Bott, Allan, Mrs. (also Mrs. Elaine Coggeshall), portrait photograph Oct 14 1933 United States Library of Congress, photographer Arnold Genthe (1869-1942) https://www.loc.gov/item/2018717365/
On the 13th July 2014, noted Gurdjieff scholar, Paul Beekman Taylor emailed me (in part)
I had a long coffee and talk with Basarab Nicolescu the other day and he told me that the only other woman besides Julia that Gurdjieff loved was Elaine Coggeshall (Mrs. Alan Bott). He referred to Solita Solano’s diary notes for November 1935. They give a rather comic picture of his time with “Elaine,” but I cannot find out why Nicolescu is positive that Elaine was Coggeshall. I cannot find anything but photos of her on Google. Do you know of anything?
One of these photos was of Tamara de Lempicka’s famous painting Portrait of Mrs Allan Bott (1930). An image of the painting and a short biography of de Lempicka can be found in, Louise Wheeler, Skyscapers, Silks and Sirens: The High Society of Tamara de Lempicka. HASTA, December 12, 2017
In late 1935 Elaine Coggeshall (31) was introduced to Gurdjieff (57) by a member of his all-women group in Paris known as “The Rope” of which Taylor writes
Between 1935 and 1939 Gurdjieff met regularly with a talented group of women, for the most part lesbians, the core of which was known as ‘The Rope’ numbering among its associates Margaret Anderson, Georgette Leblanc, Kathryn Hulme, Solita Solano, Louise Davidson, Elizabeth Gordon and Alice Rohrer. Dorothy Caruso, the widow of Enrico Caruso, became associated with the group after the war, and Jane Heap joined them during her Paris sojourns. In effect, most of these women had been a member of a Gurdjieff group directed by Jane Heap in Paris before she left for London in October 1935.
Basarab Nicolescu and Paul Beekman Taylor, Brancusi and Gurdjieff, Literature & Aesthetics Vol 29 No. 2 (2019), page 194
Taylor also forwarded me Nicolescu’s file of references to Elaine in Solita Solano’s Gurdjieff notes, edited from her letters of October 1935 to January 1936, by Jean Heap shown below. In the late 1990’s the independent Gurdjieff scholar Walter Driscoll (1944-2023) had sent me copies of the papers of several members of the Rope and I was already aware of Gurdjieff embarrassing himself over E.C. or “Elaine”.
October 28, 1935
He is interested in Elaine – says she looks like his wife. He said to her “Two things I like about you, three things I hate”.
November 6, 1935
He’s given up all hope now of Elaine and Frances. If he were in status quo I would say he fell rather hard for Elaine. Said once he had sculpted someone just like her and that she looks like his wife. She has really touched by G, says she can never live again as in the past.
November 15, 1935
He gave a picture of one kind of hell – he said Elaine’s hell – where all souls sit in a cesspool up to their mouths. They must sit still for at the slightest movement of one of them the lake goes into movement and liquid goes into their mouths. So whenever a newcomer approaches all the souls call to him, get in gently please, be slow and careful. Once a year to commemorate Jesus a great stone is thrown into the lake and all receive the liquid in their mouths…
Last night was comic relief at dinner. Katie, Elaine and I went to the Café. Elaine became angry at the picture of hell he gave her to sit in, she left the table, he sent Katie into street after her to stop her getting into taxi, then went out himself, brick red., to stop her. She ordered the cab to start as his foot was on running-board, he has left half in and half out, was nearly knocked down by the lightpost on the corner, stopped the cab and her running off, then came back to get scattered belongings. I was trembling but did not look at him or seem to notice his state. He told her she was his wife, his child, God knows what. Her story on the last hour in private I will not repeat. Then we went to dinner at an Armenian place. After to room here which Katie no longer has. He talked to me about Elaine, tried to find out her private life, I said I knew nothing, of course. He said “Three time in my life I have known type like her – my wife, before her another, and now this one. Only my wife changed inside. Very interested type your friend. I have to write to Gordon today for him – to order special kind of cigarettes from London that Elaine likes…
Solita Solano’s diary entries further note
November 14, 1935
Later E. came with K. He said to E., “You have zero attention. For ones like you with such dirty life, exists special kind of hell.” He described it. All souls there must sit in a lake of merde up to their mouths. They must sit very still, for at the slightest movement, the liquid goes in their mouths. Whenever a newcomer approaches, all the souls call out, “Get in gently, please, be slow and careful.” Once a year to commemorate Jesus Christ, a great stone is thrown into the lake and all souls receive the liquid in their mouths.” E. was very angry and left the café.
November 17, 1935
Forgot to tell you he had Lily Galumian take an X-ray of Elaine’s insides when she didn’t even know it in the Café de la Paix: but E. had on an enormous buckle of metal so it spoiled the plate and (he said) cost him 2000 francs. If he could have a weakness, I’d say it was for women. (my emphasis)
November 24, 1935
He did everything a man could think of to get Elaine, but he made her too nervous. She was afraid he was trying to hypnotize her and began to tremble finally at the mention of his name. She won’t see him any more at all.
On 29th July 2014, having established that Elaine Coggeshall was in fact Mrs Allan Bott of the Tamara de Lempicka portrait, I forwarded Taylor the results of my research.
Ellen Knowles Coggeshall was an American born in Manhattan on 8th January 1904, the daughter of Dr. Henry T Coggeshall of 40 East 58th Street, himself the son of the Hon. Thomas Coggeshall of Newport Beach, Rhode Island.
Ellen’s mother Nell(ie) had been married previously. She had a daughter Frances age 9, and two non-surviving children. She married Henry in 1899. In the 1910 US census Henry T Coggeshall age 51 is living with his wife Nell Osborn age 37. They have been married 11 years. Also living with them were the step daughter Frances Osborn, age 20, together with Ellen age 6 and a brother John age 9. Henry was listed as a Civil War veteran.
In October 1919, Ellen (15) travelled with her family to France. On her passport application her mother Nellie says “travelling to France to educate daughters.” Ellen was in Paris from Nov 1919 to Oct 1920 and then London till Feb 1921. I could find no record of where she studied. Her father, Henry had returned to New York in August 1920 and her brother, John in September 1920. In the 1920 census Henry still lists himself as married but the only other resident is an African American live-in housekeeper. He is not listed in the 1930 Census.
Ellen and her step-sister, Frances Osborn Wallace (secretary), now married, returned to New York together in February 1921 without their mother. There is no further record of her mother. In July 1921 Ellen sailed from Southampton by herself back to New York and a week after arriving her father sails to Southampton and doesn’t come back till August 1922, possibly to tend to his ailing wife.
In August 1921 Ellen (17) had a bit part in a Constance Talmadge’s silent film made in New York. She used the stage name Elaine Revalles, which would explain her future use of Elaine rather than the less theatrical Ellen. The name Revalles was probably in homage to the exotic Swiss dancer Flore Revalles (1889-1966), who performed in America from 1918 to the early 1920’s.
Miss Elaine Revalles Feb 3 1922, United Sates Library of Congress, photographer Arnold Genthe (1869-1942) https://www.loc.gov/item/2018713375
In November 1922 she sails back to England on a new passport for the grand European tour. She lists France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Spain as the countries she proposed to visit.
In December 1923 she played the part of Comtesse in the production of the six-act verse play L’Aiglon by Edmund Rostand at RADA London, graduating in 1925 with an acting diploma from RADA.
Henry is shown returning from France in August 1923 and August 1924 but Ellen doesn’t return until January 1925. She is returning to New York in January 1926, July 1927 and July 1928 still single.
Dudley Allan Lockhart Bott (company director, speaks English and German) had travelled, while single, with a British government (presumably trade) group in August 1928 to New York (arriving 3 weeks after Ellen had returned) This is likely when they met. He sailed back to England in November. On the 13th January 1929, after a short courtship, they were married in Kensington, London. His residence is given as White Cottage, Thames Ditton. His father, Herbert was an auctioner, house surveyor and real estate agent. On the marriage certificate, Ellen’s father Henry is recorded as deceased. Presumably her mother had also died because Ellen’s brother John was the sole occupant of the family New York apartment in 1931.
In November 1930 Dudley travels to New York for eight days and gives Paris as his permanent address. He stays in the Shelton Hotel. He travels back to New York again in January 1931 giving his permanent address as 4 Rue L’Universite, Paris (now a hotel) and stays with Ellen’s brother John at the Coggeshall family apartment in New York – proposed length of stay 4 months.
Ellen sails to New York in June 1931
After the four months, in May 1932 Dudley arrives in Southampton from New York and this time gives his permanent residence as 3 Gilkes Crescent Dulwich Village (which is his parent’s house). He is still living with his parents in 1938. By 1950 he appears to have remarried. In September 1932 Ellen sails from Southampton to New York. She appears to have separated from her husband, after only three years of marriage, as there doesn’t seem to be any connection with him after this.
In October 1933, August 1934, April 1935, December 1935, May 1938 and August 1939 Ellen sails from France to New York.
In 1938 Mrs Elaine Coggeshall is shown modelling a hat in the high- end French fashion magazine Femina.
Bott, Allan, Mrs. (also Mrs. Elaine Coggeshall), portrait photograph Oct 1939, United States Library of Congress, photographer Arnold Genthe (1869-1942) https://www.loc.gov/item/2018717366/
Ellen used the first name Elaine up till 1927 on her travel documents then changed back to Ellen and from March 1935 used Ellen Bott Coggeshall and Ellen Bott. One strange 1933 listing has her as Allan Bott female, married.
From these US and UK immigration records, it can be shown that Ellen (Elaine) Coggeshall was the same person as Mrs Allan (with two l’s) Bott. The records also confirm that she was in France in 1930 when Tamara de Lempicka painted her and also in November 1935 at the time of her purported meeting with Gurdjieff.
In November 1940 in the New York Times Ellen is listed as a model in a fashion revue to benefit the British actors orphanage, whose patron was Noel Coward. She now goes by the name Mrs Elaine Coggeshall, though I could find no evidence of her ever having re-married. In August 1948 she fails to embark and in September 1949 she returns from France listed as Ellen Coggeshall, single.
In summary Ellen was a strikingly beautiful woman. She was photographed at least three times by the renown German-American photographer Arnold Genthe (1869-1942), who was famous for his portraits of noted people, from politicians and socialites to literary figures and entertainment celebrities. After leaving school in New York she received further education in Paris and London. It appears she had ambitions of being an actress and did receive a diploma in acting from RADA, London. How she supported herself after that is unclear. She lived with her husband for three years in London and Paris. Again, how she supported herself after leaving her husband is unknown. All her transatlantic passenger entries list her profession as “nil”.
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