Born this day in 1874, Gertrude Stein, author,art collector, genius. Stein is one of the great characters of the 20th century. An American in Paris,France. Her address 27 Rue de Fleurus the famous address, the home to the great Saturday night salons.
Stein compared her character (written) studies to the way Picasso painted. They were great friends. Picasso painted a portrait of Stein.
Gertrude and her brother Leo were some of first to recognize... and purchase the great artists of the early part of the 20th century, Henri Manguin, Pierre Bonnard, Pablo Picasso, Paul Cézanne, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Honoré Daumier, Henri Matisse, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. But, mostly Picasso and Matisse.
September 8 1907, Stein met the love of her life and life companion Alice B. Toklas. Gertrude Stein was a woman whose life was her work,and her work was her life. Stein wrote openly about her love of Toklas. They were together for over forty years. Till death do us part...
Not only did the great visual artist of the day visit but also the writers, Ernest Hemingway, Ezra Pound, Thornton Wilder, and Sherwood Anderson.
And there is Stein's own work, Tender Buttons Three Lives, Q.E.D. The Making of Americans, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas,Three Lives, And then there is her most famous quote,"A rose is a rose is a rose is a rose"
