Maria Chabot (1913–2001), was an advocate for Native American arts, a rancher, and a friend of
Georgia O'Keeffe
Georgia Totto O'Keeffe (November 15, 1887 – March 6, 1986) was an American modernist artist. She was known for her paintings of enlarged flowers, New York skyscrapers, and New Mexico landscapes. O'Keeffe has been called the "Mother of Amer ...
. She led the restoration of her house in
Abiquiú, New Mexico
Abiquiú (, , Tewa: ; Northern Tiwa: ) is a census-designated place in Rio Arriba County, in northern New Mexico in the southwestern United States, about 53 miles (85 km) north of Santa Fe. As of 2010, the population was 231. Abiquiú's ...
and took the photograph of O'Keeffe entitled ''Women Who Rode Away,'' in which the artist was on the back of a motorcycle driven by
Maurice Grosser.
Their correspondence was published in the book ''Maria Chabot—Georgia O'Keeffe: Correspondence 1941-1949''.
Chabot has documented and promoted Spanish colonial and Native American art in the Southwest and facilitated the development of the Santa Fe Indian Market from small fairs throughout the state. She was executive secretary of the New Mexico Association on Indian Affairs. Chabot has been described as "a photographer, writer, and explorer".
Early life
Maria Lea Chabot was born on September 19, 1913 in
San Antonio
("Cradle of Freedom")
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, mapsize = 220px
, map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = United States
, subdivision_type1= U.S. state, State
, subdivision_name1 = Texas
, s ...
,
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
,
the daughter of Charles Jasper Chabot, a capitalist, and his third wife Olive Anderston Johnston, Chabot. Maria Chabot had three half-sibblings who reached adulthood from her parent's previous marriages: Frederick Charles Chabot, Edith Lilian Chabot, and James Kennedy Johnston.
Chabot developed an interest in writing and painting in her teens. After graduating from high school, Chabot took a job as copywriter at a San Antonio department store and also wrote short stories. She continued to write fiction into the 1960s, but the short stories and novels were never published.
Chabot moved to Santa Fe about 1931, when she was 18.
She traveled in 1933 to Mexico City to pursue her interests in literature and art
and visit a relative,
Emily Edwards
Emily Edwards (October 7, 1888– February 16, 1980) was a co-founder and first president of the San Antonio Conservation Society. She was an artist, historian and teacher, and a lifelong friend of Diego Rivera. She is remembered as being a key fi ...
, who lived there at the time.
She met sisters
Dorothy Stewart and
Margretta Stewart Dietrich,
Olive Rush
Olive Rush (June 10, 1873 near Fairmount, Indiana – August 20, 1966 in Santa Fe, New Mexico) was a painter, illustrator, muralist, and an important pioneer in Native American art education. Her paintings are held in a number of private colle ...
,
Erna Fergusson
Erna Fergusson (January 10, 1888 – July 30, 1964Remely, D. (1969) "Erna Fergusson", Austin, Texas: Stech-Vaughn Company.Sullivan, M.A. (2004). "Erna Fergusson", New Mexico Office of the State Historian. http://www.newmexicohistory.org/filedetail ...
, as well as
José Clemente Orozco
José Clemente Orozco (November 23, 1883 – September 7, 1949) was a Mexican caricaturist and painter, who specialized in political murals that established the Mexican Mural Renaissance together with murals by Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Sique ...
,
Diego Rivera
Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez, known as Diego Rivera (; December 8, 1886 – November 24, 1957), was a prominent Mexican painter. His large frescoes helped establish the ...
, and other notable Mexican artists.
Stewart became an integral part of her life, professionally and romantically, in the 1930s.
Dorothy Stewart
After Chabot and Stewart met, they began a romantic relationship.
Stewart had asked Chabot to assist her with a fresco for a theatre in Albuquerque. They lived together in Santa Fe and traveled extensively during the 1930s. They visited Europe, Africa, and the Americas. Through Stewart, Chabot met many influential, progressive people, like freind and benefactor
Mary Cabot Wheelwright
Mary Cabot Wheelwright (October 2, 1878 – July 29, 1958) was an American anthropologist and museum founder. She established the museum which is now called Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, in 1937 along with Hosteen Klah.
Early life ...
, archaeologist
Jesse L. Nusbaum Jesse L. Nusbaum (1887–1975), was an American archaeologist, anthropologist, photographer and National Park Service Superintendent who lived in the American Southwest, where he made significant achievements in the identification, documentation, r ...
, and Native American pottery expert
Kenneth M. Chapman
Kenneth M. "Chap" Chapman (1875–1968) was an art historian, arts administrator, anthropologist, writer, teacher, and researcher of Native American art and culture in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The New Mexico Archive said of Chapman: "An advocate of I ...
.
Grace Guest, assistant curator of
Freer Gallery of Art
The Freer Gallery of Art is an art museum of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. focusing on Asian art. The Freer and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery together form the National Museum of Asian Art in the United States. The Freer and Sac ...
in Washington, D.C., became her friend. The romantic relationship with Stewart ended in 1939.
The women remained close friends until Stewart's death in 1955.
Career
Advocate for Native Americans
In 1934, she went with Stewart to Santa Fe, New Mexico and she was employed by the New Mexico Department of Vocational Education. She worked at the federal Indian Arts and Crafts Board in 1935.
With these agencies and as part of a
Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...
(WPA) initiative, she photographed and documented
Spanish Colonial and
Native American arts and crafts in the Southwest
and territorial architecture in New Mexico.
To complete the photographic survey, she traveled throughout the
Southwestern United States
The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural region of the United States that generally includes Arizona, New Mexico, and adjacent portions of California, Colorado, Ne ...
with Stewart in the 1930s and 1940s.
She photographed the collection of
Mary Cabot Wheelwright
Mary Cabot Wheelwright (October 2, 1878 – July 29, 1958) was an American anthropologist and museum founder. She established the museum which is now called Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, in 1937 along with Hosteen Klah.
Early life ...
, who was a noted collector of
Navajo
The Navajo (; British English: Navaho; nv, Diné or ') are a Native American people of the Southwestern United States.
With more than 399,494 enrolled tribal members , the Navajo Nation is the largest federally recognized tribe in the United ...
art, now in the
Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian
The Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian is a museum devoted to Native American arts. It is located in Santa Fe, New Mexico and was founded in 1937 by Mary Cabot Wheelwright, who came from Boston, and Hastiin Klah, a Navajo singer and medici ...
.
In the 1930s, Chabot published articles on Native American arts and crafts,
for ''
New Mexico Magazine
''New Mexico Magazine'' was launched in 1923, and is the first state magazine founded in the United States. It is published monthly in print, online, and via an iOS app. Additionally, the magazine also maintains a store, selling New Mexico-relate ...
'' to inform potential buyers on how to identify valuable works of art.
![NewMexicoPalaceSantaFe](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/NewMexicoPalaceSantaFe.jpg)
Chabot was made the executive secretary of the New Mexico Association on Indian Affairs in 1936.
During that time, she came up with the idea for the
Santa Fe Indian Market
The Santa Fe Indian Market is an annual art market held in Santa Fe, New Mexico on the weekend following the third Thursday in August. The event draws an estimated 150,000 people to the city from around the world. The Southwestern Association for ...
like the outdoor markets in Mexico. Held at the
Palace of the Governors
The Palace of the Governors ( es, Palacio de los Gobernadores) is an adobe structure built in the Territorial Style of Pueblo architecture on Palace Avenue in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Located within the Santa Fe Historic District along the Santa Fe ...
,
the market held weekly fairs and rented schools buses to transport Native Americans to the markets where they could sell their jewelry, pottery, or other wares.
Initially, local businesses opposed the Native American markets, which were established by Chabot to promote their works. She visited pueblos and encouraged artists to sell their works, including
Maria Martinez
Maria Montoya Martinez (1887, San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico – July 20, 1980, San Ildefonso Pueblo) was a Native American artist who created internationally known pottery. Martinez (born Maria Poveka Montoya), her husband Julian, and o ...
, a potter of the
San Ildefonso Pueblo
San Ildefonso Pueblo (Tewa: Pʼohwhogeh Ówîngeh ’òhxʷógè ʔówîŋgè"where the water cuts through"
) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Santa Fe County, New Mexico, United States, and a federally recognized tribe, established c. 130 ...
. She worked then at the federal
Indian Arts and Crafts Board
The Indian Arts and Crafts Board (IACB) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior whose mission is to "promote the economic development of American Indians and Alaska Natives through the expansion of the Indian arts and craft ...
where she established cooperative marketing organizations on reservations.
Rancher
Chabot lived at Mary Cabot Wheelwright's Los Luceros property in
Alcalde, New Mexico
Alcalde (Spanish for ''mayor'') is a census-designated place (CDP) in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 285 at the 2010 census.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of , ...
after then end of her relationship with Dorothy Stewart.
She was a companion and ran Wheelwright's cattle ranch, farm, and fruit tree orchard for 20 years.
She worked in the fields with the men.
During that period, she was president of the local irrigation association.
Wheelwright died in 1958 and the Los Luceros was deeded to Chabot. It was onerous for Chabot to manage the property and she sold it to Charles and Nina Collier in the early 1960s.
Georgia O'Keeffe
In 1940, Chabot met O'Keeffe, with whom she had a friendship that allowed for Chabot to write in a peaceful setting and for O'Keefe to paint and spend part of the year in New York with her husband
Alfred Stieglitz
Alfred Stieglitz (January 1, 1864 – July 13, 1946) was an American photographer and modern art promoter who was instrumental over his 50-year career in making photography an accepted art form. In addition to his photography, Stieglitz was kno ...
.
Chabot spent the summers and falls at her house on the Ghost Ranch from 1941 to 1944, managing the ranch in the summers. During the winter and spring, Chabot returned to San Antonio. She camped with O'Keeffe in northern New Mexico and was captured in the painting ''Maria goes to a Party'' in one of O'Keeffe's paintings of their trips.
Beginnning in 1945, Chabot led the restoration of an adobe hacienda (
Georgia O'Keeffe Home and Studio
The Georgia O'Keeffe Home and Studio is a historic house museum in Abiquiú, New Mexico. From 1943 until her death, it was the principal residence and studio of artist Georgia O'Keeffe (1887–1986). It is now part of the Georgia O'Keeffe Museu ...
) in Abiquiú for O'Keeffe, who oversaw the restoration.
Chabot said of the experience, "I had never found anything as romantic as this beat-up building, a ruin really... It took six months just to get the pigs out of the house."
Chabot and O'Keeffe had exchanged almost 700 letters until 1986 when O'Keeffe died. In her later years, Chabot assembled her correspondence with O'Keeffe and photographs to illustrate a book, but did not complete the book in her lifetime. When she died, the materials were transferred to the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum Research Center. The book ''Maria Chabot—Georgia O'Keeffe: Correspondence 1941-1949'' was published in 2004.
Later years and death
In 1961, Chabot married radio astronomer Dana K. Bailey who works at the
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos National Laboratory (often shortened as Los Alamos and LANL) is one of the sixteen research and development laboratories of the United States Department of Energy (DOE), located a short distance northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico, ...
. Married for only six months, she said, "we were much better as friends than as husband and wife." In the 1960s, she sold the ranch that she had inherited from Wheelwright and moved to Albuquerque, where she cared for her mother.
She was named a "Living Treasure" of Santa Fe in 1996. Chabot died on July 9, 2001 at 87 years of age in an Albuquerque hospital.
Notes
References
Bibliography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chabot, Maria
1913 births
2001 deaths
People from San Antonio
People from Rio Arriba County, New Mexico
People from Abiquiú, New Mexico
LGBT people from Texas
LGBT people from New Mexico
20th-century LGBT people