Elizabeth Bartlett Ryan Gordon
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Elizabeth Bartlett Ryan Gordon | |
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| Born | August 19, 1914 New York |
| Died | January 9, 2003 (aged 88) |
| Occupation | Artist |
Elizabeth Bartlett Ryan Gordon (August 19, 1914 - January 9, 2003) was an American artist who spent significant time living in France and Greece. She also went by the name of Betty Ryan.[1] As a young woman living in Paris in the 1930s at the Villa Seurat[2], she befriended Henry Miller, and inspired the trip to Greece that led him to write The Colossus of Marussi, whose first lines reference her: "I would never have gone to Greece had it not been for a girl named Betty Ryan who lived in the same house with me in Paris"[3][4]. They maintained a lifelong friendship as documented through their correspondence.[1] During that time she also befriended artist Hans Reichel, for whom she and Miller helped organize an exhibition of works to help him raise needed funds[5]. Some of her memories from that time are captured in Betty Ryan Recalls and Reflects, which also documents her friendships with other writers and artists in Henry Miller's circle such as Alfred Perles and Lawrence Durrell[6]. Her papers are stored at the Kairios Library on the Greek island of Andros, where she lived for over twenty years[7][8]. An exhibition of her work, titled "Betty Ryan", was held at the Museum of Contemporary Art Andros in 2014[9].
Elizabeth Gordon was born in New York, New York, and attended a girl's school in the city.[1] At age 18, she went to Paris, and stayed there until 1939, with at least half a year spent in Greece, 1934-1935.[1] In 1935, back in Paris, she moved to the Villa Seurat, a street of artists located in the 14th arrondissement.[10] While living there, she befriended her upstairs neighbor Henry Miller, and his circle of friends, including Anais Nin, Alfred Perles, Hans Reichel, and Lawrence Durrell, among other artists and writers. She returned to the United States in 1939, as World War II was beginning, and married Harry Wight Gordon in August, 1940.[1] Harry joined the Navy in 1941, and Elizabeth went to Radcliffe College to earn a MA degree in Russian. Around this time, she also studied under Hans Hoffman, likely in Provincetown, Massachusetts,[11] and is listed as one of his students during the 1933-1945 period; because she is identified in the list by her married name, Elizabeth Ryan Gordon, she must have studied with him from 1940-1945.[12]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Rapatzikou, Tatiana G. (2024). Betty Ryan and Henry Miller: Correspondence, 1952-1979. Kaireios Bibliotheke. ISBN 978-960-7709-49-3.
- ↑ Orend, Karl (2003). Cathedral of Light: Betty Ryan at the Villa Seurat. Paris & Austin: Alyscamps Press.
- ↑ Miller, Henry (1941). The Colossus of Marussi. San Francisco: Colt Press (published 2010). ISBN 978-0-8112-1915-0.
- ↑ "A fond farewell to two staunch Philhellenes | eKathimerini.com". www.ekathimerini.com. 2003-04-03. Retrieved 2025-07-24.
- ↑ Browning, Deborah L. (2018). "Life and Death in Sublimation: The Artistic Survival of Hans Reichel in World War II France". American Imago. 75 (4): 563–609. ISSN 0065-860X. JSTOR 26641459.
- ↑ MacNiven, Ian S.; Peirce, Carol (1987). "Introduction: Lawrence Durrell: Man and Writer". Twentieth Century Literature. 33 (3): 255–261. ISSN 0041-462X. JSTOR 441475.
- ↑ "Tribute to Americal painter Betty Ryan". Retrieved July 23, 2025.
- ↑ "KYSO Flash: CNF Essay: Amalia Melis: Tribute to Betty Ryan: A Daring Soul". www.kysoflash.com. Retrieved 2025-07-24.
- ↑ Foundation, Basil & Elise Goulandris. "The Colour of Silence, The Artist Betty Ryan and Andros 2014 Exhibition Catalogue". Basil & Elise Goulandris Foundation. Retrieved 2025-07-24.
- ↑ "Villa Seurat: street of artists". Villa Seurat. Retrieved 2025-07-24.
- ↑ Dickey, Tina; Hofmann, Hans (2011). Color creates light: studies with Hans Hofmann (1st hardcover ed.). Victoria, BC: Trillistar Books. ISBN 978-0-9866511-0-6.
- ↑ "Color Creates Light". Retrieved 2025-07-24.
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