In the above photo she is on the ground, painting with her husband, Gustav Mathieu, at the side. She was quite comfortable painting in public, apparently. A small photo album of her war years in San Francisco shows many different settings where she is painting on the ground, with people watching...
Late in life, living in Greenwich New York, she became quite demented and was hospitalized rather suddenly. Unfortunately many of her treasures were lost to us all, including the large wonderful photo album of the family in years past. What a treasure that could have been. Sadly, gone now. Two of her long-time best friends talked with me about her life in San Francisco, her art, and her love of textiles and clothes with a flair. They all worked in design for textiles, in New York, where she settled in Greenwich.
Contact me at calewis at telus dot net if you have questions or more information. And, I love comments below! Thanks for visiting.
6 comments:
Oh! What a shame that her treasures were lost! Do you know what was done with them? Were they just thrown away when she was hospitalized?
Dot looks so elegant in that photo. What a treasure.
No one knows - it all happened quite quickly apparently. A social worker thought the next door neighbour would know - but she didn't. And I thought maybe there's be an overlooked box or two of Dot's belongings in the basement of the DeWitt Nursing Home in NY, but the social worker student searched everywhere and only found a tiny photo album from during the war, with some very old/decrepit clothes. Sigh. Gone. Maybe something will turn up on eBay or in a 3rd cousin's attic. I live in hope.
Always elegant! Always with a flair and a flash, with scarves, clothing materials/colours/patterns. She was very artistic and somewhat dramatic. I think there's something in the genes! :) Thanks for the comment, Jill.
What a nice photo Celia. It captures a moment and freezes it in time like all photos do, but it was a time when they obviously were absorbed in one another. One has to wonder if that intimacy was another casualty of WWII.
I would not give up hope that the family album and maybe some of Dot's art might show up in the strangest, most unexpected way some day. As Jana can tell you based on her recovery of 100+ year old family postcards all the way from Ireland . . . you just never know what a Good Samaritan might do one day! ;-)
I live in hope, John! The family were relatively wealthy at that time, in politics, businesses, traveling, spending time with cousins. Oh, I'd love to see some of their photographs of the times!
Thanks for stopping by.
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