The Fall of the Muse

In today's world, we read with interest and curiosity about the escapades of young, gorgeous, high-profile women. We elevate to celebrity those beautiful and talented but flawed women and then cast them down. We cluck and carry on about all the news space devoted to them and we treat all of it as recent phenomenon. Not so. Consider Evelyn Nesbit. (1884-1967)

Nesbit was an artist model and muse. By all accounts, she was an exceptionally beautiful young woman and the sole support of her family. She first came to notice as the model for Charles Dana Gibson's "Gibson Girl."

For 20 years the Gibson girl epitomized beauty and grace. From the late 19th to the early 20th century her image was merchandised on everything from cups and saucers to umbrella stands. Women strove for the "Gibson Girl" look.

Today, Nesbit would be a supermodel. She even commanded modeling fees equivalent to about $200/half day and $400/ full day.

Like today, all that came to an end for Nesbit at a young age. (She was 21) Her husband shot and killed the man who was her ex-lover. The newspapers ran sensationalized and often fictionalized stories
about her even though she had nothing to do with the murder. It would create much curiosity and interest in her - until the next scandal came along. (Think of the movie, "Chicago.)

What is it about our regard for women? We have many ill-behaved, naughty male actors and sports figures. Yet, once they get sober or stop the behavior, we accept them. Why isn't it the same for most women?

Nesbit said that her dead lover was lucky. He died in the middle of his career as a very successful architect while she lived the rest of her life remembered only for the sensational murder. As a biographer wrote of Nesbit, "Her celebrity lasted from ages 14 to 21 and her entire life was defined by that period."

Wizardry in Taos

If you peek behind the curtain of historically famous art and art movements, you'll discover a wizard. In most cases the wizard doesn't have any tangible art talent. What wizards do have is the ability to recognize and nurture the talents of others. Think Wizard of Oz. Think de Medicis. Think M.Durand-Ruel. (See Archives - Oct.,2010) Think Mabel Dodge Luhan. (1879-1962)

Born into a wealthy New York family, Luhan (nee Ganson) became prominent for her salons in New York and Europe. Wherever she was, she gathered together the artists, writers, politicians, eccentrics and radicals of all types. Her list of guests were the names that appeared on the pages of art and society during the early 1900s. However for such a Victorian woman, Luhan had a decidedly free-spirit streak. Luhan wanted to leave the strictures of the East. Her need for self expression led her to Santa Barbara and then to Taos, New Mexico.

None of her friends understood how such a well-bred sophisticated woman wanted to live in a remote dusty place such as Taos. Luhan loved the area and wrote about the sense of space and spirituality. In Taos, she met and married Tony Luhan, a Taos Pueblo man. Together, they expanded a small adobe house into a large compound.

Ms. Luhan invited her Eastern friends to come for a visit. Once again, she gathered together the avant-garde artists and thinkers of post-war America. It was under her influence that Georgia O' Keeffe decided to settle near Taos.

Many other artists accepted her invitation. Willa Cather, D. H. Lawrence, Ansel Adams, Thomas Wolfe, Carl Jung, Edna Ferber, Leopold Stowkowski and Greta Garbo represented only a small portion of the guests who stayed and felt the influence of Taos- thanks to Luhan.

Although Luhan died in 1962, her home - registered as a historic landmark - remains a retreat for creativity. If the experiences of a workshop, a need for artistic solitude or a desire to free the mind from clutter appeals to you, Luhan's wizardry is waiting.