February Books
Mar. 1st, 2011 08:06 pmI read two biographies of nineteenth-century artists this month - Harriet Hosmer the sculptor and F Holland Day the photographer.
The biography of Hosmer was far more interesting, perhaps because the historian put her in her context and perhaps because she was willing to explore issues for which there was no definitive evidence (such as her relationships with other women).
I would have appreciated the same thing in the life of Day - saying he was a life long bachelor who wrote passionate letters to his male friends in his youth and liked photographing young men with no clothes on, but that it is impossible to begin to say what this means is really a bit of a cop out.
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The biography of Hosmer was far more interesting, perhaps because the historian put her in her context and perhaps because she was willing to explore issues for which there was no definitive evidence (such as her relationships with other women).
I would have appreciated the same thing in the life of Day - saying he was a life long bachelor who wrote passionate letters to his male friends in his youth and liked photographing young men with no clothes on, but that it is impossible to begin to say what this means is really a bit of a cop out.
( Read more... )