First of all, I want to wish you a belated 96th birthday. Did you have a party? Was there cake?
Secondly, I wanted to dash off a quick note of thanks. I just recently found your work. While I had heard of you and even looked at some of your pieces in the past, it wasn’t until very recently that I really, really found you. I was flipping through my copy of “Women, Art and Society” when I came across your painting Femme-Maison from 1946. There she was, the housewife. She is a lovely, straight-forward woman designed for function, built to serve. (I read that she sold at Christie’s this fall for a $360, 000–up from the $30,000 pre-auction estimate. You must have laughed!) In those few expressive lines drawn 62 years ago you were able to convey the constraints faced by women in a patriarchal society…a theme that continues to resonate.
Inspired, I went to the library and found a few other books about you, including Runaway Girl a sweet biography written for the young adult reader:
The Runaway Girl never grew up,
I need no support nor comfort.
I need no safety net, no breakfast.
No lunch or tea, no visitors, no telephone calls nor little messages.
No little concerts, no hype, or encouragement for big projects.
No ambitions, no spying on my neighbors.
I need nothing…I can wait, I am not afraid, I am an adult.
Nothing is lacking.(from one of L.B.’s journals)
There is so much I want to talk with you about; yet, I know you like your privacy. I just wanted to thank you for sharing your ideas and thoughts with me. I look forward to exploring more of your past work and eagerly await your next project. In the meantime I am meditating on your thoughts about the artistic process: “To reminisce and woolgather is negative. You have to differentiate between memories. Are you going to them or are they coming to you. If you are going to them, you are wasting your time. Nostalgia is not productive. If they come to you, they are seeds for sculpture.” What a harvest you continue to reap!
Again, Happy Birthday and many happy returns.
Carrie
