sapphicphilhellene

[sapphicphilhellene]

Natalie Clifford Barney and her lover/long-term friend Eva Palmer during the era of their romantic relationship

Notation: Eva and Natalie became aquatinted whilst vacationing in Bar Harbor, Maine. They formed a relationship in 1893 and maintained it long enough to move to Paris together, becoming an influential couple in the Parisian sapphic community. Their relationship, while Natalie’s first truly serious pursuit was also fluid. Natalie helped Eva pursue other women such as Pauline Tarn. However, their relationship eventually came to a close and Eva married the Greek poet Angelos Sikelianos.

#sapphic #historical lesbians #natalie clifford barney #eva palmer #lesbian history #paris lesbos

[sapphicphilhellene]

Natalie Clifford Barney’s residence on the Left Bank that housed her salon and her famous Temple d’Amitié (Temple of Friendship)

Citation: Pavilion at 20 Rue Jacob courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

#natalie clifford barney #paris lesbos #historical lesbians #left bank #sapphic #historic sapphics

[sapphicphilhellene]

Introduction 

This blog has been created to highlight and document the historic community of París-Lesbos and connect it to the new-wave philhellenes of the early 20th century. It will focus on the close-knit communities that congregated in New England, the Left Bank of París as well as its suburb of Neuilly, and Greece.

Figures primarily featured will be Natalie Clifford Barney, Eva Palmer, Reneé Vivien, members of Natalie’s salon, and their various lovers. The main modes of documentation will be photographs, writing extracts, poems, letters, & statements from academics. All content will be cited appropriately— and if unable to cite fully a small notation will be provided instead.

Topics covered unrelated to the upper echelons of Parisian lesbian/sapphic society may include The Delphic Festival, modern dancers of the period who where friends of those in the Paris-Lesbos culture (ex. Isadora Duncan & Ruth St. Denis) & the lives of other influential Parisians (such as Sylvia Beach).

Honestly, I am dedicating myself to this topic and research because I see myself in these women. I find solace in the deeply cultivated community they had. Their struggles in a world that did not desire them, their romances— both beautiful and scarred, and their influence that flowed across their entire Earth all inspire me, and I hope they will inspire you, dear reader.

Citation: Eva Palmer (unidentified) in a photograph found among Alice Pike Barney’s papers at the time of her death and deposited in the Smithsonian Institution Archives by Laura Dreyfus-Barney

#natalie clifford barney #paris-lesbos #sapphic #historical lesbians