The Sitwells and the Arts of the 1920s and 1930s: National Portrait Gallery, London

'Battle is in the curve of their nostrils', wrote Arnold Bennett of the Sitwells. 'They issue forth from their bright pavilions and demand trouble.' Poets, patrons of the arts and ardent self-publicists, the three siblings, Edith, Osbert and Sacheverell, rarely missed an opportunity to promote themselves or denounce their sworn enemy, the philistine.They were natural subjects, and targets for the media. Unconventional, aristocratic, physically imposing (all more than six feet tall), they were bold, talented and provocative, and there were three of them. This book celebrates their lives and their artistic crusade, which brought them into contact and conflict with many of the leading figures of the arts in the early part of this century. Gertrude Stein, T. S. Eliot, Dylan Thomas and Evelyn Waugh were among their friends; their favourite enemies included Wyndham Lewis, Noel Coward and D. H. Lawrence.