Austen's path, like that of many New York artists, ultimately depended on the vicissitudes of the real estate market. She built a life of self-determination at Clear Comfort: She lived there for thirty years with Tate, with whom she fell in love while on vacation in the Catskills. (One dizzying series of photographs shows a young Tate dancing outside in the sun.) But Austen's family money was lost in the crash of 1929, and she and Tate, struggling to feed themselves, were forced to sell off most of their possessions, including a collection of shells, lending a bittersweet connotation to the current show's title. In 1944 the house was sold. Tate eventually moved in with her family, who rejected Austen; Austin moved to the Staten Island Farm Colony, a hospital for the poor.
Alice Austen (left) and Gertrude Tate at Pickards Penny Photo in Stapleton, Staten Island.
Former Life the magazine's writer rediscovered Austen's work in 1951, and a new surge of interest and support restored her to some lightness before her death in 1952. The sheer comfort was preserved thanks to the efforts of new Austen fans (including photographer Berenice Abbott). For a time it operated as a fairly ordinary historical house museum, with roped-off rooms containing an assortment of crudely antique furniture containing little that was characteristic of Austen's life. Official House reports hid her relationship with Tate, which inspired the activist group Lesbian Avengers to organize protests outside of it in the nineties. However, in 2017 it was named a National LGBTQ Historic Site, and today it highlights the Tate as an important part of Austin's history.
