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Gertrude Stein
Portrait of Mabel Dodge at the Villa Curonia
Florence: privately printed
1912
Gertrude Stein and her brother
Leo were among the numerous writers, artists, and intellectuals whom
Mabel Dodge entertained at her home outside Florence in the years just
after the turn of the century. She had the literary portrait Stein made
of her privately printed and she distributed copies to friends. The
portrait, which begins with the famous line The days
are wonderful and the nights are wonderful and the life is pleasant,
was considered by many to be the linguistic equivalent to the Cubist
paintings of the period. Her telling inscription in this, Carl Van Vechtens
copy of the book, indicates that she felt implicated in the successes
and accomplishments of those who frequented her gatherings. Though Dodge
and Van Vechten had a volatile, on-again-off-again friendship, it was
she who introduced Van Vechten to Gertrude
Stein, who would become his lifelong friend. Carl Van Vechten,
in fact, was largely responsible for promoting Steins work in
the United States, including helping to have her opera, Four Saints
in Three Acts, produced in Hartford, Connecticut, and New York City.
In 1934, Mabel inscribed his copy of Portrait of Mabel Dodge at the
Villa Curonia: I gave you this in 1912 and the result is...Four
Saints...so life has continuity, hasnt it Carl? For
her part, Stein agreed, Life has continuity for Mabel and for
us all, she wrote, or it had.
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