Mabel Evans Dodge Sterne Luhan (pronounced ''LOO-hahn''; née Ganson; February 26, 1879 – August 13, 1962) was an American patron of the arts, who was particularly associated with the
Taos art colony.
Early life
Mabel Ganson was the heiress of Charles Ganson, a wealthy banker from
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...
, and his wife, Sara 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.
Career
Florence
In 1904, Luhan married her second husband,
Edwin Dodge. Between 1905 and 1912, Edwin and Mabel lived near
Florence
Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025.
Florence ...
at her palatial
Medici
The House of Medici ( , ; ) was an Italian banking family and political dynasty that first consolidated power in the Republic of Florence under Cosimo de' Medici and his grandson Lorenzo "the Magnificent" during the first half of the 15th ...
villa, the Villa Curonia in
Arcetri, where she entertained local artists, in addition to
Gertrude Stein
Gertrude Stein (February 3, 1874 – July 27, 1946) was an American novelist, poet, playwright, and art collector. Born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania (now part of Pittsburgh), and raised in Oakland, California, Stein moved to Paris in 1903, and ...
, her brother
Leo,
Alice B. Toklas, and other visitors from
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
, including
André Gide
André Paul Guillaume Gide (; 22 November 1869 – 19 February 1951) was a French writer and author whose writings spanned a wide variety of styles and topics. He was awarded the 1947 Nobel Prize in Literature. Gide's career ranged from his begi ...
. A troubled liaison with her chauffeur led to two suicide attempts: the first by eating figs containing shards of glass; the second with
laudanum
Laudanum is a tincture of opium containing approximately 10% powdered opium by weight (the equivalent of 1% morphine). Laudanum is prepared by dissolving extracts from the opium poppy (''Papaver somniferum'') in alcohol (ethanol).
Reddish-br ...
.
New York and Provincetown
In mid-1912, the Dodges (by this time increasingly estranged), returned to America where Dodge set herself up as a patron of the arts, holding a weekly
salon
Salon may refer to:
Common meanings
* Beauty salon
A beauty salon or beauty parlor is an establishment that provides Cosmetics, cosmetic treatments for people. Other variations of this type of business include hair salons, spas, day spas, ...
in her new apartment at 23 Fifth Avenue in
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...
. Notable guests included
Carl Van Vechten
Carl Van Vechten (; June 17, 1880December 21, 1964) was an American writer and Fine-art photography, artistic photographer who was a patron of the Harlem Renaissance and the literary estate, literary executor of Gertrude Stein. He gained fame ...
,
Avery Hopwood
James Avery Hopwood (May 28, 1882 – July 1, 1928) was an American playwright of the Jazz Age. He had four plays running simultaneously on Broadway in 1920, namely "The Gold Diggers," "The Bat" and "Spanish Love" and "Ladies' Night (In a ...
,
Margaret Sanger
Margaret Sanger ( Higgins; September 14, 1879September 6, 1966) was an American birth control activist, sex educator, writer, and nurse. She opened the first birth control clinic in the United States, founded Planned Parenthood, and was instr ...
,
Emma Goldman
Emma Goldman (June 27, 1869 – May 14, 1940) was a Russian-born Anarchism, anarchist revolutionary, political activist, and writer. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europ ...
,
Charles Demuth,
"Big Bill" Haywood,
Max Eastman
Max Forrester Eastman (January 4, 1883 – March 25, 1969) was an American writer on literature, philosophy, and society, a poet, and a prominent political activist. Moving to New York City for graduate school, Eastman became involved with radica ...
,
Lincoln Steffens
Joseph Lincoln Steffens (April 6, 1866 – August 9, 1936) was an American investigative journalist and one of the leading muckrakers of the Progressive Era in the early 20th century. He launched a series of articles in '' McClure's'', called " ...
,
Hutchins Hapgood,
Neith Boyce,
Walter Lippmann
Walter Lippmann (September 23, 1889 – December 14, 1974) was an American writer, reporter, and political commentator. With a career spanning 60 years, he is famous for being among the first to introduce the concept of the Cold War, coining t ...
, and
John Reed. Van Vechten took Dodge as the model for the character "Edith Dale" in his novel ''Peter Whiffle''. Anthropologist
Raymond Harrington introduced Dodge and her friends to
peyote
The peyote (; ''Lophophora williamsii'' ) is a small, spineless cactus which contains psychoactive alkaloids, particularly mescaline. is a Spanish word derived from the Nahuatl (), meaning "caterpillar cocoon", from a root , "to glisten". p. ...
in an impromptu "ceremony" there.
She was involved in mounting the
Armory Show
The 1913 Armory Show, also known as the International Exhibition of Modern Art, was organized by thAssociation of American Painters and Sculptors It was the first large exhibition of modern art in America, as well as one of the many exhibition ...
of new European Modern Art in 1913 publishing and distributing in pamphlet-form a piece by Gertrude Stein titled "Portrait of Mabel Dodge at the Villa Curonia", which increased her public profile.
She sailed to Europe at the end of June 1913. John Reed (Jack) — worn out from having recently organized the
Paterson Pageant — traveled with her. They became lovers after arriving in Paris, where they socialized with Stein and
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...
before leaving for the Villa Curonia, where the guests included
Arthur Rubinstein
Arthur Rubinstein Order of the British Empire, KBE OMRI (; 28 January 1887 – 20 December 1982) was a Polish Americans, Polish-American pianist. . At first this was a very happy time for the couple, but tensions grew between them as Reed became uncomfortable with the affluent isolation, and Dodge saw his interests in the world of people and achievements as a rejection of her.
They returned to New York in late September 1913. In October, Reed was sent to report on the
Mexican Revolution
The Mexican Revolution () was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from 20 November 1910 to 1 December 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It saw the destruction of the Federal Army, its ...
by ''
Metropolitan Magazine''. Although Dodge followed him to the border town of
Presidio
A presidio (''jail, fortification'') was a fortified base established by the Spanish Empire mainly between the 16th and 18th centuries in areas under their control or influence. The term is derived from the Latin word ''praesidium'' meaning ''pr ...
, she left after just a few days.
Between 1914 and 1916, a strong connection developed between the intelligentsia of
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...
and Provincetown and, in 1915, Dodge arrived there with painter
Maurice Sterne. While in Provincetown, John Reed helped to organize The
Provincetown Players, and Dodge experienced a rivalry with
Mary Heaton Vorse.
In 1916, Dodge became a nationally syndicated columnist for the
Hearst organization,
relocating to Finney Farm, a large
Croton estate.
Sterne, who was to become Dodge's third husband, lived in a cottage behind the main house, while Dodge offered Reed the third floor of the house as a writing studio. Although he moved in for a short period, the situation became untenable; Dodge and Sterne married later that year.
Santa Barbara
During this period Dodge also began spending long periods of time in
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara (, meaning ) is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States excepting A ...
, where her friend
Lincoln Steffens
Joseph Lincoln Steffens (April 6, 1866 – August 9, 1936) was an American investigative journalist and one of the leading muckrakers of the Progressive Era in the early 20th century. He launched a series of articles in '' McClure's'', called " ...
had relatives. (Lincoln Steffens' sister Lottie was married to local rancher John J. Hollister).
Taos
In 1917, Dodge, her husband, and
Elsie Clews Parsons
Elsie Worthington Clews Parsons (November 27, 1875 – December 19, 1941) was an American anthropologist, sociologist, folklorist, and feminist who studied Native American tribes—such as the Tewa and Hopi—in Arizona, New Mexico, and Mexico. ...
moved to Taos, New Mexico,
where she began a literary colony. On the advice of Tony Lujan, a
Native American whom she would marry in 1923, she purchased a property. Lujan set up a teepee in front of her house, drumming each night in an attempt to lure her to him. Although Sterne bought a shotgun with the intention of chasing Lujan off the property, he was unable to use it. He took to insulting his wife, who, in response, sent Sterne away, although she supported him financially until the time of their divorce four years later.
D. H. Lawrence, the English author, accepted an invitation from her to stay in Taos, arriving with his wife,
Frieda, in early September 1922. He had a fraught relationship with his hostess, however, later writing about it in his fiction. Dodge later published a memoir about the visit entitled, ''Lorenzo in Taos'' (1932). Editor and book designer Merle Armitage also wrote a book about this time in New Mexico. ''Taos Quartet in Three Movements'' was originally to appear in Flair Magazine, but the magazine folded before its publication. This short work describes the tumultuous relationship of D. H. Lawrence, his wife Frieda, artist Dorothy Brett and Mabel Dodge Sterne. Armitage took it upon himself to print 16 hardcover copies of this work for his friends. Richard Pousette-Dart executed the drawings for Taos Quartet that was published in 1950.
In New Mexico, Dodge and Lujan hosted influential artists and poets, including
Marsden Hartley
Marsden Hartley (January 4, 1877 – September 2, 1943) was an American Modernist painter, poet, and essayist. Hartley developed his painting abilities by observing Cubist artists in Paris and Berlin.
Early life and education
Hartley was bor ...
,
Arnold Ronnebeck,
Louise Emerson Ronnebeck,
Ansel Adams
Ansel Easton Adams (February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984) was an American landscape photographer and environmentalist known for his Monochrome photography, black-and-white images of the American West. He helped found Group f/64, an association ...
,
Willa Cather
Willa Sibert Cather (; born Wilella Sibert Cather; December 7, 1873 – April 24, 1947) was an American writer known for her novels of life on the Great Plains, including ''O Pioneers!'', ''The Song of the Lark (novel), The Song of the Lark'', a ...
,
Walter Van Tilburg Clark,
Robinson Jeffers and his wife Una,
Florence McClung,
Georgia O'Keeffe,
Nicolai Fechin,
Mary Hunter Austin,
Mary Foote,
Frank Waters,
Jaime de Angulo,
Aldous Huxley
Aldous Leonard Huxley ( ; 26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an English writer and philosopher. His bibliography spans nearly 50 books, including non-fiction novel, non-fiction works, as well as essays, narratives, and poems.
Born into the ...
,
Ernie O'Malley and others.
Dodge died at her home in Taos in 1962 and was buried in
Kit Carson
Christopher Houston Carson (December 24, 1809 – May 23, 1868) was an American frontiersman, fur trapper, wilderness guide, Indian agent and United States Army, U.S. Army officer. He became an American frontier legend in his own lifetime ...
Cemetery. The
Mabel Dodge Luhan House has been designated a
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...
, operating as an historic inn and conference center.
Natalie Goldberg frequently teaches at Mabel Dodge Luhan House, which
Dennis Hopper
Dennis Lee Hopper (May 17, 1936 – May 29, 2010) was an American actor, filmmaker, photographer and visual artist. He was considered one of the key figures of New Hollywood. He earned prizes from the Cannes Film Festival and Venice Internatio ...
bought after having noticed it while filming ''
Easy Rider
''Easy Rider'' is a 1969 American road drama film written by Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and Terry Southern. It was produced by Fonda and directed by Hopper. Fonda and Hopper play two bikers who travel through the American Southwest and the S ...
''.
Archives
The Mabel Dodge Luhan Papers Collection—a collection of letters, manuscripts, photographs and personal papers documenting Dodge's life and works—is housed at the
Beinecke Library at
Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
. A portion of the collection is available online.
There is a portrait of Luhan by Nicholai Fechin (1881-1955) painted in 1927, oil on canvas, included in the American Museum for Western Art — The Anschutz Collection.
alt=Portrait of Mabel , Nicholai Fechin (1881-1955), Mabel Dodge Luhan, 1927; oil on canvas; Courtesy American Museum for Western Art—The Anschutz Collection, Denver, Colorado.
Personal life
Her first marriage, in 1900 at the age of 21, was to Karl Evans, the son of a steamboat company owner,
Anchor Line (steamship company), Anchor Line Steamboat Co. 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
Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, or the attraction t ...
in her early life and frankly detailed her physical encounters with women in her autobiography ''Intimate Memories'' (1933).
Bibliography
* ''Lorenzo in Taos: D. H. Lawrence and Mabel Dodge Luhan'' (1932)
* ''European Experiences'' (1935)
* ''Movers and Shakers'' (1936)
* ''Winter in Taos'' (1935)
* ''Edge of Taos Desert'' (1937)
* ''Taos and Its Artists'' (1947)
* ''Una and Robin'' (1976)
Luhan's 1935 book ''Winter in Taos'' is listed among the 100 Best Books In New Mexico (January 6, 2011).
[New Mexico Book Co-op]
"100 Best Books in New Mexico"
January 6, 2011.
References
Further reading
*
*
*
External links
About Mabel*
*
Mabel Dodge Luhan Papers. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
*
Mabel Dodge Luhan Collection. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
Mabel Dodge Luhan -- A deep-dive biography podcast series by The Biographers.
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Luhan, Mabel Dodge
1879 births
1962 deaths
American columnists
20th-century American dramatists and playwrights
20th-century American memoirists
Analysands of A. A. Brill
Bisexual women writers
Bisexual dramatists and playwrights
Bisexual memoirists
History of Taos, New Mexico
American LGBTQ dramatists and playwrights
LGBTQ people from New York (state)
LGBTQ people from New Mexico
American patrons of the arts
Writers from Buffalo, New York
People from Croton-on-Hudson, New York
People from Greenwich Village
Writers from Taos, New Mexico
20th-century American essayists
Philanthropists from New York (state)
American salon-holders
American bisexual writers