Beauty’s Legacy will include portraits of prominent New Yorkers, including Emma Thursby, Samuel Verplanck Hoffman, Mary Barrett Wendell, Reverend Henry Codman Potter, and Mary Gardiner Thompson, painted by noted American artists such as John Singer Sargent, James Carroll Beckwith, George Peter Alexander Healy, Daniel Huntington, Eastman Johnson, and Benjamin Curtis Porter. The exhibition also reveals the highly competitive nature of the portrait market, as these American portraitists found themselves in fierce rivalry for American patronage with their European counterparts. The vigorous demand for works by European masters is conveyed by portraits of other leading New Yorkers — including James Hazen Hyde, Georgina Schuyler, Samuel Ward McAllister, Cortlandt Field Bishop, Leonard and Rosalie Lewisohn, and Samuel Untermyer — by European artists Léon Bonnat, (Adolphe) William Bouguereau, Carolus-Duran, Alexandre Cabanel, Anders Zorn, and Théobald Chartran. The exhibition also featured a selection of twenty-five exquisite portraits from Peter Marié’s vast collection of miniatures, known by his contemporaries as his Gallery of Beauty, underscoring the intersection of beauty, celebrity, and social prestige.
Beauty’s Legacy: Gilded Age Portraits in America will be accompanied by a catalogue of the same title, published by the New-York Historical Society in association with D Giles Limited, London. The fully-illustrated volume includes essays by Dr. Gallati and Dr. Valerie Steele, Director and Chief Curator of the Museum at The Fashion Institute of Technology, New York.
Mrs. William Waldorf Astor (Mary Dahlgren Paul, 1856-1894), date 1890. Artist/Maker: Meave Thompson Gedney. Watercolor on ivory; dimensions overall: 3 1/4 x 2 1/2 in. ( 8.3 x 6.4 cm ). Gift of the Estate of Peter Mari.
About the New-York Historical Society
The New-York Historical Society, one of America's pre-eminent cultural institutions, is dedicated to fostering research and presenting history and art exhibitions and public programs that reveal the dynamism of history and its influence on the world of today. Founded in 1804, New-York Historical has a mission to explore the richly layered history of New York City and State and the country, and to serve as a national forum for the discussion of issues surrounding the making and meaning of history.
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