Else Dorothea Spiro (1886 - 1969) is one of those artists of the early 20th century whom time has not served well. I just re-wrote her Wikipedia biography. She had the true misfortune of being "the mother of the artist Balthus and the writer Pierre Klossowski, and the last lover of the poet Rainer Maria Rilke."
I'm not sure how someone as obviously fascinating and brilliant as Spiro, who remade herself as Baladine Klossowska after her marriage and move to Paris in 1902-3, ends up with a short biography composed almost entirely of her relationships to men, but as I stumbled across her, and smacked into her copyright issues (she died so late, Wikipedia won't allow reproductions of any of her artwork, portraits, or really much else besides sully the integrity of their website), I felt once again the cards stacked in favor of.... the patriarchy, or something. It was the caption on the one photo that Wikipedia did approve for her biographical page that got me going:
"Rilke and his lover, Baladine Klossowska at the Château de Muzot, near Veyras in Switzerland's Rhone Valley (circa 1923). The two pursued an intense but episodic romance that lasted from 1919 until Rilke's death in 1926"
Is that how YOU would like to see yourself described on the lone image of YOU that was attached to YOUR biography?
I think not.
"Baladine and her lover Rainer Maria Rilke at the Château de Muzot, near Veyras in Switzerland's Rhone Valley (circa 1923). The two pursued an intense but episodic romance that lasted from 1919 until Rilke's death in 1926"
How lazy a writer does one have to be, not to make even this simple fix?
Click the button for my attempt at a more complete biography. Including, even, some examples of her artwork:
