Iris Tree

Born in London in 1897, Iris Tree was an English poet, actress, and artists’ model. She grew up in a theatrical family—her father was the actor-manager Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree—and became known for her wit, eccentric style, and place in avant-garde circles.

Alongside her poetry, she appeared on stage and in films, and she sat for major artists, including members of the Bloomsbury circle and Amedeo Modigliani. The Academy of American Poets notes that she published three poetry books, including The Traveler and Other Poems (1927), and that her work appeared in the early issues of Edith Sitwell’s Wheels.

Tree died in 1968, but she remains memorable not only for her poems but for the larger cultural world she seemed to embody: literary, theatrical, stylish, and delightfully unconventional.