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Harriet Hosmer (1830–1908): Fame, Photography, and the American “Sculptress”

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Harriet Hosmer (1830–1908): Fame, Photography, and the American “Sculptress” Harriet Hosmer (1830–1908): Fame, Photography, and the American “Sculptress” by Margo Lois Beggs A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Art University of Toronto © Copyright by Margo Lois Beggs 2013 Harriet Hosmer (1830–1908): Fame, Photography, and the American “Sculptress” Margo Lois Beggs Doctor of Philosophy Department of Art University of Toronto 2013 Abstract “Harriet Hosmer (1830–1908): Fame, Photography, and the American ‘Sculptress’” is a case study inspired by one nineteenth-century sculptor’s career and a rare body of photographs showcasing the artist and her work. The American neoclassical sculptor Harriet Hosmer came of age near Boston, where she began her early artistic training. In 1852, at the age of twenty-two, she moved to Rome to further her career as a sculptor. Soon after, she became the most famous woman sculptor of her period. Her friends and patrons included Anglo- American literary figures, women’s rights activists, wealthy Americans, British aristocracy, and European royalty. This study asks what, if anything, photography had to do with Harriet Hosmer’s rise to fame. Hosmer’s life and work have been subject to much scholarly commentary in recent decades, with several writers attempting to account for her unprecedented international renown as a female sculptor. None of these writers, however, has centred an investigation on photography’s intervention in Hosmer’s career. This study foregrounds the intersection of ii sculpture and photography as it relates to Hosmer’s rapid rise in the mid-nineteenth-century artistic firmament. A substantial part of the dissertation undertakes a careful analysis of photographs depicting Hosmer and her work, as well as related archival materials, highlighting the ways in which Hosmer joined forces with commercial photographers to engineer her career success. At the same time, it provides insight into practices of commercial photographers vis-à-vis their portrayals of sculptors and their work. The dissertation teases out a complex web of mid-nineteenth-century concerns that anticipate modern-day preoccupations, including self-fashioning, identity formation, gender roles, androgyny, tourism, the rise of celebrity culture, and the artist’s complicity with and battles against the contemporary press. Taken together, it seeks to complicate and enrich our understanding of Hosmer and her vital engagement with photography, leading to a fundamental reinterpretation of her career. Moreover, it aims to provide a model for future investigations into the complex, fascinating, and still little understood relationship between nineteenth-century sculpture and photography. iii Acknowledgements One of the rewards of completing a dissertation is finally being able to thank those whose support has been incalculable. I would like to begin with my dissertation supervisor. Without the unflagging backing of Marc Gotlieb over the long number of years that it has taken me to write this dissertation, I can honestly say it would never have come to fruition. He saw scholarly potential in my work that I did not yet recognize and his own approach to art history provided an inspiring model that helped me forge my own path. I will never be able to adequately express my thanks to him, but I hope the fact that I saw this project through to the end is some small recompense for his ongoing faith in my ability to do just that. My other committee members, Alison Syme and Elizabeth Legge, have likewise been unreservedly generous, helpful, and inspiring along the way, as has Jordan Bear, who came on board in the final stages to read the dissertation. Mark Cheetham provided early and important support for this project. My thanks also go to Martina Droth, the external reader, for her thoughtful remarks and helpful suggestions. During my coursework in the Department of Art at the University of Toronto, I greatly benefitted from the knowledge and methodologies of the following current and former faculty members and I would like to express my appreciation to them: Michael Koortbojian, Evonne Levy, Alexander Nagel, Dennis Reid, Douglas Richardson, and Philip Sohm. I would also like to thank the Art department staff for their unstinting and cheerful assistance throughout my time in the program: Vicky Dingillo and her predecessor Rohini Wittke, iv Margaret English, Peggy Haist, Louise Kermode and her predecessor Ilse Wister, Gaby Sparks, and Joanne Wainman. I am grateful to the following funding bodies and institutions for essential financial support: the University of Toronto Department of Art and School of Graduate Studies, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Ontario Graduate Scholarship program, the Canadian Centre for Architecture, the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, and the Yale Center for British Art. Many thanks go to the staff at the latter three institutions, in particular Alexis Sornin, Diana Carey, and Cassandra Albinson. Other institutions where the staff were most helpful include the Alinari Museum and Archives, the American Academy in Rome, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Boston Athenaeum, the Boston Public Library, the British Institute of Florence, the British School at Rome, the Fogg Museum, George Eastman House, the Houghton Library, the Kemper Art Museum, the Massachusetts Historical Society, the Missouri Historical Society, the Museo della fotografia dell’ICCD, the Museo di Roma, the National Art Library at the Victoria and Albert Museum, the St. Louis Art Museum, the St. Louis Mercantile Library, and the Watertown Free Public Library. From my very first days as an art history student at U of T, I have been astonished by the generosity and collegiality of my fellow students, and this has carried through to the present time. Early on in my studies, I met Diane Taylor-Sexton, who, like me, had returned to university to study art history. Through Diane I met Barbara Bailey, a fellow U of T student, and along with Diane, an artist in her own right. I thank them both for their strong friendship and encouragement through the years and for sharing many of life’s most important v moments. Christine Kralik, along with being a good friend and entertaining lunch companion, has been a model of professionalism and scholarly achievement since our first course together. Carolina Mangone entered the graduate program the same year that I did, and I have valued her intellectual rigour, quick wit, and excellent company ever since. When Alma Mikulinsky joined the department a year or so later, I found another keen mind and kindred spirit who, like Carolina, was fascinated with the special complexities of studying and writing about sculpture. I have learned much from both of them in our many discussions. My thanks also go to other faculty members and graduate students in the Art department who have taken the time to offer feedback on my work. Over the years, I have been fortunate to be invited into the lives and homes of the following people whose warm hospitality sustained a lonely traveler and my thanks go to them: Colleen Humer; Mary Lee Kennedy; Bonnie Taylor and Lydia Ruffin; and Ian and Deb Wallace. I would also like to express my sincere appreciation to Marion Riggs, whose recent offer of accommodation came at the perfect time, as this journey neared its end. I met Phoebe Dent Weil in 2008 when she invited me to attend a special event dedicated to Harriet Hosmer in St. Louis. I came away from that experience with helpful new insights into Hosmer, but I am especially thankful that I had the opportunity to meet Phoebe herself, a paragon of generosity and kindness. I would also like to thank Patricia Cronin for inviting me to visit her studio at the American Academy in Rome in 2007 and for her splendid catalogue raisonné of Hosmer’s work, which has been very helpful for my own project. My thanks go as well to Oliver Dawson, Lisa Johnson, Betty Quan, and Michael Solomon, who have not only offered boundless encouragement, but with whom I shared many happy hours in Italy. My appreciation also goes to Daniel Benson for his friendship and help along the way. vi And now, I turn to my family. My brother, Edward Beggs, began to forge an academic career around the same time that I returned to school. I have greatly valued his insights about the parallel paths our lives have taken. Thanks as well to his partner, Laurie Ankenman, for her warm companionship and sustained enthusiasm. My nephews Dawson and Eli Beggs have always been interested to hear the latest updates on my life at school, just as I have been eager to hear about, and learn from, their experiences as students. It was a happy day indeed when I was able to call my parents, Jack and Velda Beggs, with the news that their daughter had completed her PhD. They have been unfailingly proud of my accomplishments throughout my life, but their delight in my decision to pursue a “second career” as an academic has been so encouraging through the good times and the not so good times that it has been a large part of what has kept me going. I thank them for their unreserved support and I hope that I continue to make them proud. Finally, mere words cannot express my gratitude to and for my husband, Paul Trumphour – who has always had faith in my ability to reach this goal, even when it seemed far distant; who has offered astute advice and a strong shoulder to lean on along every step of the way; who has been a perfect travel companion, dinner-table interlocutor, and generous reader; and who has provided me with unconditional love and support from the first day we met.
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