The more I read about the Southwest Woman in the late 1800’s through the early 1900’s the more I realize that women of that time had a lot more freedom than even today’s woman. They were freer because they didn’t need to prove to themselves and the world that they could do it all. They just did it!
Mabel Dodge Luhan was seeking a “reconciling symbol” that would allow her to reconcile her desire to act and shape her life. She was in search of a world where she could be at home.
And while she fell in love with Taos, she also fell passionately in love with Antonio (Tony) Lujan (Luhan), a full-blooded Pueblo Indian that mesmerized her with his Indian rituals and his haunting eyes.
Tony Luhan, she said, “awakened a heart that was asleep since childhood”. She loved the Pueblo culture, a culture that she felt was a model of steadiness and stability. A complete mixing of work, play, community, and environment. Luhan became, in 1923, her fourth and final husband. In addition to her great love for him, she believed that their marriage would be a bridge between the Anglo and Native American Cultures.
Since Tony was married when Mabel first met him, there have been various rumors as to how they got together and eventually married. One of the more gossipy rumors is that Mabel paid Tony’s wife some money and she disappeared. However, only the participants really know the truth.
On the advice of Tony, Mabel purchased some 12 acres of land and set about building a large multi-storied adob
e home with many rooms, blending Pueblo Spanish Colonial and Tuscan designs. This was the home where she and Tony welcomed guests who wished to honor their creative urges in an unspoiled rural mountain setting.Mabel set about to create a “true” art colony in Taos. She wanted it to be a “city upon a hill”. She believed that the American Southwest was destined to become a source of social and psychic renewal – a place where the dying, decadent, and disillusioned could come to rest and rejuvenate themselves.
Some of the “great souls” that came to visit Mabel in Taos, and helped her spread her belief in the rejuvenation of America, were D. H. Lawrence and his wife, Frieda Weekley (nee von Richthofen); Robinson Jeffers; Willa Cather; John Collier; Thomas Wolfe; Edna Ferber; Leopold Stowkowski; and Mary Austin - just a few names out of the many that came and went. Lawrence and his wife even settled in the area for several years. Mabel wrote of her thoughts and feelings about Lawrence in her book “Lorenzo in Taos (1932)”.
One of the more famous names that came to visit, and later stayed, was Georgia O’Keefe.(The topic of a future Southwest Woman article). While visiting Mabel, O’Keefe went on many excursions alone. She found herself falling in love with the beauty of Taos and Santa Fe – and, well that’s another story.
Mabel did accomplish what she set out to do. An Art and Literary Colony was established – a colony which has evolved, grown and thrived since her days. Her home has been designated a National Historic Landmark and is a historic inn and conference center. The writer, Natalie Goldberg frequently teaches at the center – AND Dennis Hopper wrote the script for “Easy Rider” while staying there.
Mabel Dodge Luhan died at her home in Taos in 1962 and was buried in the Kit Carson Cemetery. Kit Carson, his wife, (both died in 1868), their son, and grandson are all buried in this cemetery which was renamed after Carson’s death and burial.
