Died 1967 | ||
Olivia Madeline Grace Mary Wyndham (30 November 1897 - 1967) was a British society photographer and a member of the 1920s socialite group known as the bright young things.
The daughter of Colonel Guy Percy Wyndham, C.B., M.V.O. (a member of the Souls, the group congregated at his parents' house, Clouds, in Wiltshire) and his wife Edwina Virginia Joanna, daughter of Rev. Frederick Fitzpatrick, Olivia Wyndham was the great-great granddaughter of the 3rd Earl of Egremont and great-granddaughter of the 1st Baron Leconfield, sister of millionaire (Guy) Richard 'Dick' (Charles) Wyndham, and a distant relative of Oscar Wilde. Having founded a studio with him- M Studio at Fitzroy Square- Wyndham held an exhibition with the American Curtis Moffat in June 1927. Regular subjects for Moffat and Wyndham were the Sitwells, Tallulah Bankhead and Cecil Beaton. Wyndham was stated to have been an inspiration to photographer Barbara Ker-Seymer, who took over Wyndham's studio when the latter went to America.
Having married the American Howland Spencer in 1930 (they divorced in 1931), she lived in a ménage à trois with Edna Lewis Thomas, a successful African-American actress, and her husband, Lloyd Thomas. In the 1930s, Wyndham was painted by the artist Joseph Delaney.
Her niece was the writer Joan Wyndham, and her half-brother was the journalist, editor and writer Francis Wyndham, literary executor to Jean Rhys.