Alexandra Kitchin
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Alexandra 'Xie' Rhoda Kitchin (September 29 1864 – April 6 1925) was the favourite photographic subject of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll), who photographed her around fifty times, from age four until just before her sixteenth birthday. She was also a notable 'child-friend' of Dodgson. The works they made together, often in tableau form, are commonly known to collectors, curators, and the contemporary artists who are inspired by them as the 'Xie' (pronounced 'Ecksy' — a diminutive form of Alexandra) pictures.
She was the daughter of Rev. George William Kitchin (1827–1912), who was Dodgson's colleague at Christ Church, Oxford, and later became Dean of Winchester and Dean of Durham. Xie had three younger brothers: George Herbert, Hugh Bridges, and Brook Taylor, and a younger sister, Dorothy Maud Mary. All were featured in Dodgson's photographs.
She married Arthur Cardew on 17 April 1890. They had six children: Penelope (b. 1891), Christopher (b. 1894), Richard (1898–1918), Michael (1901–1983), Philip (b. 1903) and Arthur (b. 1906). The family resided at 4 North View, Wimbledon Common, London, until Xie's death. She is buried at Putney Vale Cemetery.
Unlike Alice Liddell and other Dodgson 'child-friends', Xie never published reminiscences of him.
Related work
- Represented in the work of photographer Polixeni Papapetrou, who uses modern children to re-enact Dodgson's portraits.
- Subject of the play Xie by Justin Sherin.
