Through An Hour-giass Lightly: Valentine Penrose and Alice Rahon ...

Indian Summer 1936
... belle engloutie de bleu joyeux et disparu
tes santals ont &hé dans leurs voyelles d'eau.
Vaientine Penrose4'
Alice Paalen smells of sandalwood and wears
a Hindu shawl.
haïs Nin 60
Quand frottee de santal
mon trésor mon amour
la lèvre du beau jour,
Vaientine Penrose&
When I started this project, information was less than scant on both Penrose
and Rahon. As material appeared, it wore a strange aura of secrecy. Valentine Penrose
travelied to India several times. Alice Rahm went there once, in 1936. According to
one source: 'A 1936 trip to India left a profound impression on her.'" Ansfs Nin
mentions a Hindu shawl, and finally a third book said: '1 936: . . . Voyage en Inde avec
Valentine Penrose' (Lausanne Catalogue, p.336). Later, a photograph jumped out of the
second, uncut version of Nancy Deffebach's article@ 'Valentine Penrose and Alice
Rahon in India in 1936' @. 179), two lovely young women looking relaxed and radiant,
shoulder to shoulder, cheek to cheek and holding hands, Alice has her arm protectively
wrapped around Valentine. There is a twin-like air about them. Such a picture of two
French girls need indicate no more than close fiendship. Deffebach, who devotes a
whole paragraph to the trip @.177), provides their itinerary: Bombay-Goa-Mirtola
(Ahora) and indicates that Penrose was leaming Sauskrit and stayed on in an ashram
&er Rahon returned to Europe, not without regret: 'Rahon became so enchanted with
India that she was reluctant to part fiom Penrose in Bombay.' It is also crucial that:
During the return voyage, Rahon began a second, smaller collection of
poetry, Sablier couché, which wa.9 inspired by the journey to India.
Defebach p. 177
Sablier couché was by far the most difficult to obtain of Rahon's three
books. As it turned out, it is composed of a mere six poems, just one of which, 'Muttra',
seems to refer to India.