Natalie Clifford Barney

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Portrait of Alice Pike Barney (1857–1931): Natalie Clifford Barney, 1896

Natalie Clifford Barney ( October 31, 1876 in Dayton , Ohio – February 2, 1972 in Paris , France ) was an American author and founder of a Literary Salon and known for her then courageous open lesbian relationships with the poet Renée Vivien , the dancer Liane de Pougy and the painter Romaine Brooks .

Live and act

Natalie Clifford Barney, c.1892

Natalie Clifford Barney was the eldest daughter of wealthy railroad owner Albert Clifford Barney (1855–1902) and his wife, the painter Alice Pike Barney (1857–1931). Her younger sister was Laura Clifford Barney (1879-1974), who later became a successful author and a follower of the Baha'i Faith. Along with her sister, she attended Les Ruches , a French girls' boarding school in Fontainebleau , run by Mademoiselle Marie Souvestre .

As an heiress to millions, she came to Paris in 1898, financially independent of Washington , and founded her salon on Rue Jacob . They met there regularly on Friday afternoons. She knew how to convey the social world of Proust and that of the Lost Generation . Many visitors came both to her salon and to that of Gertrude Stein , who had opened a salon in Paris in 1903, also coming from the United States. Barney's salon existed until 1968. In addition to promoting literary conversation and discussing theater projects, it also served as a self-portrayal for its more eccentric visitors.

Mata Hari , for example, announced that she wanted to ride a circus elephant to the next meeting and could only be persuaded with difficulty to content herself with a scantily clad performance with a circus horse. Barney himself was the model for a number of literary works, including Claudine s'en va (1903) by Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette .

primary literature

Works in French

  • Quelque's Portraits-Sonnets de Femmes (Paris: Ollendorf, 1900)
  • Cinq Petits Dialogues Grecs (Paris: La Plume, 1901; as "Tryphé")
  • Actes et entr'actes (Paris: Sansot, 1910)
  • Je me souviens (Paris: Sansot, 1910)
  • Eparpillements (Paris: Sansot, 1910)
  • Pensées d'une Amazone (Paris: Emile Paul, 1920)
  • Aventures de l'Esprit (Paris: Emile Paul, 1929)
  • Nouvelles Pensées de l'Amazone (Paris: Mercure de France, 1939)
  • Souvenirs Indiscrets (Paris: Flammarion, 1960)
  • Traits and Portraits (Paris: Mercure de France, 1963)

Works in English

  • Poems & Poèmes: Autres Alliances (Paris: Emile Paul, New York: Doran, 1920) - bilingual collection of poems
  • The One Who Is Legion (London: Eric Partridge, Ltd., 1930; Orono, Maine: National Poetry Foundation, 1987)

English translations

  • A Perilous Advantage: The Best of Natalie Clifford Barney (New Victoria Publishers, 1992); edited and translated by Anna Livia
  • Adventures of the Mind (New York University Press, 1992); translated by John Spalding Gatton

literature

  • Joan Schenkar : Truly Wilde : the unsettling story of Dolly Wilde, Oscar's unusual niece . New York, NY: Basic Books, 2000.
  • Alexandra Busch: Ladies of fashion: Djuna Barnes, Natalie Barney and Paris in the 1920s . Bielefeld: Haux, 1989, ISBN 3-925471-06-5 .

reception

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It found its way into the visual arts of the 20th century. The feminist artist Judy Chicago dedicated one of the 39 place settings at the table to her in her work The Dinner Party .

web links

Commons : Natalie Clifford Barney  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

itemizations

  1. ↑ Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art: The Dinner Party. Place Setting: Natalie Barney. Brooklyn Museum, April 13, 2007. Retrieved April 25, 2014 (English).
personal data
SURNAME Barney, Natalie Clifford
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American writer and founder of a literary salon
BIRTH DATE October 31, 1876
PLACE OF BIRTH Dayton, Ohio , United States
DATE OF DEATH February 2, 1972
PLACE OF DEATH Paris , France