The Eyre de Lanux papers were donated to the Archives of American Art by de Lanux's daughter Anne de Lanux Strong and grandson Paul Eyre in 1996.
The collection was partially processed by Valerie Komor in 1999. In 2012, the collection was fully processed, arranged, and described by Jayna Hanson with funding provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.
Eyre de Lanux papers, 1865-1995. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
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Eyre de Lanux (1894-1996) spent much of her life traveling between Paris, Italy, and New York. In addition to portrait and frescoe painting, de Lanux designed furnishings and was a prolific writer.
Elizabeth Eyre de Lanux was born on March 20, 1894, the eldest daughter of Richard Derby Eyre (1869-1955) and Elizabeth Krieger Eyre (d. 1938). As Elizabeth's mother suffered from depression, the responsibilities of parenthood fell largely to Richard Eyre, a successful patent lawyer.
Elizabeth attended Miss Hazen's School in Pelham Manor, Westchester County, New York and enrolled in classes at the Art Students League in 1912 and during 1914-15. Her teachers were George Bridgman and John C. Johansen. At this time, she resided at 47 Washington Square but soon moved to 15 W. 67th Street. She exhibited two paintings, "L'Arlesienne," and "Allegro," in the first annual exhibition of the Society of Independent Artists in 1917.
In early 1918, while working for the Foreign Press Bureau of the Committee on Public Information, Elizabeth met writer Pierre Combret de Lanux (1887-1955.) They married in New York in a civil ceremony on October 9, 1918. Immediately after the Armistice, they sailed for Paris, settling at Number 19 Rue Jacob. Their daughter, Anne-Françoise, nicknamed "Bikou," was born December 19, 1925.
Possibly from the beginning of their marriage, but certainly from the early 1920s, Eyre and Pierre accorded one another the freedom to take other lovers. From 1923 to 1933, Pierre de Lanux was based mainly in Geneva, where he worked for the League of Nations as director of the Paris Office. The marriage endured until Pierre's death in March 1955.
In Paris, from 1919-20, Elizabeth continued her painting and drawing studies. At this time, she began signing her sketches "Eyre de Lanux." Café society at Le Boeuf sur le Toit was an inexhaustible source for portrait subjects, as were socialite Natalie Clifford Barney's Friday salons. A series of "Outlines of Women," line drawings touched with wash, were exhibited in May 1921 at New York's Kingore Galleries. On view was Eyre's portrait of Barney, identified as "Amazone" in the exhibit leaflet, and those of various high-society figures, including Marion Tiffany, actress Eva Le Gallienne, and tennis champion Julie Lentilhon.
Eyre and Pierre resided in the United States from September 1920 to April 1922, and lived at the Chelsea Hotel during the spring of 1921. While Pierre traveled, Eyre completed work on a pair of oak doors painted in tempera, vermillion, and gold with the 13th century legend of Sainte Marie l'Égyptienne. The doors went on exhibit in March 1922 at Knoedler Galleries and received a favorable review in
Eyre began the study of frescoe painting in the late 1920s with Constantin Brancusi. Exhibits of her later frescoes were held in 1952 at Alexander Iolas in New York and in Paris at Le Sillon in 1960.
During her years in Paris, Eyre was associated with members of the Parisian arts and literary circles. Ezra Pound made corrections to her 1923 poem "Rue Montorgueil." Eyre met Surrealist poet Louis Aragon, who may have fell in love with her. Aragon's 1919 poem, "Isabelle," dedicated cryptically to one "Madame I.R." on its 1926 publication, tells of his love for "une herbe blanche." Their one-year liaison began in earnest in March 1925, soon after Eyre's relationship with Natalie Barney had ended. An affair with political writer Pierre Drieu La Rochelle, initiated in early 1923 and carried on intermittently, also ended at this time.
In 1933 Eyre and Pierre purchased a number of works of contemporary art. These included a Picasso watercolor and drawing from his Cubist period, a Braque, a Berman, two Picabia drawings, an Yves Tanguy, a large Mirà, and two paintings by de Chirico. In future years, gallery-owner Betty Parsons 1900-82), whom Eyre doubtless knew in Paris, would assist her in selling paintings from her collection. Many would be sold at a great loss to meet expenses.
From 1927 to 1933, Eyre collaborated with British carpet designer Evelyn Wyld (1882-1973), creating modernist furniture in glass, cowhide, wood, and lacquer for private clients. Eyre met Wyld while interviewing her for her monthly column, "Letters of Elizabeth," which ran for two years in
Eyre returned to Paris in 1945 There she met a young Italian writer, Paolo Casagrande. Eyre was 54 years old and he roughly half her age. With his encouragement, she rented a studio at 53 Via Margutta and beganworking on large frescoes and fresco portraits. One of her sitters was Tennessee Williams.
The relationship with Casagrande endured until the end of Eyre's life. Although Casagrande married in 1950 and eventually had children, he and Eyre maintained an almost continuous, passionate correspondence. They traveled for long periods in southern Italy, Sicily, Greece, and Morocco. During their Moroccan sojourn in 1951 and 1952, Eyre began making notes for short stories. "La Place de La Destruction" was published in 1955 in
In March, 1961, possibly in order to pull away from Casagrande, Eyre left Paris and returned to New York permanently, taking a studio apartment at The Picasso on East 58th Street. In a diary entry made shortly before moving day, she wrote, "Write to Paolo every day, and mail it only occasionally." Her last visit to Paris occurred in 1978. Until legal blindness overtook her, Eyre pursued various research and writing projects.
She began work on a biography of Tobias Lear, a secretary to George Washington and a distant maternal ancestor. She also gathered photographs for "Illusions of Identity," a book of associations between the physical and metaphysical worlds with a preface by Ray Bradbury; the book was never published. In 1980, she supplied paintings to illustrate
Eyre de Lanux died in August 1996 at the age of 102.
The papers of portrait painter, writer, and furnishings designer, Eyre de Lanux (1894-1996) measure 10.6 linear feet and date from 1865 to 1995. The papers reflect Eyre's personal life in Paris with her husband, Pierre de Lanux and her travels with longtime lover Paolo Casagrande. The bulk of the collection consists of diaries spanning 1922 to 1988 and correspondence. Also found are de Lanux's sketches and drawings, some of which depict Parisian scenes and portraits of her lovers and friends. Other materials found include biographical information, personal business records, writings and notes including short stories, research files on Tobias Lear and Wilson Eyre, printed materials, and scattered photographs.
Biographical records include various membership certificates, medical records, travel papers and tickets, and a transcript of a psychic reading. Also found is a sound recording concerning Pierre de Lanux.
Personal business records consist of addresses, a personal calendar, consignment and loan agreements concerning the sale of Eyre's art collection, miscellaneous receipts, rental and lodging forms, stocks, and a copy of a will.
Correspondence spans the years 1922 until 1995 and includes an extensive exchange between Eyre and her husband Pierre, her lover Paolo Casagrande, and her daughter Anne Strong (Bikou.) Other notable correspondents include Louis Aragon, Natalie Barney, Betsy Fahlman, Consuelo Ford, Alexander Lenard, and Evelyn Wyld. Much of the correspondence is personal in nature, however a folder of correspondence between Eyre and her literary editors is found at the end of the series.
The papers include sixty-four diaries dating from 1922 through 1988; there are no diaries for the period 1927 to 1947 with the exception of two small notebooks dated 1938 and 1945. The diaries resume in 1948, with Eyre's arrival in Rome, and continue, with multiple volumes for most years, until the late 1980s when her eyes failed. The handwriting is difficult to read, and moves from one language to another within entries, employing English, French, and Italian. Eyre de Lanux used her diaries to record her impressions of the world rather than to enumerate daily activities.
Writings include drafts, copies, and notes for de Lanux's short stories from the 1920s until the 1980s. There are also annotated entries and drafts of her magazine column, "Letters to Elizabeth", poems, a note written to Paris, and notes concerning interior decoration. Writings by others include poems by Ann Lee, travel journals by Paolo Casagrande and Paul Eyre, and a draft of Pierre de Lanux's "Memoires-Jours de Notre Vivre."
Research files consist of Eyre de Lanux's notes, drafts, photographs, published works, and research correspondence relating to her biography on Tobias Lear, the personal secretary of George Washington and a proposal for a work entitled
Printed material is scattered and includes periodicals with copies of writings by Pierre and Eyre de Lanux, one exibition announcement, printed reproductions of works of art, blank postcards, and souvenirs gathered from de Lanux's many trips abroad.
Photographs are of Eyre in her studio and of her family and friends including Louis Aragon, Natalie Barney, Paolo Casagrande and family, Alice Delmar, Paul Eyre, Consuelo Ford, Pierre de Lanux, Anne Strong, and Evelyn Wyld. There is a photo of Natalie Barney's 20 Rue Jacob Temple d'Amitie. Other photos are of buildings, travel, interiors, and works of art. Among the photographs of works of art include two portraits, one of Eyre de Lanux by Romaine Brooks and one of Romaine Brooks by Eyre de Lanux.
Artwork include sketches, drawings, prints, and paintings by Eyre de Lanux probably dating from the 1920s to the 1940s. There is a painted sketch of interior decoration from circa 1949. Sketches are of Parisian street scenes, portraits of friends, a design for a perfume advertisement for the fashion house Lucien Lelong, illustrated notes for Consuelo Ford, and miscellaneous subjects.
The collection is arranged as 9 series:
Biographical records include various membership certificates, medical records, travel papers and tickets of Eyre de Lanux and Paolo Casagrande, and a transcript of a psychic reading. Also found is an audio recording concerning Pierre de Lanux. An 1865 Oath of Loyalty of George C. Harris is included; however the connection with Eyre de Lanux is unclear.
Personal business records consist of addresses of friends, a calendar, consignment and loan agreements concerning the sale of Eyre's art collection, receipts, rental and lodging forms, stocks, and a copy of a will. Sales arrangements include records from the Betty Parsons Gallery, through which de Lanux sold her personal collection of artwork.
Correspondence spans the years 1922 until 1995 and includes extensive letters between Eyre and her husband Pierre, her lover Paolo Casagrande, and her daughter Anne Strong (Bikou). Other notable correspondents include Louis Aragon, Natalie Barney, Betsy Fahlman, Consuelo Ford, Alexander Lenard, and Evelyn Wyld. Much of the correspondence is personal in nature, however a folder of correspondence between Eyre and her literary editors is found at the end of the series.
Eyre de Lanux's outgoing correspondence spans 1918 to 1955 and consists mainly of her letters to husband Pierre and lover Paolo Casagrande (probably letters she did not mail.) The most complete is the correspondence between Eyre and Pierre which dates from the beginning of their courtship in New York in 1918 and ends with Pierre s death. Often separated, they were in frequent contact. During the years Pierre worked in Geneva as Director of the Paris Office for the League of Nations, from 1923 to 1933, he wrote to her regularly. Eyre's letters to Pierre include those written during her stay in the United States in 1927-28. These letters offer some of the clearest expressions of her desire to make a living in the field of the decorative arts. Pierre and Eyre's correspondence is written in both French and English.
Scattered letters are from friends and lovers, including poet James Merrill, Mr. and Mrs. Archibald MacLeish, lover and design collaborator Evelyn Wyld, lover Natalie Barney, writer and lover Pierre Drieu La Rochelle, and poet and lover Louis Aragon.
Correspondence is arranged alphabetically by correspondent.
(Eyre to Paolo)
(Paolo's Personal Correspondence)
(Eyre to Pierre de Lanux)
(Personal Correspondence)
(Eyre to Anne Strong)
(Personal Correspondence)
(Includes draft of
Wyld, Evelyn
There are 64 volumes of Eyre de Lanux's diaries dating from 1923 to 1988. There are no diaries for the period 1927 to 1947, with the exception of two small notebooks from 1938 and 1945. The diaries resume regularly in 1948, with Eyre's arrival in Rome, and continue, with multiple volumes for most years, until the late 1980s when her eyesight failed. The handwriting is difficult to read and she moves from one language to another within entries, writing in English, French, and Italian. Eyre de Lanux used her diaries to record her impressions of the world rather than to enumerate daily activities.
The diaries for her early years in Paris, from 1923 to 1926, are immensely detailed, containing verbatim transcriptions of recent conversations. The diaries can also be explicit in describing her encounters with her lovers of the period: Consuelo Urisarri, Natalie Barney, Louis Aragon, and Pierre Drieu La Rochelle. For instance, the 1925 diary (May to June) records a nighttime walk with Louis Aragon through the Park Buttes-Chaumont and the interruption of their kiss by the watchman.
She generally refers to individuals using initials rather than first names. The diaries after 1948 may be characterized as travelogues, as she often began a diary after arriving in a new locale. They contain numerous references to Paolo Casagrande, her lover from 1948. They are filled with notes for stories and sketches of the places they visited: Capri, Ischia, Sicily, Greece, and Morocco. While she traveled, she continued to develop her fresco technique, using her sketches as fresco studies.
In her 1949 journal, she jotted down from memory the advice Brancusi had given her on fresco painting twenty years earlier. He is the only one of her art teachers to appear in her diaries. The diary for March 1961 joyfully announces her discovery of an apartment at The Picasso on E. 58th Street in New York City, where she settled, inaugurating a new life in the United States. Subsequent diaries are filled with observations, notes for stories, and records of her travels to Rome, Bucharest, Paris and Japan. Her 1977 diary contains a chronology of her life which she may have prepared at the request of a dealer.
Diaries are arranged chronologically. Titles of diaries are handwritten by Eyre de Lanux and typically refer to the places in which she travelled during the span covered by the diary.
(Consuelo Ford, Drieu, Natalie Barney)
(Drieu, Consuelo Ford, Alperia)
(Rue de Vignes)
(
(Moins Interenat)
(including drawings)
(concerning war)
(includes Louvre sketches)
(concerning Paolo)
(illness)
(illness)
(Salvador Mundi)
(tiles and frescoes)
(
(notes)
(leaving Paolo)
(includes addresses)
(loss of Paolo)
("identity")
Writings include drafts, copies, and notes for de Lanux's short stories from the 1920s until the 1980s and annotated entries and drafts of her magazine column, Letters to Elizabeth. Also found are Eyre's poems, a note written to Paris, and notes concerning interior decoration. Writings by others include handwritten poems by Ann Lee, travel journals by Paolo Casagrande and Paul Eyre, and a draft of Pierre de Lanux's "Memoires-Jours de Notre Vivre."
Eyre de Lanux's short stories are arranged alphabetically by title and many are undated. Alternative story names are included whenever possible. Writings by others are arranged alphabetically by author.
(translated into French by Pierre de Lanux)
(includes travel souvenirs)
Pierre de Lanux, "Souvenirs" or "Memories-Jours de Notre Vivre"
Pierre de Lanux, "Souvenirs" or "Memories-Jours de Notre Vivre"
Pierre de Lanux, "Souvenirs" or "Memories-Jours de Notre Vivre"
Pierre de Lanux, Notes
Research files consist of Eyre de Lanux's notes, drafts, photographs, published works, and research correspondence relating to her biography on Tobias Lear, the personal secretary of George Washington and a proposal for a work entitled
(Wilson Eyre's "Curious Scotch Letter")
Printed material is scattered and includes periodicals including writings by Pierre de Lanux and Eyre de Lanux, one exibition announcement for Eyre's work, reproductions of works of art, blank postcards, and souvenirs presumably gathered from de Lanux's many trips throughout the world.
(includes "You Can't Know Anything About It" by Eyre de Lanux)
(Oversized material housed in Box 11, F1)
(Includes train time tables, Italian to Greek translator, and maps from Japan, Italy, Greece, and China)
(Oversized material from in Box 9, F42)
Photographs are of Eyre in her studio and of her family and friends including: Louis Aragon, Natalie Barney, Paolo Casagrande and family, Alice Delmar, Paul Eyre, Consuelo Ford, Pierre de Lanux, Anne Strong, and Evelyn Wyld. Of interest is a photo of Barney's 20 Rue Jacob known as the Temple d'Amitie. Other photos are of buildings, travel, interiors, and works of art. Among the photographs of works of art include two portraits, one of Eyre de Lanux by Romaine Brooks and one of Romaine Brooks by Eyre de Lanux.
(Elisabetta, Francesca, and Bettina)
Evelyn Wyld
(Spain, Italy, France, Vietnam)
(Includes photographs of portraits of Eyre de Lanux by Romaine Brooks and of Romaine Brooks by Eyre de Lanux)
Artwork includes sketches, drawings, prints, and paintings by Eyre de Lanux probably dating from the 1920s to the 1940s. There is a painted sketch concerning interior decoration from circa 1949. Sketches of note include Parisian street scenes, portraits of friends, a design for a perfume advertisement for the fashion house Lucien Lelong, and illustrated notes for Consuelo Ford.
(Includes sketches for fashion houses Lanvin and Lucien Lelong)