Miriam Davenport American artist and sculptor Date of Birth: 06.06.1915 Country: USA

1. Early Life and Artistic Education
2. Flight from France and Rescue Efforts
3. Personal Journey and Marriage
4. Life in the United States and Later Years

Early Life and Artistic Education

Miriam Davenport Ebel was born on June 6, 1915, in Boston, Massachusetts. Her father, Howard Ernest Davenport, was a steamship captain, and her mother, Florence L. Sparrow Davenport, was a homemaker. Davenport studied at the New York University Institute of Fine Arts for a year and also attended summer courses at the Sorbonne's Institut d'Art et d'Archéologie.

Flight from France and Rescue Efforts

In May 1940, France was occupied by Germany. Davenport fled Paris with her lover, Rudolph Treo, but they became separated. She initially arrived in Toulouse, where she met writer Walter Mehring and others seeking escape to the United States. After meeting with journalist Varian Fry, Davenport joined the staff of the American Relief Center on August 27, 1940. In her role there, she searched for refugee artists and others in dire need of assistance.

Davenport played a crucial role in facilitating the escape of intellectuals and artists from France. She rented Villa Air-Bel in Marseilles and invited Victor Serge, André Breton, and their families to live there. The villa became known as the "last meeting place" of the surrealists. With great personal risk, Davenport and others led an operation to smuggle writers, artists, scientists, and Jewish intellectuals out of France.

Personal Journey and Marriage

In October 1940, Davenport traveled to Ljubljana, Yugoslavia, to visit her fiancé, Rudolph Treo, who was seriously ill. However, visa issues prevented her from returning to France. She lived with Treo and his family until Yugoslavia joined the Berlin Pact in April 1941. That same month, Miriam and Rudolph married. They escaped to Switzerland and eventually obtained a passport for Treo.

Life in the United States and Later Years

In December 1941, the couple sailed to the United States from Lisbon. In the US, Davenport became involved with the American Council of Learned Societies' Emergency Committee and helped prepare maps and documentation for Allied forces to avoid bombing cultural sites. She also worked with various organizations assisting refugees and civil rights causes.

In 1946, Davenport married William L. M. Burke, a professor of ancient and medieval history. They moved to Iowa in 1951, where Burke taught at the University of Iowa. After Burke's sudden death in 1961, she met archaeologist Charles Ebel and married him. In 1973, Davenport earned a PhD in French literature from the University of Iowa. She passed away from cancer on September 13, 1999, in Mount Pleasant, Michigan.