A Summer of Hummingbirds
I love learning about the connections between the artists in the Carter’s collection and the authors and thinkers who shaped American cultural history. So, I was particularly interested to hear about Christopher Benfey’s new book, A Summer of Hummingbirds: Love, Art, and Scandal in the Intersecting Worlds of Emily Dickinson, Mark Twain, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Martin Johnson Heade. I finished it yesterday afternoon, and highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in the intersecting interests of some of America’s most influential creators.
I started Eden’s Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father yesterday evening. Can you recommend other books that explore connections between the artists in our collection and other artists, authors, or thinkers?
I read Strapless: John Singer Sargent and the Fall of Madame X a few months back. It’s about this very famous painting at the Met (we also have works by Sargent). I stumbled across the book at FWPL and realized I knew almost nothing about Sargent despite that art history degree. Interesting guy.
— Jana, May 13, 2008, 2:45 p.m.