94 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 26.4 2016
Anne Gould Hauberg, 1941 University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections 95
enseignements de la foi bahá’íe, qui l’ont Anne Gould guidée tout le reste de sa vie. À la suite du décès récent de Hauberg, l’auteure nous Hauberg and fait part de ses réflexions sur les visites Mark Tobey: qu’elle a rendues à ces deux amateurs d’art – visites survenues à 40 ans d’intervalle – Lives Lived for et leur rend hommage individuellement et comme amis qui se sont accompagnés et Art, Cultivated by soutenus l’un l’autre.
Spirit Resumen La patrocinadora de arte en Seattle, Anne ANNE GORDON PERRY Gould Hauberg (1917-2016) y el pintor de Seattle, Mark Tobey (1890-1976) compar- Abstract tieron un interés común en el arte y la fe. Seattle art patron Anne Gould Hauberg Su amistad duro por décadas, con Hauberg (1917–2016) and Seattle-based paint- proveyendo patrocinio para Tobey, quien, er Mark Tobey (1890–1976) shared a al mismo tiempo que creaba obras de arte common interest in art and faith. Their significativas para ella y otros coleccion- friendship spanned decades, with Hau- istas del noroeste, le enseñó acerca de la berg providing patronage for Tobey, who, Fe Bahá’í, la cual la guio por el resto de su along with creating significant works of vida. Tras la muerte reciente de Hauberg, art for her and other Northwest collec- el autor reflexiona sobre sus visitas con los tors, taught her about the Bahá’í Faith, dos amantes del arte—visitas que ocurri- which guided her for the rest of her life. eron con 40 años de separación—y rinde Following the recent death of Hauberg, homenaje a ellos como individuos y como the author reflects on her visits with the amigos quienes se nutrieron y se ayudaron two art lovers—visits that occurred forty a sostenerse mutuamente. years apart—and pays tribute to them as individuals and as friends who nurtured Among the most illustrious people I and helped to sustain each other. have met in my life are the American painter Mark Tobey and the well- Resumé known Seattle art patron Anne Gould Une mécène de Seattle, Anne Gould Hauberg, two visionaries who shared Hauberg (1917 2016), et le peintre Mark a great connection to both spirit and Tobey (1890 1976), établi à Seattle, part- art. I was privileged to step briefly ageaient en commun un intérêt pour les into their orbits two years before each arts et la foi. Ils ont entretenu une amitié passed away, only later realizing the qui s’est poursuivie sur plusieurs décen- profound influence they had had upon nies, au cours desquelles Hauberg parrain- ait le travail de Tobey et celui-ci, alors qu’il each other and upon the art world. créait d’importantes œuvres d’art pour Tobey had one of the most creative elle et d’autres collectionneurs du Nord- and chaotic residences I had ever vis- Ouest américain, lui faisait connaître les ited; he was in his eighties, living in 96 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 26.4 2016
Basel, Switzerland when I spent a day some of the literature in her studio. with him in 1974, after my first pil- Invited to Green Acre, a Bahá’í con- grimage to the Bahá’í World Centre ference center in Maine, he learned in Haifa, Israel. Contrastingly, when more about and joined the Faith that I visited her in Seattle in 2014, Hau- would have a powerful impact upon berg, then ninety-six, lived in a most his life. Along with the Faith’s spiritu- elegant, orderly, and refined abode. alizing effect, the “dynamism of New Four decades separated those visits, York played a part in [his] desire to and yet for me there was a great sense liberate and activate form,” according of continuity and connection in what to William Seitz, who says those years we shared. were for Tobey a montage of “sirens, Before becoming aware of Hauberg, dynamic lights, brilliant parades and I had long admired the work of Mark returning heroes. An age of confusion Tobey, about whom I had written pa- and stepped up rhythms” (45). pers while studying aesthetics at Mills In 1922 Tobey moved to Seattle College. Influenced by my friendship from New York and taught at a pro- with Arthur and Joyce Dahl, collectors gressive school of the arts. The fol- of his work, and visits to their Pebble lowing year, he began to learn the Beach home, I was thrilled when they technique of Chinese calligraphy arranged my meeting with Tobey in from Teng Kuei, a young Chinese Switzerland. Fascinated by the con- artist studying at the University of nection of his Faith (which we shared) Washington (Seitz 47). Eventually he and his art, for which I had profound became known as a Northwest painter, admiration, he became for me a symbol though he spent a good part of his life of the interrelation of the two. in England, China (with Teng Kuei’s When Tobey was a child, he expe- family), Japan, and Switzerland. rienced a sense of oneness with nature In 1926, before he had achieved in- and an affinity for the sacredness and ternational renown, Tobey was work- mystery of life. Born in 1890 in Cen- ing as an art teacher at the Cornish terville, Wisconsin, he was especially School and became the instructor of interested in nature study, biology, Anne Gould (later Hauberg), who was and zoology. But in 1911, determined then nine years old. She remembered to succeed as a fashion artist, he took how he taught his students to “cap- a train to New York. His first one-man ture the energy of nature,” but the show of charcoal portraits was held in students’ mothers “were displeased 1917 and arranged by Marie Sterner, that their sons and daughters were who introduced him to the artist Ju- not being taught to draw realistically,” liet Thompson, for whom he agreed including her own mother, who with- to pose. During the sittings, Tobey drew her from the class (Johns 27). discovered that Thompson was a fol- However, Hauberg never forgot his lower of the Bahá’í Faith, and he read influence. Anne Gould Hauberg and Mark Tobey 97
The daughter of architect Carl Hauberg’s father designed a number Gould and exuberant social activist of prominent buildings in the North- Dorothy Gould, Hauberg was born in west, including the Olympic Hotel in 1917, grew up in a creative household, Seattle and the Seattle Art Museum and developed an appreciation for all (now the Seattle Asian Art Museum the arts. In Hauberg’s biography, Anne following the Seattle Art Museum’s Gould Hauberg: Fired by Beauty, Bar- move downtown). Hauberg herself bara Johns describes how the Goulds studied architecture at the Universi- frequently entertained and also held ty of Washington and was the only “memorable family occasions spiked female in the program. Years before with color and bursts of unconvention- her father had designed the universi- ality” (29). Hauberg recalls, “We always ty’s campus and founded the architec- lived in the two worlds of social and ture department. She married John artistic. Anything creative was their Hauberg, heir to a lumber fortune. motto!” (qtd. in Johns 29). The Haubergs had three children Johns comments on how Hauberg and shared many interests, including was a large art collection of works that reflected their diverse tastes. They instructed by her father’s ethics commissioned eminent architect Ro- and creativity and her mother’s land Terry to design homes for them ebullient sociability and ambition. in Seattle and on Bainbridge Island to Reared with the decorum and ben- showcase their collections. efits of privilege although some- Hauberg became recognized as a times constrained in means, she civic activist, philanthropist, and pa- married into wealth and used it to tron of the arts. In particular, she is create a richly textured personal known for her support of Mark Tobey, style. It was a style colored by her for discovering Dale Chihuly, and for passion for art and architecture co-founding (with her husband and and warmed by her relationships Chihuly) the Pilchuck Glass School in with artists and designers. (Johns 1971. Her obituary notes: “She became 153) the greatest supporter—emotionally, sometimes financially, always creative- The family lived on Seattle’s Capitol ly—for the scores of glass artists who Hill and at a “summer “ home on Bain- came to Pilchuck through the years bridge Island and often went on sketch- to experience the unique school cre- ing trips to the mountains or the shore ated by Dale Chihuly (“Anne Gould and then placed their sketches on the Hauberg”). fireplace mantle for a critique session. A 2006 interview with the Seattle The children were “encouraged to pur- Post-Intelligencer reveals that she “was sue whatever creative or intellectual responsible for the creation of Seat- interest they expressed” (Johns 29). tle’s Freeway Park, the preservation 98 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 26.4 2016 of Pioneer Square and Pike Place we are to have world peace, we Market, and the Pilot School for Neu- should have an understanding rologically Impaired Children, now of all the idioms of beauty be- the University of Washington’s Ex- cause the members of humanity perimental Education Unit” (Sailor). who have created these idioms of The Pilot School was of special sig- beauty are going to be a part of nificance for Hauberg, as two of her us. And I would say that we are in children were born disabled and she a period when we are discovering had a deep commitment to contribute and becoming acquainted with to education for those with mental these idioms for the first time. disabilities. (qtd. in Seitz 18) Meanwhile, the Bahá’í teachings had propelled Mark toward innova- Tobey was perpetually interested tion, unity, and worldmindedness. As in the spiritual quest and in making it he explains it: alive, relevant, and modern. In a letter, he writes: At a time when experimentation expresses itself in all forms of To bend the knee on Sunday or life, search becomes the only valid to deny the Creator altogether . . expression of the spirit. . . . I am . is no solution. The solution is accused often of too much exper- the balancing of the forces which imentation, but what else should I bring man to some state of equi- do when all other factors of man librium, and that will, and that are in the same condition? I thrust only, will bring peace. . . . If peo- forward into space as science and ple would only take time to inves- the rest do. The gods of the past tigate the writings of Bahá’u’lláh are as dead today as they were they would find the answers, for when Christianity overcame the we are at the time of the break- pagan world. The time is similar, up of the evolution of the parts only the arena is the whole world. with their peak in nationalism (qtd. in Seitz 14) and enter the great universal day when all parts have to function in In seeking influence from various the whole. . . . Civilization is not cultures and art styles and in empha- something one builds like a cathe- sizing the coming together of East dral or a building. It is a state of and West, Tobey often addressed the equilibrium which must be main- need for social transformation and its tained if man is to move forward relationship to art: in the right sense of movement, balanced like a man on horseback. Now it seems to me that we are There is an old law that frozen in a universalizing period. . . . If ice in a river cannot break itself. Anne Gould Hauberg and Mark Tobey 99
There must be an agency to do for universal education and world this. The ice cannot respond peace. . . . On October 17, 1969, and become flowing water again she was formally registered as a without the sun, nor to do great Bahá’í. Her commitment is a sus- changes in civilization come with- tained one. She found guidance in out a spiritual catalyst to break its code of conduct and tried to up the frozen forms and free the live by its principles. (103) human spirit. (qtd. in Thomas 30) The Haubergs shared a dream Arthur Dahl describes Tobey’s of having a cultural center on the work as “fresh, vigorous, strangely Pilchuck tree farm with two museums spiritual in quality, and very exciting where regional art could be exhib- (9). And more than any other modern ited and artists could work. In their artist, Seitz claims, Tobey has given vision, a performing arts space would form to mystical states, to worship: be created in a natural amphitheater. “Transcendental human conscious- In the mid-1960s they wrote to Tobey ness, it could be said, is Tobey’s ulti- about this dream, specifying that the mate theme” (Seitz 40). larger museum would be named the As a result of her long friendship “Mark Tobey Museum of Fine Art” with Mark Tobey, Hauberg was ac- and would be dedicated to housing his quainted with the Bahá’í Faith and works and archives. They envisioned was increasingly drawn to it in the the smaller museum as being dedicat- 1960s. Johns comments: ed to various crafts (Johns 119). The Haubergs offered Tobey a “lifetime Tobey had embraced this syn- stipend” along with a pledge to buy cretic religious teaching when art directly from him and his dealers he was a young man, at one (Johns 121). They also “made plans point even dwelling on the pos- to buy a house for Tobey in prepa- sibility of giving himself to its ration for his eventual return to Se- mission full-time rather than attle, and Anne made arrangements to art. During the 1960s, when for its supplemental use by the local Anne and Tobey were often in Bahá’í group, who embraced the idea correspondence about the Opera of its one day being the home of one House mural, their letters also of their most prominent members” frequently included mention of (Johns 121). Bahá’í principles. . . . Anne was But these plans never came to come attracted to its call for unity of to fruition. Conditions in the world all people across lines or race, made it difficult for the Haubergs to ethnicity, religion, and nationality, carry out their full vision, though their its acceptance of the equality of Pilchuck Glass School flourished, and men and women, and aspirations Tobey remained in Switzerland until 100 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 26.4 2016 his death in 1976. The Haubergs did “I would call her the patron saint for fund a film, Mark Tobey Abroad, which art. . . . She really understood our was produced by Robert Gardner of singular focus on Northwest art. . . . Harvard’s Film Student Center (Johns We lost a Northwest original. She had 121). an original eye an original vision and In 1978, Hauberg’s husband decided certainly an original style. She would to divorce her. She asked for a “year’s often say, ‘If you don’t support artists grace period in keeping with the Bahá’í there won’t be any.’ That’s what she teaching that called for reflection and always did. Artists never forgot that reconsideration,” to which he agreed, generosity of spirit” (qtd. in Sailor). but he immediately remarried when The museum is planning a show of the year was over (Johns 133). the highlights of Hauberg’s collection Hauberg continued her support of for the fall of 2017. various artistic endeavors; an Anne In 1984, after a burglary, Hauberg Gould Hauberg Gallery opened at sold her home and moved into a con- the Pacific Arts Center; she was a dominium in an “elegant 1920s build- founding member of the board of the ing on Seattle’s First Hill, a neighbor- Northwest School, which “gave equal hood where the mansions of Seattle’s emphasis to arts and academics”; and first families, including her grand- she established a fund at the Seattle parents, had once stood” (Johns 144). Art Museum to purchase craft works She opened the walls between living for its collection (Johns 140). In ad- and dining rooms to create a space to dition, she gave portions of her vast hold meetings and parties, filled her collection to Harborview Hospital, home with her own art collection, and The Bush School, the University of commissioned custom furniture. Johns Washington, the Seattle Art Museum, writes that she “could look in any di- and the Bainbridge Island Museum of rection and see a colorful, layered, Art (“Anne Gould Hauberg”). and textured tableau of art objects of Tacoma, Washington, also became varied media” (144). This is where I a focal point for Hauberg. She served visited her in 1996, amid her beautiful as a founding member on the board of art treasures. It was a distinct pleasure Tacoma’s Museum of Glass. In 1994 to be in her environment. We had tea, she joined the board of the Tacoma Art served by her caregiver companion, in Museum and focused her attention on a small room where she reclined. At developing its collection of American ninety-six, she still had spunk, spirit, art from the Northwest. She gave 159 and an avid interest in hearing about works of art to the museum—mostly how the arts were developing in the glass but also jewelry and paintings, Bahá’í community. According to Johns: including an original work by Tobey. When she died, the museum’s execu- The Bahá’í Faith remained a tive director Stephanie Stebich said, source of renewal and affirmation Anne Gould Hauberg and Mark Tobey 101
for Anne. Its universalist creed bearing a cast-glass image of the sun, encouraged her penchant for ho- and John Hauberg appeared at the listic thinking. She began to see base, “holding a cast-glass ceremonial that its central message affirmed sword” (Johns 152). patterns in her own life. Her ded- Anne Gould Hauberg was known as ication to education she found in someone who brought people together the Bahá’í’s [sic] instruction to to “generate the ideas, network, and “make education available to all”; synergy necessary to propel” various her zeal for making creative con- programs related to art and education. nections among people of diverse She committed herself “fearlessly and interests, in Bahá’í’s [sic] call for fiercely to the things in which she be- the joining of “arts, crafts, and sci- lieved. Late in her life she exclaimed, ences.” She identified even the in- ‘What would life be without the things ternationalism of the glass com- that give beauty—art, dance, theatre, munity she had helped nurture music—the things that make life bear- with the Bahá’í teaching “Let your able?’” (Johns 153). vision be world-embracing, rather Hauberg’s broad artistic and phil- than confined to your own selves;” anthropic influence in the wider world in such a way she could imagine remains a stellar example to me. Be- how it advanced the principle of cause of her unique position, she ren- the unity of humankind. Among dered valuable service to and shed lus- the papers she kept at hand was ter upon her Faith. She may not have a lyrical poem by Bahá’u’llah been familiar to many members of [“Blessed is the Spot”]. (149) her faith community, yet faith played a larger part in her life than many re- In 2001, on the thirtieth anni- alized. Robert Wilson, another Bahá’í versary of the establishment of the artist associated with the Northwest, Pilchuck Glass School, a totem pole describes how he held many informa- was created to honor its founders, who tional meetings for seekers interested were acknowledged for their unique in the Bahá’í Faith at her apartment contributions—“Chihuly’s originating on First Hill. She asked him to be her idea, Anne’s vision of what was pos- traveling companion on pilgrimage, sible, and John’s sustained financial after which they spent a day in Jeru- support” (Johns 152). Anne was rep- salem at the Citadel of David, where resented at the top of the totem pole, Chihuly had a large installation. They “wearing a Northwest Coast-style also traveled to London, visiting hat made of blown glass on her head, the gravesite of Shoghi Effendi and and the carved patterns of a Chilkat spending time at the Victoria and Al- blanket wrapped around her shoul- bert Museum, studying antique glass ders” (152). Chihuly was depicted at as it related to the Pilchuck school. the center, with a bird-shaped shield (Wilson). 102 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 26.4 2016
In 2007, the University of Wash- Hauberg once wrote, “My hope for ington Libraries’ Artist Images you and for myself is that our lives Award was renamed the Anne Gould are filled with purpose and filled with Hauberg Artist Images Award in her content, expressed with skill and ener- honor. Her obituary lists many other gy, and most of all that our contribu- honors including the Matrix Award tions endure in the memories of those from the Association of Women in whose lives we touch” (qtd. in “Anne Communication; the Washington Gould Hauberg”). Tobey claimed: State Governor’s Award; the Seattle “There is no such thing as a distinct- Center’s Legion of Honor; the Aileen ly original artist. Every artist has his Osborn Webb Silver Award from the patron saints whether or not he is American Crafts Council; the Vision- willing to acknowledge them” (qtd in aries Award from New York’s Amer- Seitz 22). No doubt Hauberg was one ican Craft Museum; and the Dorothy of Tobey’s “patron saints”—in a liter- Stimson Bullitt Award for philanthro- al sense in terms of her patronage and py from the Junior League of Seattle. in a creative sense as well. And she, Pilchuck School crowned her “Queen no doubt, remained appreciative of of Everything.” Northwest Designer Tobey’s works and spiritual influence Craftsmen produced a documentary to the end of her earthly life. about Anne, Anne Gould Hauberg: Vi- Two years after I visited each of sionary.1 She is also included in the film them in their respective homes forty Pilchuck—A Dance With Fire (“Anne years apart, they passed away—Tobey Gould Hauberg”). in 1976 and Hauberg in 2016. In my According to Zabine Van Ness, Se- mind, I can still see Tobey greeting me attle’s Unity Museum, which is dedi- in his rumpled white linen suit from cated to peace and intercultural under- the top of a long stairway on a warm standing, will have an ongoing exhibit summer day in Basel, Switzerland and on the life of Anne Gould Hauberg guiding me through his disheveled that will be prominently placed near collection of African masks and other exhibits on Mark Tobey and Dale artifacts amidst all kinds of art that Chihuly as part of the history of the was rolled up, piled up, hung carelessly University of Washington district. A on walls, everywhere filling his home. series of presentations and talks on He was edging towards senility at the Hauberg will be released through the time, but he took great pride in show- museum’s “Uniting Hearts Academy” ing me his multi-faceted and prolific speakers’ bureau and shared through collection. Bread crumbs to feed the online university courses and local birds sat on his window ledge; banana colleges (Van Ness). peels rested on the mantle. Chaos and creativity were manifest in equal abun- 1 Available online at https://www. dance. By contrast, I marveled at the youtube.com/watch?v=Zkj1WXpNyko. level of order and spatial refinement Anne Gould Hauberg and Mark Tobey 103 in Hauberg’s abode. She, too, was nearing the end of her days, but she placed a high importance on the maintenance of all that she had acquired—and some- times had helped to create—in a life blessed by affluence and a quest for beauty. Art, faith, and a deep respect for artists’ contributions to the world threaded each of their tapestries. While I cannot adequately describe either Tobey or Hauberg or their impact upon my own life or art, these visits were of profound significance to me. In my imagination, we—and other souls committed to the comingling of art and spir- it—are all intertwined in worlds to come.
Anne Gould Hauberg, 1960 Mark Tobey, 1944, Geyserville University of Washington Libraries, Photo by Arthur L. Dahl, Special Collections courtesy of Gregory C. Dahl 104 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 26.4 2016
WORKS CITED
“Anne Gould Hauberg” The Seattle Times. 15 May 2016.
Tobey’s home and studio Basel, Switzerland, 1976 Photo by Paul Slaughter, courtesy of Gregory C. Dahl