Biography draft:<\/p>\n
Mabel Dodge, dressed in velvet or silk clothes that reflected her mood of the day, hosted a salon of Anglo-American writers at Villa Curonia in Arcetri, just outside of Florence. Mina Loy saw Mabel as regal: being in Mabel\u2019s presence felt like being in the presence of a duchess (Burke 120). Mabel saw herself as a queen\u2014Villa Curonia, which formerly belonged to a physician of the Medici family, was well suited to her (Mabel Dodge Luhan <\/em>33). Mabel curated herself by collecting decorations for her villa, where each room illustrated a facet of her personality, and by collecting artists to have as her guests (Burke 121, Mabel Dodge Luhan <\/em>35). From 1905 to 1912, Mabel filled Villa Curonia with art, its artists, and their gossip.<\/p>\n Mina Loy met Mabel in Florence, at Villa Curonia, when Mina arrived in 1910. Early in their friendship, Mina felt comfortable around Mabel and began to confide in her\u2014about her then-husband Stephen Haweis and their troubled marriage, and about her affairs with F.T. Marinetti and Giovanni Papini (Burke 120, 175). But Mabel also spoke to Stephen Haweis about his marriage to Mina and his infidelity (122). Mabel collected gossip while remaining close to all parties, turning herself into the centerpiece of Anglo-American society in Florence. And Mabel was the centerpiece of Mina\u2019s life in Florence, a liaison between Mina and all the other American artists in Florence at the time (120). Through Mabel, Mina met Gertrude Stein, an influence on Mina\u2019s growth as a poet, and Margaret Sanger, an influence on Mina\u2019s growth as a feminist (179).<\/p>\n Mabel, too, exchanged letters with Mina as she developed her feminism. In their letters, which often discussed matters more personal than artistic, Mabel and Mina took small breaks from discussing their personal lives by discussing Mina\u2019s work. In 1914, Mina, still in Florence, sent a manuscript of her \u201cFeminist Manifesto\u201d to Mabel, who had moved back to New York. Though Mina\u2019s manifesto is certain and violent\u2014including like \u201cwrench\u201d underlined, bolded, and enlarged\u2014to Mabel she is more timid. She writes in the margins of the first page to make sure Mabel knows she is reading a \u201cfirst draught\u201d and even backs down from some of the manifesto\u2019s striking claims: \u201cof course it\u2019s easily fallacious\u201d (Loy and Dodge Luhan). Loy nervously presented \u201cFeminist Manifesto\u201d to Mabel in a gesture of artistic confiding. And Mabel admired Mina\u2019s work behind her back; in a letter to Gertrude Stein in 1914, Mabel praises Mina\u2019s newly published \u201cAphorisms on Futurism\u201d (Dodge and Stein 228). But Mabel, who could have supported herself financially\u2014as the New Woman of the era sought to\u2014but who chose to rely on men due to a belief that her romantic relationships formed a large part of her identity, seems like an unlikely recipient of Loy\u2019s manuscript, and an unlikely supporter of her work (\u201cThe Male-Indentified Woman\u201d 125).<\/p>\n Mabel was born in Buffalo, New York in 1879 to a Victorian, stoic, and emotionally reserved family\u2014this upbringing provided her with an interest in American art, which she sought as an escape from the static life her parents gave her, and with a traditional coming-out as a debutante, which instilled in her the value of finding a husband (Mabel Dodge Luhan <\/em>19, 22). Mabel contradicted herself, and embodied a<\/em> New Woman of her own sort, rather than the<\/em> New Woman.<\/p>\n Mabel embodied the New Woman through her support of women\u2019s sexual freedom, but she created her celebrity in the unorthodox manner of entertaining and inspiring writers, and becoming a central figure to literary life. She was \u201cfamous for being famous,\u201d and in this sense, does not represent the archetypal New Woman (Barolini 131). And although Mabel wrote her own memoirs in the 1930s, long after the height of the Villa Curonia salon, she may be better known for her appearance in Gertrude Stein\u2019s poem, Portrait of Mabel Dodge at Villa Curonia<\/em>. Mabel delighted in seeing her name in the title of a Gertrude Stein poem (147).<\/p>\n Mabel\u2019s identities as a socialite, who mastered the art of salon hosting, and as a literary muse and guide are inextricable in her relationship to Mina Loy. Mina turned to Mabel in confidence for both personal and artistic advice. Mabel helped Mina navigate and become prominent in the Anglo-American art scene in Florence, but Mabel made her own name by being able to act as such a liaison for Mina, and for others. Mabel costumed herself\u2014often in white silk, as Alice Toklas remembers her\u2014and made her name as a collector of art and of people (Barolini 145).<\/p>\n Bio Template:<\/p>\n Name<\/em><\/strong>:<\/strong> Mabel Dodge Luhan (Mabel Dodge in Florence, when Mina Loy met her)<\/p>\n Date of Birth<\/em><\/strong>:<\/strong> February 26, 1879<\/p>\n Place of Birth<\/em><\/strong>:<\/strong> Buffalo, NY<\/p>\n Date of Death<\/em><\/strong>:<\/strong> August 13, 1962<\/p>\n Place of Death<\/em><\/strong>:<\/strong> Taos, NM<\/p>\n Country of origin, citizenship<\/em><\/strong>:<\/strong> America\/American<\/p>\n Gender<\/em><\/strong>:<\/strong> Female<\/p>\n Race<\/em><\/strong>:<\/strong> White<\/p>\n Kind of artist\/cultural worker<\/em><\/strong>:<\/strong> Salon hostess and memoirist<\/p>\n Addresses in Florence and New York<\/em><\/strong>:<\/strong> Villa Curonia, Arcetri, Italy; 23 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY<\/p>\n Dates and places of overlap with Loy<\/em><\/strong>:<\/strong> Florence, 1910-1912 at Villa Curonia; New York, 1916-1917 at 23 Fifth Avenue; letter correspondence<\/p>\n Avant-garde movements Dodge was associated with<\/em><\/strong>:<\/strong> Futurism via Loy, involved with the Armory Show in 1913<\/p>\n Brief summary of the figure\u2019s biographical\/historical significance<\/em><\/strong>: <\/strong> Mabel Dodge, with her husband Edwin, hosted a salon at Villa Curonia in Arcetri, just outside of Florence. While the Dodges never rose to social prominence among the Florentines, Mabel placed herself at the center of Anglo-American society in Florence from 1905-1912. At her salon, Mabel talked to writers about their art and about their personal lives\u2014Mina Loy sent her the manuscript of \u201cFeminist Manifesto\u201d in 1914, Mabel and Mina also discussed Mina\u2019s marriage to Stephen Haweis. Mabel also talked to Haweis himself about his and Mina\u2019s marriage; she sided with no one in particular, keeping all parties close. Mabel therefore occupied the center of the worlds of art and gossip in Anglo-American Florentine society. Mabel was a muse to the artists she hosted, often inspiring and appearing in their work. She also published a four-volume memoir in the 1930s, which explicate her life as well as her experience of Native American culture, while living in New Mexico.<\/p>\n Brief summary of the figure\u2019s relationship to Loy<\/em>:\u00a0<\/strong>Mabel was both an artistic and personal confidante to Mina Loy. The two met at Villa Curonia in Florence, and Mina became a regular attendee of Mabel\u2019s salon. Mina tentatively sent her manuscript of \u201cFeminist Manifesto\u201d to Mabel, with notes at the top calling the writing a \u201crough draught\u201d and backing down from the manifesto\u2019s strong claims: \u201cof course it\u2019s easily fallacious.\u201d Mabel was an artistic muse to whom Mina felt close: the two also discussed Mina\u2019s troubled marriage to Stephen Haweis as well as her affairs with Marinetti and Papini. And Mabel was not excluded from Mina\u2019s group of friends from whom she often solicited money.<\/p>\n What was the nature of their overlap or connection? Was it social, literary, artistic? Were they involved in collaborative ventures (publications, exhibitions, performances, readings)?<\/em><\/strong>:\u00a0<\/strong>Though Mabel and Mina met at Mabel\u2019s salon while the two both lived in Florence, their overlap was mainly through letter correspondence. Their connection was social as well as literary\u2014Mina sent her manuscript of \u201cFeminist Manifesto\u201d to Mabel before it was published, looking for advice and comments. Their relationship was also intellectual; Mabel was a friend of Margaret Sanger, and introduced Sanger\u2019s ideas to Mina. These ideas may have informed Mina\u2019s feminism. Mabel and Mina\u2019s connection was not collaborative; they never published or exhibited any art together. Their overlap was mainly social, with interspersions of artistic discussion along the way.<\/p>\n What other artists or writers did the figure come into contact with?<\/em><\/strong>:<\/strong> D.H. Lawrence, Leo Stein, Gertrude Stein, Alice Toklas, Carl Van Vechten, John Reed, Margaret Sanger, H.G. Wells, Isadora Duncan, Gordon Craig, Max Eastman, Maurice Sterne<\/p>\n Bibliography\u2014Works Cited or Consulted<\/em><\/strong>:<\/strong><\/p>\n Barolini, Helen. \u201cMabel Dodge Luhan: In Search of a Personal South.\u201d\u00a0Their Other Side: Six American Women and the Lure of Italy<\/em>. New York: Fordham University Press, 2006. 129\u2013175. Web.<\/p>\n Burke, Carolyn.\u00a0Becoming Modern: The Life of Mina Loy<\/em>. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1996. Print.<\/p>\n Loy, Mina, and Mabel Dodge Luhan. Feminist Manifesto. 15 Nov. 1914. Letter. Web. <http:\/\/brbl-dl.library.yale.edu\/vufind\/Record\/3483102>.<\/p>\n Luhan, Mabel Dodge, Gertrude Stein, and Patricia R. Everett.\u00a0A History of Having Many Times Not Continued to Be Friends<\/em>\u202f<\/em>: The Correspondence Between Mabel Dodge and Gertrude Stein, 1911-1934<\/em>. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996. Web.<\/p>\n Rudnick, Lois Palken.\u00a0Mabel Dodge Luhan: New Woman, New Worlds<\/em>. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1984. Print.<\/p>\n —. \u201cThe Male-Identified Woman and Other Anxieties: The Life of Mabel Dodge Luhan.\u201d\u00a0The Challenge of Feminist Biography<\/em>. Ed. Sara Alpern. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1992. 116\u2013138. Print.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Biography draft: Mabel Dodge, dressed in velvet or silk clothes that reflected her mood of the day, hosted a salon of Anglo-American writers at Villa Curonia in Arcetri, just outside of Florence. Mina Loy saw Mabel as regal:… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":118,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bio-draft1"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.suzannechurchill.com\/eng394-f17\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.suzannechurchill.com\/eng394-f17\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.suzannechurchill.com\/eng394-f17\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.suzannechurchill.com\/eng394-f17\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/118"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.suzannechurchill.com\/eng394-f17\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3136"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/courses.suzannechurchill.com\/eng394-f17\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3136\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3138,"href":"https:\/\/courses.suzannechurchill.com\/eng394-f17\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3136\/revisions\/3138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.suzannechurchill.com\/eng394-f17\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.suzannechurchill.com\/eng394-f17\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.suzannechurchill.com\/eng394-f17\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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