Mistresses: A History of the Other Woman by Abbott Elizabeth

Author:Abbott, Elizabeth [Abbott, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HIS000000, HIS050000
ISBN: 9781590208762
Publisher: Overlook
Published: 2011-11-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 9

Mistresses as Muses

GENIUS may be either a gift or a curse, and those who possess it are seldom ordinary. In every society, creative people, especially men, inspire admiration and a certain respect that, among a small band of fervent devotees, translates into an erotic passion and a desire to simultaneously nurture the genius and live vicariously through him as his muse.

Often enough these women are themselves creators, or they long to be. They even have a name: shadow artists. Writer Rosemary Sullivan describes these women who “have notoriously attached themselves to male artists” as being “in love with art but feeling inadequate and fearful of failure, or simply unable to find their own way.”1 Sometimes the awed respect that binds shadow-artist mistresses to their creative lovers approaches reverence and induces a degree of self-abnegation shocking in its intensity.

Not all mistresses are shadow artists who sacrifice to a lover’s creative gift. Some women, as appreciative of self as of genius, demand egalitarian relationships. In rare cases, the couple realize an ideal and become each other’s mutually inspiring muses. Even more rarely, an admiring lover devotes himself to a creative woman as her muse. The fact is, some of the most famous mistresses of creators, perhaps a majority of them, have idolized their gifted lovers and judged their interests, needs and value to the world of paramount importance. Because of this, these shadow artists willingly suppress their personal desires and even their rights; of their own volition, they sacrifice themselves on the altar of their lovers’ creative genius.

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