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Natalie Clifford Barney

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Natalie Clifford Barney [link] (31 October 1876 – 2 February 1972) was an American expatriate who lived, wrote, and hosted a famous salon at 20 Rue Jacob in Paris at the turn of the 20th century. She was a poet, memoirist and epigrammatist, but believed her life was her true work of art. Barney was publicly a lesbian, and worked to revive a literary history for women. She was especially interested in the poems of Sappho and tried to recreate a school of women poets like the one that Sappho had on Mytilene. Barney was also infamous for her many conquests in love, including poet Renee Vivien, dancer Liane de Pougy and painter Romaine Brooks.

Contents

Writing

Her literary career began as a result of her friendship with poet Rémy de Gourmont, who gave her the nickname "The Amazon." Barney wrote almost exclusively in French. Most of her plays and poetry collections have never been translated, and are still only available in French.

In the early 20th century she moved to Paris. Her lesbianism was made clear to her family in the Quelques portraits, sonnets de femmes, which she published in Paris in 1900. Her father was so upset by the publication of this lesbian-themed work that he bought up all the copies he could lay his hands on, together with the printing plates. Her lesbian relationship with the bisexual courtesan Liane de Pougy was described in the novel Idylle saphique. [link]

Lovers, relationships

It was well known that Barney was lesbian, which was common in the literary and artistic circles of the day. Often described as being an appealing and extremely attractive woman, with an educated air about her, she had affairs with a number of the female celebrities of the day, many of whom describe her as being charming and almost irresistible [link]. These included writer and performer Colette,[link] courtesan Liane de Pougy [link], writer Edna St. Vincent Millay and novelist Djuna Barnes. She and Barnes would become lifelong friends, and their romantic relationship spanned many years, off and on. Barney was involved briefly around 1917 with Sylvia Beach, who co-founded the bookshop Shakespeare and Company with Adrienne Monnier, whom she met through Barney and who would become Beach's lifelong lesbian partner.

She was also involved for quite some time with writer Nancy Cunard, [link] and had a lengthy affair with Dolly Wilde (daughter of Oscar Wildes brother, Willie Wilde). Other than her affair with Romaine Brooks, this was Barney's longest lasting affair. [link] She and dancer Isadora Duncan certainly knew one another and were friends socially, but it has never been completely confirmed as to whether they were involved in an affair. She also personally knew actress Eva Le Gallienne and her lesbian lover at the time, writer Mercedes de Acosta, but there are no reports that she was involved sexually with either of them.

Although never linked romantically, Barney and others in the writing community did assist the Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven with finances to purchase a flat in Paris just prior to the latters death. Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven was a lover around that time to Djuna Barnes, and Barney's assistance was largely due to her own relationship and friendship with Barnes.

Most notable affairs

Renée Vivien

For several years she was involved in a relationship with poet Renée Vivien [link] [link]. According to information of the time, her break up with Vivien was not of her choosing, and she attempted (unsuccessfully) to get Vivien back for years, right up until Vivien's death in 1909. The two had been involved in an open relationship, both taking other lovers from time to time. However Vivien allegedly preferred they change that to a more committed one on one relationship. Barney, however, was notoriously promiscuous in her lesbian affairs, and continued to see other women (her lovers during that time included Liane de Pougy and Colette). Vivien thus broke off the affair. It was only after the relationship ended around 1901 that Barney aggressively pursued Vivien, which included correspondence and letters begging Vivien to reconsider. [link] Vivien never reconsidered, and although Barney pursued her for more than eight years, until Vivien's death, they never rekindled the relationship.

Romaine Brooks

However, her best known relationship was with the American painter Romaine Brooks [link], whom she met in 1915. They were together for fifty-one years. Brooks' portrait of Barney is one of her finest and best known paintings. Neither she nor Brooks were completely faithful (Barney's affairs with Sylvia Beach, Dolly Wilde, Edna St. Vincent Millay and Djuna Barnes were all after she and Brooks began their relationship), but they remained devoted to one another always. Natalie Barney published several books of verse and drama during this time, as well as her memoirs.

Salon

It was as the hostess of a weekly Friday salon that she is best remembered. Cultural celebrities as varied known to have been guests there are; Auguste Rodin, Rainer Maria Rilke, Colette, James Joyce, Paul Valéry, the Sitwell siblings, Pierre Louÿs, Anatole France, Count Robert de Montesquiou, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Toklas, Somerset Maugham, T. S. Eliot, Ford Madox Ford, Isadora Duncan, Ezra Pound, Virgil Thomson, Jean Cocteau, Max Jacob, André Gide, William Carlos Williams, Djuna Barnes, George Antheil, Janet Flanner, Nancy Cunard, Peggy Guggenheim, Mina Loy, Caresse and Harry Crosby, Marie Laurencin, Oscar Milosz, Paul Claudel, Adrienne Monnier, Sylvia Beach, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Sinclair Lewis, Sherwood Anderson, Hart Crane, Alan Seeger, Mary McCarthy, Truman Capote, Françoise Sagan, and Marguerite Yourcenar.

It was here that Ezra Pound met his life long companion Olga Rudge.

Natalie Clifford Barney, painted in 1905 by her mother Alice Pike Barney.
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Natalie Clifford Barney, painted in 1905 by her mother Alice Pike Barney.

Literary portraits

Barney's life has provided inspiration for many writers, and she is portrayed in many novels of the time. These include writings and novels from former lesbian lovers such as Liane de Pougy's Idylle sapphique (Sapphic Idyll, 1901), Colette's Claudine s'en va (Claudine and Annie, 1903), ), and Djuna Barnes's Ladies Almanack. She is also portrayed in Lucie Delarue Mardrus's L'Ange et les pervers (The Angel and the Perverts, 1930), and Radcliffe Hall's The Well of Loneliness (1928.

Works

Works in French

Available in English translation

Further reading

External links

 

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