith Simon's 'New Locations-New Departures' exhibition, 1995
Album contains colour photographs depicting sculptures, scalpel paintings, drawings, and other paintings in situ in an exhibition space identified as 'The Engine Shed', Edinburgh. Individual photographs do not include identifying details.
Photograph album of Edith Simon depicting rope sculptures, soft sculptures, furniture, continous line drawings, fibreglass sculptures, and one papercut bas relief scalpel painting, circa 1974
Inside front cover bears a label reading 'With the compliments of Blanche Marvin' of the Elspeth Cochrane Agency, London. A number of photographs are accompanied by titles and contextual details. Individual items have not been removed due to preservation concerns.
Photograph album of Edith Simon entitled 'Photographs (assorted) for Pictures', undated
Colour photographs depict flower displays, household objects and furniture, studio spaces, interiors, outdoor spaces, unidentified individuals at unspecified events, boats, and guinea pigs. Photographs do not contain contextual details.
Photograph album of Edith Simon entitled 'Soft Sculptures and Rope Sculptures', circa 1973
Photographs primarily depict rope sculptures including ['Horse']; 'The Crown of Thorns'; 'Creation'; and a number of untitled works. The artist herself is also at times depicted with the sculptures. The photographer has been noted on a number of items as Antonia Reeve. Album date has been inferred from the presence of an exhibition title in one photograph, The Edith Simon Adventure Show (1973).
Photographic material depicting art works and works-in-progress, 1979-2003
This sub-series consists of folders and albums of original and copy photographs documenting Edith Simon's art practice - showing completed works, works-in-progress, exhibitions, and other special occasions. Many of the later photographs were taken by Edith's daughter, the noted photographer Antonia Reeve.