Listen to co-curators Philip Palmer and Erica Ciallela discuss the only surviving photograph of Belle Greene’s mother, Genevieve, and hear a passage from a letter written by Gertrude Tuxen, the woman who took the photograph ca. 1939.
THE ONLY PHOTOGRAPH OF GENEVIEVE
This previously unknown photograph of Genevieve was taken by a member of Belle Greene’s household staff, Gertrude Tuxen, while on a picnic in the Hudson Valley. The image shows Genevieve (at left) around ninety years old with another member of the staff and her family, as well as the household Pekingese dog, named “Hia Shua San.” The photograph conveys the visual foundation of racial passing, based in colorism, as Genevieve’s complexion appears quite light. The image helps explain how Genevieve Ida Fleet Greener could pass as Genevieve Van Vliet Greene, fit into the colorist social world of DC’s Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church, be mistaken for white by Grace Dodge, and have children who could cross the color line.
Gertrude Tuxen
Genevieve Van Vliet Greene, Belle da Costa Greene’s mother, on an outing in the Hudson River Valley near Bear Mountain, ca. 1939
Gelatin silver print
The Morgan Library & Museum; ARC 3297.1
PHILIP: Nearly twenty-five years ago a woman named Gertrude Tuxen wrote a letter to the Morgan Library. In it she recounted her days emigrating from Denmark and working for Belle da Costa Greene as a chambermaid in the late 1930s, a position she held for only a couple of years. Her letter is valuable not only for its description of Belle Greene’s apartment and family life, but also for the candid photographs she placed in the envelope. These show the household dog, a view from the apartment’s balcony, and, most importantly, the only known photograph of Belle’s mother Genevieve. The following is an excerpt from her letter.
ERICA: Belle da Costa Greene’s mother is to the left, my aunt Vica and uncle Harald Svantemann are next and Elise Olsen, housekeeper at Miss Greene’s Home, is the dark-haired lady. Another important member of this little group is the Pekinese at Mrs. Greene’s feet, Hia Shua San—called San—it was Elise Olsen’s great love, I remember she cooked calf liver for the dog, Miss Greene had acquired it on a trip to China. …
I was a domestic in Miss Greene’s household from ca. May 1939 until a short time after Denmark was invaded by Germany on April 9, 1940. Miss Greene lived on 66th Street between Madison and Park. She and her mother occupied the 7th floor which had its own elevator entrance. The home was a “museum” with many items from Miss Greene’s travels with JP Morgan, there were chairs you were not to sit on, and I was told that many things were museum bound eventually. The household consisted of Miss Belle da Costa Greene, her mother whom I addressed as Mrs. Greene. We referred to [her] as the “old lady,” her adopted son Bob—then a Harvard student—came now and again. Elise Olsen, a Norwegian, was cook and housekeeper, San, the Pekinese, I was chambermaid and dog walker, and had recently arrived from Denmark. …
Miss Greene must have been away, when it was decided to give Mrs. Greene an outing. As you will see we brought with us a very comfortable chair for the old lady, I don’t believe she had been out of the house in years. To begin with it was quite pleasurable for her to be on the trip, but it eventually became quite a strain for her, and I recall her saying “You are trying to kill me.” I am not sure Belle was ever told about this excursion, it was not repeated in my time there.