Thursday, October 18, 2012

Mark Twain's The Lobster Pot Studio and Gallery online Exhibit featuring the artwork of Susan Boone Durkee

It has been said that Mark Twain called the old farmhouse, The Lobster Pot, because it was a frequent destination of his “Aquarium” and the Angel Fish Club.  Mark Twain gave The Lobster Pot along with funds for renovation to Isabel Lyon, his secretary, social companion and household manager, as a Christmas gift in 1907.  When not staying at  Stormfield, Isabel Lyon lived with her mother in The Lobster Pot.



Mark Twain's The Lobster Pot Studio Gallery entrance

Mark Twain's The Lobster Pot Studio & Gallery in May



 Welcome to The Lobster Pot Studio and Gallery online Exhibit.

The Lobster Pot Studio and Gallery was designed by the artist, Susan Boone Durkee. Located on a very private hilltop setting and surrounded by garden views, The Lobster Pot offers a unique and inspiring studio and gallery space. Besides being a very busy working studio, The Lobster Pot hosts gallery shows, workshops, presentations and fundraising events. 

The Lobster Pot was named by the world famous humorist and writer Mark Twain, who owned the property at the turn of the century.
It has been said that Mark Twain called the old farmhouse, The Lobster Pot, because it was a frequent destination of his “Aquarium” and the Angel Fish Club. Mark Twain built his last home, Stormfield, on part of the original acreage.


 To see more artwork and traditional portraiture by the award winning artist, Susan Boone Durkee, visit:

                            www.SusanDurkee.com
                

 

 
The Redding Mark Twain   20 x 16 oil on linen collection of the artist

All the paintings shown are currently for sale, (unless indicated). 

 Please feel free to contact the Studio with any  inquiries:  Studio # 203-938-2760 or email at susan@susandurkee.com

The Lobster Pot 80 foot sunken Garden



Still lifes


Summer Pleasures

oil on Linen  24 x 22




Still life with Antique Chinese Ginger Jar

oil on linen  26 x 10





Fruitful Pleasures

 oil on linen 18 x 14 

 

 

 

                                                            Garden Peonies sold





Mark Twain's Passions

oil on linen   18 x 14




Spring Flowers

oil on canvas  16 x 14


 

Sporting Art and Animals




"The Cutty Sark racing the Wind"

oil on linen   56 x 38   sold



"Horse of the Year Curlin, Winning the Preakness"

oil on canvas   36 x 24



"Head to Head Saratoga"

Exhibited at The National Art Museum of Sport

Commitment to Excellence Show 2010

oil on Canvas   36 x 24



The Winning Stretch

oil on canvas   36 x 24

Top of the Stretch





"The King" Sold

oil on linen   20 x 16



Waiting for the Hunt


Heads Tails off to the Trails

Chicken Dance, New Pond Farm

Bison and Calf


Out for a Stroll, New Pond Farm









 "The Morning Wait" (New Pond Farm, Redding Ct) 

 oil on canvas   11 x 9




Across the Snow Thanksgiving Day Hunt Goldens Bridge Hounds sold


 

Over the Top

oil on linen  12 x 9



Across the snow, Goldens Bridge Hunt

oil on linen 7 x 5

Landscapes & Seascapes


Monet's Giverny

oil on linen   16 x 12




The Beauty Bush Tree

oil on linen 8 x 10

 

A Brant Point Welcome, Nantucket

Oil on linen 14 x 10


Spring Night  North Church, Nantucket

Winner of the President Award of Excellence,

Summer Potpourri Show, Salmagundi Club, N.Y

oil on canvas   28 x 22



A Fall Day Old Lyme    sold




4th of July Brant Point Nantucket

oil on canvas   20 x 16



Southport Harbor view

oil on linen  5 1/2 x 7


Night Glow Redding Congregational Church

oil on canvas   20 x 16




Southport Harbor Yacht Club

oil on canvas  20 x 17





                                                                      Southport Scene                                                                                                                                                                                     oil on canvas    14 x 11



Rendezvous Island Memory

oil on canvas    12 x 9 

 

 

Garden Views of The Lobster Pot
Spring and Summer Garden views

Summer gardens and  more Lobster Pot Garden views


Dogwood Time  Greenfield Hill

oil on linen    22 x 18

 




The Artist in her Studio. To see more artwork and Susan's traditional Portraiture please visit: www.SusanDurkee.com

Susan can be reached at the Studio # 203-938-2760 and  at susan@susandurkee.com

 

The history about Mark Twain and The Lobster Pot Studio and Gallery

 

"Mark Twain and Friend" collection of the artist

                  " Isabel Lyon"   24 x 30 oil on linen,  Collection of the Artist                                        Mark Twain Room at The Lobster Pot



Mark Twain and Isabel Lyon


An untold Story

 By Susan Boone Durkee

 Isabel Van Kleek Lyon    1863-1958

 The relationship between Isabel Lyon and Mark Twain has basically been kept a secret for nearly 70 years. How can that be? Here is a woman about whom Twain himself said he knew most intimately in all the world -- with the exception of his wife, Livy.


 Mark Twain first met Isabel Lyon in 1892, when she was 26 and working as a Governess for a Hartford family. He encountered her at a party while he was playing charades, and he was so charmed by her that at the end of the evening, when invited to return, he replied: “I’ll come only if I can play with the little Governess.”

 When Isabel Lyon first came to work for the Clemens family in 1902, Twain described her as “slender, petite, comely, 39 years old by the almanac, and 17 in ways and carriage and dress.” A charming woman, hard working and competent she soon took responsibility for the entire Clemens household.

After Livy’s death in 1904, Isabel became Mark Twain’s secretary, bookkeeper, household manager, social companion, literary critic, and holder of his power of attorney. For a period she lived at Stormfield with Twain.  Supposedly her bedroom was next to his and her office was located just inside Stormfield’s  front hall on the left.

Intelligent, and sensitive, Isabel worshipped Twain, referring to him as “The King.” He, in turn, called her “The Lioness.” Isabel staggered under the demands that Twain placed on her. As Twain described her:

 “Miss Lyon runs Clara, and Jean, and me, and the servants, and the housekeeping, and the house building, and the secretary work, and remains as extraordinarily as competent as ever.”

In her diary, Isabel records:

 “I have been so busy, for there is this house to look after (The Lobster Pot), and the Tuxedo house to think and plan for, and the Redding house to be after too, and Santa (Clara) to love and be with when she was here and do for, and Jean to be anxious over and to help if I can, and her doctors to see, and the King’s social life to look after – for in these days he is very lonely and reaches out for people — and people he must have, so now I am planning parties for him.”

 Although it is said that Isabel had designs to marry Twain, she ended up marrying married Twain’s business manager, Ralph Ashcroft, in 1909. It was an unhappy marriage and ended in divorce in 1920.

 There is no evidence that Lyon ever betrayed Twain, even though she was paid poorly and treated badly at the end of her service -- Twain even took back the “The Lobster Pot,” her  “darling house,” which he had given her as a Christmas gift in 1907. Still, Isabel remained devoted to him. Many years later, she would refer to the situation as, “we had a falling out.” A young actress friend, Joyce Aaron, who lived next to Isabel when Isabel was in her mid-nineties and living in Brooklyn, told this to me.

What really happened between Twain and Isabel? Was it Clara’s jealous prodding? Was Twain jealous that she married Ashcroft? Did she really try to steal from Twain? Was Albert Bigelow Paine jealous of her control of Twain?  Or did  she know too many of the family’s secrets?

We may never know for sure. So why has this relationship been kept secret?

 After Twain died, Clara Clemens and Albert Bigelow Paine removed virtually all record of Isabel Lyon’s existence. So as far as the public was concerned, Isabel Van Kleek Lyon never existed.

 Isabel died in 1958. She willed her diary and photos to the Mark Twain Papers collection at the University of California, Berkeley, with the condition that they not be open to the public until after Clara’s Death. So I guess you can say that after Clara died, Isabel was reborn.

 We all owe a lot to this woman, Isabel Lyon. Because of her diligence in keeping a sequence of detailed journals and photos the last years of Mark Twain’s life can now be better known to all.

                                       Isabel Lyon and her mother 1908, in front of The Lobster Pot
                                                          photo courtesy of the Wayland Family
                   Isabel Lyon  in the back of The Lobster Pot, by the patio 1908,   photo courtesy of the Wayland family


Back of The Lobster Pot looking onto the Patio, 1908 (looks the same today)


 

               Captain Stormfield "Cappy"  the Studio Mascott...a 21 pounder and proud of it!

 

Email: Susan@Susandurkee.com

 visit the website:

www.SusanDurkee.com