In 1916, the artist John Singer Sargent met Thomas Eugene McKeller, a Black elevator attendant at the Hotel Vendome in Boston. Sargent found a muse in the handsome and classically-proportioned McKeller, who began posing for Sargent, and served as inspiration for drawings, paintings, and the murals of gods and goddesses that adorn Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts. In this online exhibition—which takes the form of an elegant 10-minute video—the preparatory drawings for those murals are on display. The video is a fascinating commentary on Sargent’s subtle transpositions of race and gender. —E.C.

Boston’s Apollo: Thomas McKeller and John Singer Sargent
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
25 Evans Way, Boston, MA 02115, USA
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