Djuna Barnes - Infinite Women

This bio has been republished from Mina Loy: Navigating the Avant-Garde. See below for full attribution.

Born: 12 June 1892, United States
Died: 18 June 1982
Country most active: United States, France
Also known as: NA

Djuna was born to Wald Barnes and Elizabeth Chappell on June 12 in 1892 in Cornwall-on Hudson in New York. Their family was mixed with children from different parents due to the family’s belief in sexual freedom. Djuna had four brothers by her own mother, plus three other children that were supported by Barnes’ mother but from Wald’s mistress, Fanny Faulkner. She was tutored by her grandmother Zadel Barnes Budington Gustaforn and her parents. She eloped with Percy Faulkner at seventeen; however, the marriage only lasted a few weeks. She began her journalism career in 1911 writing many stories, plays, journalistic articles and poems. She attended Pratt Institute in 1913 and the Art Students League of New York in 1915 where she studied life drawing and illustration (Herring). In the same year she published A Book of Repulsive Women, a collection of poems and drawings that gave insight into Djuna’s perspective on sexuality, specifically lesbianism. She also wrote for The Little Review (Burke 287).
Djuna Barnes had many lovers including Ernst “Putzi” Hanfstaengl from 1914-1916. During this time, she acted and wrote plays for Provincetown Theater in Massachusetts; she also became a highly paid journalist. In 1921, she was sent to Paris by McCall’s Magazine to study and write about the expatriate movement. She became friends with famous writers and artists including Mina Loy. She frequently visited Natalie Barney’s salon, to read and discuss literature. It was the environment at Barney’s salon that inspired Barnes to write Ladies Almanack (American Women).
Djuna Barnes met Thelma Ellen Wood in Paris between 1921 and 1922 and a passionate relationship ensued. However, Wood left Barnes for Henriette Metcalf and moved to New York. These events inspired Barnes greatest work Nightwood (1936). Barnes became severely alcoholic in the late 1930’s and did not write much until 1958, when she wrote The Antiphon. In September of 1940, she moved to Patchen Place in Greenwich Village in New York, living there until she passed away in 1982.
Barnes was invited to Provincetown Theater in 1915 where she became friends with Mina Loy. Their close relationship solidified when Barnes moved to Paris in 1920. In Paris, Loy and Barnes were neighbors and were both frequented Natalie Barney’s salon, sharing and discussing each other’s original works. They were also a part of Barney’s Académie des Femmes, which was established partially as a direct response to the all-male French Academy. In Ladies Almanack, Mina Loy is depicted as the character of Patience Scalpal (Barney). Barnes did a drawing of Mina Loy with Marsden Hartley and Gertrude Stein called Three American Expatriates that was published in The New York Tribune on November 4, 1923 (Burke 329). Loy and Barnes also contributed to The Little Review, and worked together for the magazine, Charm. Additionally, they interviewed James Joyce for Vanity Fair. The women were both collaborators and friends, which is exhibited in Djuna Barnes support and attendance of Mina Loy’s final Bodney Gallery showing in New York in 1959 (Burke 286-289). Regardless of the ten-year gap in age, the two women “saw the world the same way” and appreciated each other’s “sense of style” (Burke 295).