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Pool Group


The Pool Group were a trio of interwar period artists, filmmakers and poets consisting of Hilda Doolittle, Kenneth Macpherson and Bryher (Annie Winifred Ellerman). Their work has been studied by poetry and film historians as well as by scholars of mysticism, feminism, psychoanalysis and LGBT history. They are perhaps best known for creating what is their only surviving film, the silent avant garde classic from 1930, Borderline featuring the African American activist and entertainer Paul Robeson in the lead role. They also published a progressive and opinionated film journal called, Close Up. The Pool Group were virtually forgotten for more than half a century after they broke up in the mid-1930s until the early 1980s when they were rediscovered by historians of 20th century arts and cinema

The Pool Group was launched in 1927, from Riant Chateau, Territet, Switzerland and consisted of Bryher, Kenneth Macpherson and Hilda Doolittle (better known by her initials, H.D.). Macpherson designed the Pool Group’s logo, which served as the cover of its catalog, showing concentric ripples in water.

Bryher's father was the shipowner and financier John Ellerman, who left her a very large inheritance which would eventually go towards funding many of Pool's projects. Bryher knew from an early age that she was lesbian. In 1918 she met and became involved in a lesbian relationship with Doolittle who was a poet. During the 1920s, Bryher was an unconventional figure in Paris. Among her circle of friends were Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, Gertrude Stein, Sylvia Beach and Berenice Abbott. Her wealth enabled her to give financial support to struggling writers, including Joyce and Edith Sitwell. She also helped with finance for the Paris bookshop Shakespeare and Company (started by Sylvia Beach) and certain publishing ventures. She also helped provide funds to purchase a flat in Paris for struggling artist Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven.


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