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Jane Heap (1887 - 1964)
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 Dear
Tiny Heart: The Letters of Jane Heap and Florence Reynolds by
Holly Baggett (Editor), Jane Heap
Writer, artist, Manhattan gallery owner, and
co-editor of the Little Review, Jane Heap was one of the
most dynamic figures of the international avant garde, creating a
life that defined the "modernist experience" as a
syncretic one. Deliberately seeking a low profile throughout her
life, Heap has frustrated many scholars interested in her personal
life and the extraordinarily vital period in which she lived.
Through her correspondence, Heap here reveals her intimate self as
well as her more public, creative relationships with some of the
legends of modern art, literature, and spirituality. Focusing
primarily on the voluminous letters written by Heap to Florence
Reynolds, the correspondence included in this volume spans the
years from 1908-1949, incorporating additional illuminating
letters to Reynolds from other significant figures in Heap's life.
Heap's letters reveal the radical transformation
of a dreamy, young Midwestern woman into a forceful, sophisticated
arbiter of international modernism and provide rare insight into
the struggle for lesbian identity and community during the
inter-war period. They detail her eventual abandonment of art in
the search for the transcendent in the seductive and esoteric
mysticism of George Gurdjieff. Holly Baggett's accompanying essay
further highlights the boldness of Jane Heap's aesthetics and
life.
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From Gurdjieff International Review
Excerpt:
Even before she met Gurdjieff, who was to become
her mentor and lifelong inspiration, Jane Heap was already a
legendary thinker and raconteur in her own right. In 1916 she
became co-editor of the legendary literary journal, The
Little Review. Jane Heap first heard about Gurdjieff through
A. R. Orage. After meeting Gurdjieff himself during his 1924
visit to New York, Heap started a Gurdjieff study group in her
Greenwich Village apartment and later departed for Paris where she
studied with Gurdjieff until his death in 1949...
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By Rob Baker, Gurdjieff International Review
Excerpt:
Heap's London students included such important
Work figures as Michael Currier-Briggs, who became her literary
executor; clothing designer Elspeth Champcommunal, who was also
her companion in later life; ballet teacher Nesta Brooking; Annie
Lou Staveley, who was later to found Two Rivers Farm, a Work
center in Oregon in the United States; and stage and film director
Peter Brook...
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By Jennifer DiPietra
Excerpt:
Jane Heap was a Chicago artist, originally from
Kansas. She met Margaret Anderson in the office of The Little
Review and Anderson is quoted as saying that "their
meeting led to an unexpected life that to me was like a second
birth." Heap initially resisted being co-editor to the
magazine, but eventually joined Anderson in the production. The
two women juxtapose each other, as Anderson in known as the
vibrant, beautiful woman, while Heap plays the more masculine and
reserved role. The two began to advocate the "connections
between the traditional expectations about gender roles and a
vision of social reform articulated through the interactions of
the artist, critic and audience." Heap is perhaps best known
for her role as critic, rather than writer and her first debut in The
Little Review was a portrayal of Margaret Anderson sketching
her piano routine. It is suggested that their relationship worked
so well, because Anderson, who loved the idea of talking and
interacting with her readers, called Heap "the world’s best
talker about ideas." Heap’s assertiveness and creativity
was what Anderson craved and is perhaps what made the two editors
a success. Heap is direct and bold in her work, often alluding to
the personal in her work, as she often hinted about the lesbian
relationship between her and Anderson in her work. The magazine
covered a variety of topics, but there seemed to be a strong
advocation for women and their relationship was hinted at
purposefully. The two refused to print, for printing’s sake and
often left pages of the magazine blank. Anderson’s vision
remained intact, but also expanded with Heap, who also wanted to
explore the visual and creative through art. Heap however, focused
on critiquing, often having conversations with her readers. She
was notorious for masking, but hinting at herself through her
articles...
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Libel the Devil © Copyright 1999 by Leah Halper
Joyce had trouble finding any publishers for his
groundbreaking work, but in 1918 a chapter of Ulysses was accepted
by The Little Review in Chicago. The Little Review was founded by
Margaret Anderson and Jane Heap, and it existed to publish
exciting new literary work. It took some time, however, for
Anderson and Heap to find a printer who would print the selections
from Ulysses that Joyce provided. When they finally did, they
printed about half the novel. Three editions of The Little Review
were seized from post offices by government agents and burned
because of Joyce’s "obscene" prose...
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Names Index:
A B
C D
E F
G H
I J
K L
M N
O P
Q R
S T
U V
W X
Y Z
| Authors
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Index |
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