The edition of Harriet Hosmer with the library binding is now available. A library binding is a very durable hard cover, without a dust jacket. If you are affiliated with an academic institution, please consider requesting the library purchase the book. Or if you have a favorite branch of your local public library, please suggest that branch purchase the book. Thanks, from the daughter of a librarian.
Below are pictures of Audrey checking out the edition.
Archive for November, 2010
Get Harriet Hosmer: A Cultural Biography in libraries.
Posted in Book on November 29, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Harriet Hosmer: A Cultural Biography Official Press Release
Posted in Book on November 28, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Harriet Hosmer at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Posted in Hosmer's work on November 24, 2010| Leave a Comment »
The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston opened its new Art of the Americas wing last week. Which is good news for any fan of Harriet Hosmer, because Hosmer’s Sleeping Faun is now once again on display, in the Penny and Jeff Vinik Gallery. It was donated to the museum by Cornelia Crow Carr, Hosmer’s life-long friend, in 1912. You can see an interview, and some good footage of the collections, with the museum’s director here. I can’t wait to visit.
Harriet Hosmer talks this week–a roundup.
Posted in Uncategorized on November 20, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Thanks to everyone who came out to hear me speak about Harriet Hosmer in the Syracuse University History Department and at the River’s End yesterday. And thanks also to those who tuned into the Stonestreet Cafe. (Remember if you missed the show, it will eventually be archived on the site. Although, unfortunately, that version won’t include the wonderful music Julia selected, including Nina Simone and Celia Cruz.) In the biography, I discuss how having a great network of friends was critical to Hosmer’s success. And I feel very lucky this week to have so many people willing to support me as I bring work of Hosmer and my biography to the public. Carol, Bill, Mindy and Julia, I am lucky to know you all.
Harriet Hosmer and the Prince of Wales
Posted in Book, Hosmer's work on November 17, 2010| Leave a Comment »
As all eyes turn to England and questions of who will design Kate Middleton’s wedding dress fill the airwaves, I am reminded of Harriet Hosmer’s encounters with a member of the English royalty. In 1859, the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) visited Hosmer’s studio and saw her at work on Zenobia, one of her most famous works. Harper’s Weekly published a cartoon of the encounter, depicting Hosmer’s mentor John Gibson discussing the work with the prince. Hosmer encountered the prince again at a ball in his honor in Boston in 1860, when he told the artist he kept his copy of her work Puck in his rooms at Oxford.
Harper's Weekly, May 1859
Harriet Hosmer talk at Syracuse University
Posted in Book on November 17, 2010| 2 Comments »
In addition to discussing my biography of Hosmer on Nov. 19th at the River’s End in Oswego, NY, I will be giving a talk earlier in the day at Syracuse University. I’ve never been to the school, although I have driven by the dome many times. And my family is all about the Big Orange come Sweet Sixteen time. My grandfather went to the law school, and my grandmother earned her B.A. there, after graduating from the Normal School in Oswego. (She taught during the school year, then took classes at Syracuse in the summers.) Below is a picture of them in their Syracuse attire. We were heading off to a pep rally in NYC in 1996, when Syracuse when to the finals. It was the first time the finals had been held in the NYC area since the point shaving scandal of 1951, which involved 4 schools from the city.
Culkins in fan mode.
Harriet Hosmer chat on Stonestreet Cafe
Posted in Book, Listening on November 15, 2010| Leave a Comment »
I will be a guest on the internet radio show the Stonestreet Cafe this Thursday, at 9 PM EST. The cafe is hosted by Julia Stonestreet Smith, a friend of mine from high school. The interview was recorded last week, and we had a great time catching up before the show and discussing Harriet Hosmer during the official interview. Julia is also an astrologer, and you can check our her horoscopes, or, as she calls them, “Good Fortune Scopes,” for the week here. I have a very busy week, so I am going to take her advice for Tauruses like me to heart: “Take time out to rest and reflect even though you may have pressing responsibilities, Taurus. You’ll get more done if you take care of yourself while you move through it.”
Some Links (Franco, Ginsberg, Feminist Art, 1860 Japanese Delegation to NYC)
Posted in American History, Reading, Seeing on November 10, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Film critic Erica Abeel recently got James Franco’s attention by revealing she actually knew Allen Ginsberg. I don’t think I can handle 127 Hours, but I really want to see Howl.
Judith Bernstein, a pioneering feminist artist for whom I used to cat sit, will have an installation at the Alex Zachary Gallery, from Nov. 12-January 15. You see watch an art critic John Perrault’s introduction to her talk and some of her commentary at the Drawing Center on youtube. (Probably not safe for work.)
On Sunday, I went to the Museum of the City of New York’s exhibit “Samurai in New York: The First Japanese Delegation, 1860.” It was the last day, or I would highly recommend going to see it. It was an interesting look at two cultures coming in contact with each other in a rapidly changing world. The 23rd mile marker for NYC Marathon was just outside the museum door. The winners had long gone by; the clock read 5 hours and 2 minutes when I got to the museum. So I cheered on some unsung strangers before going in and some more when I came out.
Harriet Hosmer: A Cultural Biography in stock at Amazon
Posted in Book, Reading on November 7, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Harriet Hosmer: A Cultural Biography has been available to “pre-buy” on Amazon for a while, but now it is in stock. I was weirdly thrilled to learn people who purchased my book have also purchased books by Nell Irvin Painter and Annette Gord0n-Reed, two of my heroes. (Of course, I would love people to support great independent bookstores such as Red Fox Books, Three Lives & Co., or The River’s End, but I know sometimes Amazon is the quickest route to a book).
Discussion of Harriet Hosmer: A Cultural Biography at the River’s End in Oswego, NY
Posted in Book on November 5, 2010| 1 Comment »
I will be discussing my biography of Hosmer at the River’s End in Oswego, NY on November 19 at 6 PM. The River’s End is a wonderful independent bookstore, located at 19 West Bridge Street. My grandfather, who lived in Oswego and to whom the book is dedicated, loved this store. My bookshelves, in fact, groan under the weight of the many gifts he selected for me there. I’m really looking forward to this event, although the fact that my grandfather, who died in 2008, will not be there will make it a little bittersweet.
A Biographer's Blog 
