Description
Book SynopsisHenry James Framed is a cultural history of Henry James as a work of art, having sat for his portrait twenty-four times.
Trade Review"
Henry James Framed is a beautifully produced book."—Daniel A. Burr,
Gay & Lesbian Review“Who knew there were so many portraits of Henry James?
Henry James Framed is both an engaging catalogue of these images and a collective biography that invites us to see the artist through the eyes of some of his most visually gifted contemporaries.”—Ruth Bernard Yeazell, Sterling Professor of English at Yale University
“In his sparkling
Henry James Framed Michael Anesko takes us on a characteristically witty and civilized journey through James’s life and career—through the surprising number of likenesses (and unlikenesses) that were made of him between 1862 and 1914. Through brilliant detective work, we get a delightful, stimulating picture of the social and artistic world of this great novelist who was also an inveterate critic of art—and, as we learn, frequently its subject.”—Philip Horne, founding general editor of The Cambridge Edition of the Complete Fiction of Henry James series
“Michael Anesko freshly and incisively illuminates Henry James’s relationships with artists, the circumstances of his sitting for portraits, the critical (and personal) reception of the finished works, and the provenance of the pieces during and after James’s life. Henry James Framed is a delight to read.”—Linda Simon, author of
The Critical Reception of Henry James: Creating a Master“This useful volume provides fascinating tales of how the portraits were received privately and in public exhibitions, as well as when and how they changed hands, were sold or bequeathed. Anesko provides well-researched tracings of the histories of these works and the stories each portrait has to tell, deploying his extensive knowledge of James’s life and writings with an incisive touch.”—Tamara Follini, general editor of The Cambridge Edition of the Complete Fiction of Henry James series
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Partial to Portraits
1. Uncanny Possession: The Queer Provenance of John La Farge’s
Henry James 2. “I, Too, Am Someone Here”: The Birth of the Lion
3. “Yielding to the Bard’s Behest”: Paying Court in George Du Maurier’s
Two Thrones 4. “Civilized to His Fingertips”: James’s Sargent, Sargent’s “James”
5. “Nicer than Most of Them”: John White Alexander’s Forgotten Illustration
6. In a “Cosmo de’ Medici Mood”: Larkin Goldsmith Mead’s
Henry James 7. “Making Quite a Reputation”: The “Theatrical Manner” of Paul Tilton’s
Henry James 8. “Dear” Henry James: Anna Lea Merritt’s Lost Portrait
9. “A Student of
Taste”: Rudolf Lehmann’s “Henry James”
10. “Commendably Droll”: Philip Burne Jones Paints
Henry James 11. “My Own Head on the Block”: William Rothenstein’s Portraits of Henry James
12. “The Smooth & Anxious Clerical Gentleman”: Ellen Emmet’s
Henry James 13. “Won’t It Be Fun?”: Jane Erin Emmet von Glehn’s Weekend Sketch
14. “Not Positively or Richly Rejoiceful”: Hendrik Christian Andersen’s
Henry James 15. “The Profile of an Eagle”: Jacques-Émile Blanche’s
Henry James 16. “Too Little of the Promise”: The Favorite Nephew’s
Henry James 17. An “Astonishing” Economy of Means: Cecilia Beaux’s “Henry James”
18. “A Rather ‘Important’ Piece”: Annie Louisa Swynnerton’s
Henry James 19. “Difficult, Perverse, Obscure”: John Singer Sargent’s Charcoal Portrait
20. “A Very Fine Thing Indeed”: John Singer Sargent’s
Henry James 21. “My Aged and Battered Mug”: Derwent Wood’s Portrait Bust
22. “Not with the Happiest Result”: Lewis Charles Powles’s
Henry James Epilogue: A Case of Mistaken Identity
Notes
Bibliography
Index
