Now I shall get to the part of Natacha's life where she continues researching Egypt. She had always had an appreciation for all things Egyptian in nature, but since her first visit with her second husband, Alvaro, in 1936 I think she felt she had found a piece of herself in that land that she needed to explore.
Part of the image collection (King Tut's treasures) Natacha gifted to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Gilded Wooden Shrine with Scenes of Tutankhamun and Ankhesenamun – One of the most exquisite items in Tutankhamun's tomb, this golden shrine offers a rare glimpse into the daily life of a royal household with intimate scenes of the Pharaoh and his wife, Ankhesenamun.
Some of this blog post is going to seem repetitive to those who have followed Natacha's life, but I need to go back to February of 1947 when she received a grant from The Bollingen Foundation and went to Egypt. During the next five years, Natacha would accomplish what she had been 'in training' for her entire life. Rather than design exotic Egyptian-themed movie sets and clothing, now she would experience the real thing. She would eat the food and live the life she had only imagined before.
The logo of The Bollingen Foundation
Natacha promptly met the Russian Egyptologist Alexandré Piankoff in Cairo, and they became fast friends. Piankoff was married, with a wife who preferred to live in Paris, but joined him at times in Egypt. Piankoff lived part of the time with his wife. However, Piankoff and Natacha did end up becoming close enough for Piankoff to make Natacha executor of his estate and leave all his affairs to her discretion.
Alexandré Piankoff (October 18, 1897 - July 20, 1966)
(This left his wife in a bit of a sticky situation since Natacha died a month before Piankoff in 1966, yet the will was never changed. Considering Piankoff died unexpectedly while taking a leisurely walk in Brussels, I don't think that changing his will was foremost on his mind. Well, I suppose Mrs. Piankoff went to court and got what she could, but from what I understand, since Natacha's estate called for a bequest to The Bollingen Foundation after her various bequests to relatives were taken care of, that was how Piankoff's estate was also handled.)
In 1946, Rambova received a grant from The Bollingen Foundation. Rambova had met Mary Mellon through Maud Oakes (Maud was discussed at great length in a previous blog post) in the early 1940s, and Mary Mellon’s dedication to the Bollingen Series would have a substantial impact on Rambova’s research as well as on the field of Egyptology as a whole.
Mary Mellon (May 25, 1904 - October 11, 1946)
In 1947, Piankoff and Natacha's relationship deepened. I'm not sure exactly when their relationship crossed the line from strictly professional to personal, but all indications show that it did. There are many letters left between the two that indicate this. Piankoff convinced Natacha to assist him in his work and to scale back on what she had been doing, which was to study comparative religion and symbolism through the decoration of small scarab seals. Natacha believed that her research in Egypt would lead to a reclamation of the Atlantean origins of ancient knowledge and symbolism.
In 1948, Piankoff got a grant from The Bollingen Foundation for the enormous task of making a record of the inscriptions that were contained within the tomb of Ramses V and Ramses VI. I say ONE tomb because both pharaohs were buried in the same tomb. Natacha was named as head of the expedition ... essentially as Piankoff's assistant. Some pyramids also had inscriptions that needed to be recorded.
Natacha went about hiring people she wanted to accompany her on the expedition. She made some interesting choices. One of those choices was a 25-year-old man named Mark Hasselriss, who was an archeological artist. Much work of Mark's appears in publications by several different authors. In addition, Mark ended up being Natacha's life-long companion, and they lived together until she had to go live with relatives when she became too ill to function on her own and he could not care for her any longer. He was 26 years younger than Natacha.
About Mark Hasselriis ... he would live for 33 years after Natacha died. While he would live off and on with relatives, his last days were spent in the home of photographer Dorothy Norman, a close friend of Natacha's. I went over some of Dorothy's incredible contributions to society in the last Natacha blog. So it seems that, as Mark took care of Natacha in her lifetime, Natacha also 'took care' of Mark through her lifetime friends for the remainder of his lifetime. I find this very, very heart-warming and very much in keeping with Natacha's motherly ways. I believe this is something she would have done for Rudy if she could have.
Mark Hasselriis (May 19, 1924 - August 19, 1999)
Another member of the expedition and one Natacha ended up regretting choosing to be a part of the group, was an Egyptologist named Elizabeth Thomas. Although Elizabeth was the one who introduced Natacha to Mark, Natacha and Elizabeth had their differences, as became clear once the expedition got underway.
Elizabeth Thomas (March 29, 1907 – November 28, 1986)
In October of 1949, the expedition group had been chosen and was ready to go. The group consisted of Natacha, Alexandré Piankoff and his wife, Elizabeth Thomas, Fred Husson (expedition photographer), Mark Hasselriis, and a few dogs who came along. Natacha was never without one of her dogs, and from the photo, it looks like there was at least one other, possibly one of Elizabeth Thomas' dogs. Plus, there were a few guides who went along.
(L to R) Guide, sitting down; Bernard V. Bothmer, Alexandre Piankoff, Helene Piankoff, Natacha, and Elizabeth Thomas standing behind Natacha. Another guide stands beside Elizabeth Thomas. Photo taken by photographer Fred Husson. Try as hard as I could, I could not find a photo of Fred Husson.
It took them until April of 1950 to complete their work on the tomb of Ramses V and VI. V was the cousin of VI, and V's mummy was never found, but his name was on the entrance, so it is presumed he was also buried there, at one time ... they did find VI's mummy intact but it had been removed from its sarcophagus by tomb raiders centuries before the current expeditions discovered it. The expedition also finished with the pyramids they had planned to work on, so they moved on to King Tut's tomb. They recorded the transcriptions and photographed the golden shrines there. One of the shrines is pictured at the beginning of this blog post.
The problems between Natacha and Elizabeth Thomas had become overwhelming and so Elizabeth left the group. Fred Husson and Natacha also had a major disagreement (which was Fred's fault ... Natacha caught him selling the photos he took after-hours to tourists and these were technically the property of The Bollingen Foundation). Mark Hasselriis even almost left the group because Natacha was so difficult to get along with, but Piankoff talked him into working with Natacha and she had the presence of mind to apologize to Mark. I guess she knew a good thing when she saw it. Good thing, too, because she needed him for life. I believe her disease of anorexia had already begun to affect her mental status.
In late 1951, Natacha headed back to New York and began the arduous task of editing Piankoff's work. We shall get into the books in the next Natacha-related blog post. For now, I am going to take this blog post in the direction of some of the artifacts Natacha brought back with her.
Rambova amassed a collection of ancient objects, photographs, and descriptions that remain within the archive. She began donating her collection of Egyptian antiquities to the Utah Museum of Fine Arts in 1952, to which much of her mother's collection had been bequeathed and she willed a large collection of Nepali and Lamaistic art to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Predynastic bull’s head amulet - Yale University Art Gallery collection
Bronze Ibex Divinity, 900 BC. - Philidelphia Museum of Art
Natacha Rambova Image Collection, 'guard,' - Museum of Egyptology
Eye of Ra, Natacha Rambova Images - Yale University Art Gallery Collection
Line Drawing of Composite Solar Deity - Yale University Art Gallery Collection
Egyptian basket - Museum of Egyptology
Line drawing of Bes Pantheos, image archive of Natacha Rambova - Yale University Art Gallery Collection
Egyptian hand mirror, Natacha Rambova Collection - Yale University Art Gallery collection
Egyptian necklace, Natacha Rambova Collection -Yale University Art Gallery collection
Dyad of Ptah and Herishel, reign of Amunhotep III, with cartouche added by Ramesses IV.
A portion of the Book Of The Dead, Chapter 17
The above objects are some of my favorites, but there are easily millions of artifacts and images that Natacha provided to us after her journeys in Egypt. Various museums and library collections at Yale University serve as the repositories for over 5,000 objects from Egypt and Nubia, ranging in date from remote prehistory through late antiquity.
There are several places in which Natacha Rambova's collections are housed, but the largest one seems to be at Yale. Here is a breakdown ... please note that Natacha's contributions are only portions of each collection:
Yale University Art Gallery
Although most are no longer on display, the Yale University Art Gallery has a small but significant collection of ancient Egyptian material. Some objects have been the subjects of both student and faculty publications, and a group of inscribed Middle Kingdom coffin panels form an important resource for teaching the ancient Egyptian Coffin Texts.
Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History
The Yale Peabody Museum has an extensive collection of Egyptian and Nubian material, some on display and much more housed in storage and study rooms at the Yale West Campus. The collection includes important material deriving from Yale expeditions during the Nubian Salvage Campaign of the 1960s. Work on publications of much of the material is continuing, and the Peabody collection forms the basis for numerous student papers and publications.
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library (at Yale)
The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Collection preserves an important collection of ancient Egyptian papyri dating from the Pharaonic Period through the Byzantine and Islamic Periods. The collection is particularly rich in Coptic Egyptian material.
Medical Historical Library and Collection, E. C. Streeter Collection of Weights and Measures
Important for understanding the bases of both local and international economies of the ancient world, the Streeter Collection includes a small number of ancient Egyptian weights and measures.
Yale Babylonian Collection
Now, we veer off a bit from Natacha's work to include a man who was incredibly important when it came to collecting and donating a special collection to Yale. Campbell Bonner in 1950 began his catalog of Graeco-Egyptian magical gems, still one of the fundamental works in the field. In the decades since Bonner wrote his study, the magical gems have become an increasingly larger part of examinations of magic and religion in the context of the Hellenistic and Roman worlds, and the peripheries thereof. They are now much less remote from the interests of many scholars and now receiving much-deserved attention from specialists in diverse fields, reflecting as they do a highly visible synthesis of elements from the traditional religions of Egypt, Greece, Rome, as well Judaism, and Christianity.
In March 2005, James H. Schwartz generously donated his collection of Graeco-Egyptian magical amulets, primarily gems, and metal objects — 74 objects total — to The Yale Babylonian Collection.
These objects, along with Natacha's, serve to enhance the collection of The Yale Babylonian Collection.
The photographic records of these images Natacha left for us to enjoy and study remain virtually unparalleled in their quality, and each endures as a standard reference work in the field of Egyptian religion.
The March 2024 theme for Women's History Month celebrates “Women Who Advocate for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.” Natacha worked hard to accomplish her dreams, although the decline in her health prevented her from reaching her personal goals. I don't think she would ever have been finished, there always would have been another challenge around the corner. Natacha considered herself a feminist, and she had to work against the conservative ideals of her parents and her partners. This was especially true in the case of some men in her life.
In our next Natacha blog, we shall look at her work in the volumes of work she did with Alexandré Piankoff ... or should I say the volumes of work she did FOR Alexandré Piankoff. But, Natacha was a big girl, and she and Piankoff had a relationship that was their own business. Natacha made her choices for a reason.
For those who would like a nice, comprehensive video about Egypt (with no AI narration, because I HATE AI narration and I consider it LAZY) you may want to take a listen:
Darkmum
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