Gertrude Stein (February 3, 1874 – July 27, 1946) was a noted American art collector of seminal modernist paintings and an experimental writer of novels, poetry and plays, which eschewed the narrative, linear, and temporal conventions of 19th century literature. She moved to Paris in 1903, making France her home for the remainder of her life. For some forty years, the Stein home on the Left Bank of Paris would become a renowned Saturday evening gathering place for expatriate American artists and writers, and others noteworthy in the world of vanguard arts and letters. Entrée and membership in the Stein salon was a sought-after validation, signifying that Stein had recognized a talent worthy of inclusion into a rarefied group of gifted artists. Stein became combination mentor, critic, and guru to those who gathered around her. A self-defined "genius", she was described as an imposing figure with a commanding manner whose inordinate self-confidence could intimidate. Among her coterie she was referred to as “Le Stein” and with less laudatory deference as “The Presence.”
In 1933, Stein published the memoirs of her Paris years titled The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, which became a literary bestseller. The advent of this book elevated Stein from the relative obscurity of cult literary figure, into the light of mainstream attention.
Near the end of her life Stein pronounced: "I always wanted to be historical from almost a baby on, I felt that way about it..."
Read more about Gertrude Stein: Early Life, Art Collection, 27 Rue De Fleurus: The Stein Salon, Literary Style, Literary Career, Alice B.Toklas, Political Views, Stein During World War II, Death, Critical Reception of Stein As Writer, Legacy and Commemoration, Published Works, Related Exhibits
Famous quotes by gertrude stein:
“One cannot come back too often to the question what is knowledge and to the answer knowledge is what one knows.... Knowledge is the thing you know and how can you know more than you do know.”
—Gertrude Stein (18741946)
“A conversation in English in Finnish and in French can not be held at the same time nor with indifference ever or after a time.”
—Gertrude Stein (18741946)
“I dont envisage collectivism. There is no such animal, it is always individualism, sometimes the rest vote and sometimes they do not, and if they do they do and if they do not they do not.”
—Gertrude Stein (18741946)
“All the world knows how to cry but not all the world knows how to sigh.
Sighing is extra.”
—Gertrude Stein (18741946)
“It does change the age that is young, once in Paris it was twenty-six, then it was twenty-two, then it was nineteen and now it is between thirty and forty. They tell about a new young man, how old is he you say and they say he is thirty.”
—Gertrude Stein (18741946)