"Divine Ottoline,
Have we not the principal treasure? These endless discussions as to what may or may not be lacking seems mean & belittling sometimes: forgive me for raising them so often."
written sometime in 1910, by the oft times petulant artist Henry Lamb to Ottoline Morrell.
Lamb would be one of many men in Ottoline's life.
Of their relationship she wrote:
"I was much older than He, and I had the instinct that I had Something in me which would supply what He needed, some ingredient in which He was Lacking. It was perhaps a half maternal instinct that pushed me towards this twisted and interesting Creature."
One of Ottoline's fatal flaws & the very one that makes her life so interesting-she thought she could save them all. That she was Muse to many there is no doubt. It is this overreaching she expressed in this journal entry that was cause for much of the terror Lamb would exhibit and express to his Divine- as would the many others she wanted to save.
sketches of Lady Ottoline Morrell by Henry Lamb
Well aren't you Miss Smartypants! I've thought about another blog before, but can't seem to do one. Something like, 'duality and me or me'. Maybe something bitchy or political?
ReplyDeleteYes, that would be me. & haha. I am perfectly content being bitchy and political at home, SO I am going to be all charm and wit here-or rather Ottoline will be! pgt
ReplyDeleteHere we have yet another example of a woman who defies the category of "Beauty" that many would subscribe to, yet holds her own against any Belle Helene. Ottoline reminds me of Vita Sackville-West(one of my own personal obsessions) in this respect. In both cases, I think, it was their heavy-lidded, sultry eyes that did the cast the spell. Along with heaps of Presence, Wit and Intelligence!
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