An Aesthete | Baron Adolph de Meyer

An Aesthete | Baron Adolph de Meyer

When Sarah Sears exhibited this photograph she titled it The Mexican. It portrays American photographer Adolf de Meyer. (1868–1946) The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City owns a platinum print dated 1905, and provides the following description:

With his brow arched beneath a tilted hat and hand elegantly grasping a stark white scarf, de Meyer dons a mysterious alter ego. Like de Meyer, Sears was involved with the two major groups devoted to art photography: the Photo-Secession and the Linked Ring Brotherhood. The two artists may have met through a mutual friend, the photographer F. Holland Day, who included their work in his exhibition “New School of American Photography,” on view in London in 1900 and Paris the following year. The title for this portrait follows a Photo-Secession tradition of withholding the sitter’s name when exhibiting publicly.

Sarah Choate Sears: 1858-1935

Sears was an American art collectorart patron, cultural entrepreneur, artist and photographer.

Photography and later life: About 1890 she began exploring photography, and soon she was participating in local salons. She joined the Boston Camera Club in 1892, and her beautiful portraits and still lifes attracted the attention of fellow Boston photographer F. Holland Day. Soon her work was gaining international attention.

At the same time she was pursuing her photography interest, she and her husband were hosting some of the most elegant cultural and artistic parties in Boston. They often featured private symphonic performances and included many international composers and performers, including Ignacy PaderewskiSerge Koussevitsky and Dame Nellie Melba.

In 1899 she was given a one-woman show at the Boston Camera Club, and in 1900 she had several prints in Frances Benjamin Johnson’s famous exhibition in Paris.

In early 1900 she met American Impressionist Mary Cassatt, and the two continued to be friends for the remainder of their lives. During this same period she was elected as a member of the prestigious photographic associations: the Linked Ring in London and Alfred Stieglitz’s Photo-Secession in New York. -Wikipedia (2024) continues…

Title
An Aesthete | Baron Adolph de Meyer
Photographer
Journal
Country
Medium
Atelier
Year
Dimensions

Image Dimensions21.1 x 16.2 cm tipped to mount | Lieferung 4 | Fourth Issue

Support Dimensions34.1 x 26.6 cm gray colored paper

Print Notes

Recto: Engraved: l.l.: SARAH C. SEARS, BOSTON AN AESTHETE; within plate at l.r.: MR Co (atelier); on mount at l.r.: KP, for abbreviated name of journal.

Exhibitions | Collections

The MET, New York: Title: A Mexican, Artist: Sarah Choate Sears (American, 1858–1935), Person in Photograph: Adolf de Meyer (American (born France), Paris 1868–1946 Los Angeles, California), Date: 1905, Medium: Platinum print, Dimensions: 24.2 x 18.7 cm. (9 1/2 x 7 3/8 in.), Classification: Photographs, Credit Line: Alfred Stieglitz Collection, 1933, Object Number: 33.43.265

Published

Photographische Rundschau und photographisches Centralblatt, Volume 19, 1905, Bildnis, Sarah C. Sears, Boston, full-page halftone between pp. 48-9.