
Boston's Apollo
Thomas McKeller and John Singer Sargent
Nathaniel Silver(Editor)
Yale University Press
Published on 14. January 2020
Book
Hardback
256 pages
978-0-300-24986-6 (ISBN)
Description
The story of the extraordinary collaboration behind one of John Singer Sargent's renowned late masterpieces
In 1916, John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) met Thomas Eugene McKeller (1890-1962), a young African American elevator attendant, at Boston's Hotel Vendome. McKeller became the principal model for Sargent's murals in the new wing of the city's Museum of Fine Arts, among the painter's most ambitious works. Sargent's nude studies and sketches from this project attest to a close collaboration between the two men that unfolded over nearly ten years. Featuring drawings given by Sargent to Isabella Stewart Gardner and published in full for the first time, a portrait of McKeller, and archival materials reconstructing his life and relationship with Sargent, this book opens new avenues into artist-model relationships and transforms our understanding of Sargent's iconic American paintings. Essays offer the first biography of McKeller and a window onto African American life in early-20th-century Boston. They also address the artist's sexuality, his models, and questions of race and identity.
Distributed for the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
Exhibition Schedule:
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
(February 13-October 12, 2020)
In 1916, John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) met Thomas Eugene McKeller (1890-1962), a young African American elevator attendant, at Boston's Hotel Vendome. McKeller became the principal model for Sargent's murals in the new wing of the city's Museum of Fine Arts, among the painter's most ambitious works. Sargent's nude studies and sketches from this project attest to a close collaboration between the two men that unfolded over nearly ten years. Featuring drawings given by Sargent to Isabella Stewart Gardner and published in full for the first time, a portrait of McKeller, and archival materials reconstructing his life and relationship with Sargent, this book opens new avenues into artist-model relationships and transforms our understanding of Sargent's iconic American paintings. Essays offer the first biography of McKeller and a window onto African American life in early-20th-century Boston. They also address the artist's sexuality, his models, and questions of race and identity.
Distributed for the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
Exhibition Schedule:
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
(February 13-October 12, 2020)
Reviews / Votes
"an excellent book."-Holland Cotter, New York Times"[A] handsome and well-illustrated catalog"-Michael Henry Adams, The Guardian
"This richly illustrated catalogue and collection of essays rescues McKeller from the anonymity customary for artists' models and for many Black lives of the period. The refreshingly level-headed contributions explore questions of race, power, sexuality, desire and concealment, and the relationships between painters and their models."-Peter Parker, Times Literary Supplement 'Books of the Year'
Winner of the George Wittenborn Memorial Book Award, sponsored by the Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/NA)
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Product notice
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
115 color illus.
Dimensions
Height: 292 mm
Width: 216 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-300-24986-6 (9780300249866)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Nathaniel Silver is William and Lia Poorvu Curator of the Collection at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.