Natalie Barney was a
muse for her age.
A chance encounter with
Oscar Wilde when only six years old ( she would later have an affair with his niece
Dolly) helped change her outlook on life.
She
moved to Paris and in 1909 started her famed salon at Rue 20 Jacob, with its
Temple de l'Amitié (Fr.) sometimes called the
Sapphic centre of the Western World and which ran for 60 years.
This was where Ezra Pound
met Olga Rudge.
Although polyamorous Natalie had a 50 year relationship with
Romaine Brooks.
In 1927 she started an Académie des Femmes (Women's Academy) to honor women writers. The cast of females involved in
Natalie Barney’s Fridays is vast and includes: Sylvia Beach, Djuna Barnes, Mina Loy, Colette, Nancy Cunard, Janet Flanner, Radclyff Hall, Hadine Hwang, Zita Jungman, Marie Laurencin, Toupie Lowther, Liane de Pougy, Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Toklas, Renee Vivien, and Virginia Wolff.
Here are a
couple of brief interviews with her biographer; and
some photos.
In 2009 Dayton got around to
honoring her but by July 2010 the marker had been
vandalized.
posted by adamvasco
on Mar 27, 2011 -
13 comments
