I went to visit Claribel and Etta Cone before they left Vancouver.  The exhibition was set up to feel as if I was walking into their home, which made it all the more real for me.  I could almost hear their voices and laughter.  The last wall held a piece of writing by Gertrude Stein – Two Women.  I read it through four times and then promised myself that I would go directly home and do a little research.  It was more difficult to find than I first imagined.  But Google did not disappoint. Two Women can be found in A Stein Reader (page 104) by Gertrude Stein. It seems that Stein wrote the words in early 1912.  Here is a small excerpt out of several pages.

There are often two of them, both women.  There were two of them, two women.  There were two of them, both women.  There were two of them.  They were both women.  There were two women and they were sisters.  They both went on living.  They were very often together then when they were living. They were very often not together when they were living. One was the elder and one was the younger.  They always knew this thing, they always knew that one was the elder and one was the younger.  They were both living and they both went on living.  They were then both going on living. They were not together and they were both living then and they both went on living then. They sometimes were together, they sometimes were not together.  One was older and one was younger.

For more information on Gertrude Stein, please go to Clanmother at Pinterest.