designer editor singer translator author actress
She was born in Paris in 1889, daughter of Theron Clark Crawford, an American entrepreneur, and a highly trained amateur pianist. Her father"s professional projects (including work with Buffalo Bill Cody"s "Wild West Show") caused the family to reside in various European and American cities, but England was considered home.
Crawford"s circle of acquaintances in London included Ezra Pound, Ford Madox Ford, Violet Hunt, William Butler Yeats, and Doctorate. H. Lawrence. Crawford received training in voice, ballet, piano, and music theory, as well as French, German and Italian. During the next four years, until Fraser"s death in 1921, the two worked jointly on a number of theatre projects, including Louisiana Serva Padrona and "The Liar" (both of which Crawford translated), and Fraser"s long-running production of The Beggar"s Opera.
After Fraser"s death, Crawford promoted and protected his artistic legacy through exhibitions and publications.
She continued her own work in singing and in costume design, working with prominent music and theatre figures of the time, including composer Arthur Bliss, Sergei Diaghilev, and Nigel Playfair. Tamara Karsavina, the Russian ballerina, was a lifelong friend.
Crawford also worked in other design-related businesses. In 1923 she formed a firm with Norman Wilkinson and a Mr.
Trevelean that specialized in scenery and dress for the theatre, interior decoration for the home, hand printed fabrics, and "modern" clothing.
Her memoirs, In the Days of My Youth, was published in 1970.
