elsa

Along to a talk about the Baroness Elsa (1874-1927), sometimes described as a proto-punk, or as the Mama of Dada.

Born Else Hildegard Plötz, she became the Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven through marriage. She adopted her most idiosyncratic profile after her post World War I move from Germany to New York. Before that she'd lived close to the Baltic and then moved to become a Berlin chorus girl, like an early and even more outrageous Sally Bowles character.

Elsa's story was related by Dr Maggie Irving, who adopted one of the Baroness personas, whilst describing her in the context of Irving's own work on female clowns.

Irving's talk could only skim the breadth of Baroness Elsa's worldview. The Baroness painted her shaved head red. She wore extravagantly odd clothes, including a bird cage with live canaries. By the time she inhabited Greenwich Village, it had become her theatre, featuring Dada-ist acts.

Alongside her three marriages, she had many partners, as well as ongoing friendships with Man Ray and Marcel Duchamp. To the extent that the famous Duchamp 'fountain' ready-made art is sometimes attributed to her. The nom-de-plume R.Mutt was said to be one of hers, and 'armut', her punned German word for poverty.

Maggie Irving had her own protest about Elsa's lack of feature in Dada exhibitions. She had visited the Tate dressed as Elsa, partly to feature and partly to protest about exclusions.

I've separately looked at Baroness Elsa's fractured poetry. Experimental and sometimes staccato streams of consciousness. Ornately written, in multiple colours, I'd say the original handwritten is the best way to see it and get a better insight into the character of the Baroness. That of a determined loner, fearless but ultimately trapped in a time period that wouldn't move as fast as she could. Her influence persists. Check out these modern cover shots.