Mina Loy Chronology

1882: Mina Loy born Mina Gertrude Lowy on December 27th in London (a Capricorn). Childhood: Difficult mother, indulgent father, late-Victorian struggles abound.

1899: Studies art in Munich. Extremely talented.

1901: Returns to London, studies with Augustus John, meets Stephen Haweis, a narcissistic English art student.

1903: Moves to Paris, produces superb art, marries Haweis (alas).

1904: Daughter born.

1905: Daughter dies. Cautiously active in Paris art circles.

1906: Continues to produce superb art. Elected member of Salon d'Automne. Moves quietly to Florence.

1907: Daughter born.

1909: Becomes a (lifelong) practitioner of Christian Science. Son born.

1913: Paintings exhibited in London. Hangs out with expatriate crowd in Florence (e.g. Mabel Dodge, John Reed, Stein & Toklas, etc.) Engages Carl Van Vechten as literary agent. Haweis departs.

1913-14: Fun and trauma with Papini, then Marinetti (then Papini, then Marinetti). At work on more art (oils, drawings, fashion designs).

1914: Poems published in Camera Work and Trend. Works in Italian war hospital.

1915: "Love Songs" #1-4 published in inaugural issue of Others: A Magazine of the New Verse (1:1 July 1915, 6-8); exciting controversy ensues. Other poems published in Rogue.

1916: Moves to New York, hangs out with Bohemian personalities.

1917: Causes media stir as exemplary "new woman." Begins fabulous work in lampshade studio, a fraught vocation she will pursue until 1930. Complete "Love Songs" (1-34), now titled "Songs to Joannes," published in Others (3:6, April 1917, 3-20). Meets dadaist Arthur Cravan, love of life. Divorce from Haweis finalized.

1918: Marries Cravan in Mexico. Loses him en route to Buenos Aires: he disappears forever.

1919: Daughter born. Returns to Florence.

1920: Back to New York to search for Cravan.

1921: Returns to Florence. Haweis kidnaps son.

1922: Moves to Berlin.

1923: Returns to Paris. Son dies in Haweis's custody. First part of Anglo-Mongrels and the Rose published in The Little Review; Lunar Baedecker published by Contact. Lampshade enterprise grows.

1925: Exhibits art (paintings, drawings, design work) in New York and Connecticut.

1926: New lampshade shop in Paris.

1927: Appears at Natalie Barney's salon and lectures on Gertrude Stein. Ignores solicitations from poetry magazines.

1930: Sells lampshade shop.

1931: Becomes Paris art agent for son-in-law Julien Levy, New York art dealer.

1933: Exhibitions of her paintings in Connecticut and New York.

1936: Returns to New York. Lives variously with one or the other of her daughters in midtown. Increasingly reclusive and distracted, except for a strong friendship with Joseph Cornell.

1948: Moves to 2nd St., then Stanton St., near the Bowery, lives in a communal home. Begins working on three-dimensional assemblages (street people / "bums") and destitution / enlightenment poems.

1953: Moves to Aspen Colorado to join daughters and grandchildren.

1954: More assemblages (mining).

1958: Jonathan Williams brings out Lunar Baedeker & Time-Tables.

1959: One-woman show of Bowery assemblages in New York.

1966: Final interview. Dies of pneumonia on September 25.

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