Mabel Dodge Luhan
| Mabel Dodge Luhan | |
|---|---|
Portrait of Mabel Dodge Luhan by Carl Van Vechten, 1934.
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| Born |
Mabel Ganson February 26, 1879 |
| Died | August 13, 1962 (aged 83) Taos, New Mexico, Mabel Dodge Luhan House |
| Occupation | Patron of the arts; nationally syndicated columnist for the Hearst organization |
| Organization | Taos art colony, Armory Show |
| Spouse(s) | Karl Evans, Edwin Dodge, Maurice Sterne, Tony Luhan |
Mabel Evans Dodge Sterne Luhan (pronounced LOO-hahn), née Ganson (February 26, 1879 – August 13, 1962) was a wealthy American patron of the arts, who was particularly associated with the Taos art colony.
Mabel Ganson was the heiress of Charles Ganson, a wealthy banker from Buffalo, New York and his wife, Sarah Cook. Raised to charm and groomed to marry, she grew up among Buffalo’s social elite, raised in the company of her nursemaid. She attended Saint Margaret’s Episcopal School for girls until the age of sixteen, then went to school in New York City. In 1896, she toured Europe and attended the 'Chevy Chase' finishing school in Washington, D.C.
Her first marriage, in 1900 at the age of 21, was to Karl Evans, the son of a steamship owner. They were married in secret since Charles Ganson did not approve of Evans, and were later re-married in Trinity Church before Buffalo society. They had one son, but Karl died in a hunting accident two-and-a-half years later, leaving her a widow at 23. In the spring of 1904, an oval portrait of her in mourning dress was painted by the Swiss-born American artist Adolfo Müller-Ury for her paternal grandmother, Nancy Ganson of Delaware Avenue, Buffalo. Her family sent her to Paris after she began an affair with a prominent Buffalo gynecologist. In November, 1904, she married Edwin Dodge, a wealthy architect.
She was also actively bisexual in her early life and frankly detailed her physical encounters with women in her autobiography Intimate Memories (1933).
Between 1905 and 1912 the Dodges lived near Florence at her palatial Medici villa, the Villa Curonia in Arcetri where she entertained local artists, in addition to Gertrude Stein, her brother Leo, Alice B. Toklas, and other visitors from Paris, including André Gide. A troubled liaison with her chauffeur led to two suicide attempts: the first by eating figs containing shards of glass; the second with laudanum.
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