Every time I think about how modernity was inserted in everyday life, I’m impressed by the minds behind some of the most amazing inventions. Think of how cinema changed the way we consume art, or even how it became an essential need for contemporary society. Photography altered our perception of things, even how people were able to collect their most precious moments in life with a single machine that would freeze them. We tend to think on the positive side of inventions, currents, trends, and the optimization of life without thinking about their repercussions. Why? Mainly because we have this weird and selfish idea of progress for progress’ sake. We forget all that was left behind. When we admire a modern painting or sculpture, we praise the genius minds behind it and those stories of how they followed their guts to create new forms of art. Take for instance Picasso, or Dalí, or whatever artist you can think related to the avant-garde movements; we love their boldness to create something beyond established patterns.
That’s the course life must have, but have you ever stopped to think about all those artists who were left behind or whose lives were destroyed by progress? This is the story of a woman who had everything she desired and with a blink of an eye lost it all: Audrey Munson, a woman all New Yorkers know, but fail to recognize.
Born in 1891, Audrey Munson became the first supermodel ever. After the early death of her father, she moved with her mother to New York, where one day she was scouted by photographer Felix Benedict Herzog, who introduced her to his artist friends. They were amazed by her natural beauty, which reminded them of ancient Greek muses. They were inspired by her perfect proportions and “classic” features. This resulted in her career as a mainstream model. She became the muse of bohemian artistic spheres and posed for several sculptures and monuments that still adorn New York City.
The “American Venus,” as she was later named, was at the peak of her life and thought she could do anything she wanted. She moved with her mother to California to try her luck in the new development of art, cinema. She was well known by then, and her beauty was beyond limits, so she starred in four silent movies that were almost banned for nudity. Rumor has it they didn’t censor them because her naked body resembled those amazing sculptures from the Renaissance, and who would dare to ban that art? Whether that’s true or not, she was the first nude in film history.
However, it’s very difficult to escape from Murphy’s law, and she started seeing her decline. As her latest biographer, James Bone, states, modernism was the cause of her downfall: “Modernism, and all its associated ‘isms’ —cubism, fauvism, dadaism, futurism, expressionism, and surrealism— was breaking upon the unsuspecting world, Audrey’s world.” Her classic style was far from being interesting to new currents, and her work in cinema never took off. But this was just the start of what became a living hell for the woman who once embodied angels.
She was involved in the investigation of Dr. Walter Wilkins’ wife. After her failure in California, she moved back to New York with her mother into the house of the Wilkins’ couple. The doctor fell so madly in love with her that in his attempt to get her, murdered his wife so that he could be an eligible man. Of course, he was found guilty, and Munson and her mother were chased by the police. This event damaged her reputation terribly. Unable to find any project to work in, she attempted suicide with poison, but she was found on time and treated in the hospital. However, her life would never go back to normal.
Back at home, her mother noticed weird things about her behavior. For instance, she assured that she had attempted suicide because a man she was going to marry broke off the engagement. No one could trace that man. Then she started presenting delusional attitudes. She referred to herself as “Baroness Audrey Meri Munson-Monson.” When he turned 40, her mother locked her up in a mental asylum, where she was treated for depression and schizophrenia. She spent the rest of her days there, until she died in 1996, at the age of 104.
That was the life of a woman who rebelled against norms and patterns by showing her body without any restraint, a woman who thought all women should dress as they please, that their natural beauty was enough, and that they didn’t have to impress anyone. That was Audrey Munson, the first supermodel, and probably the first fallen star.
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Source:
Vogue
Hyper Allergic
