Boston's Apollo: Sargent and McKeller

Learn more about the Boston's Apollo exhibition at https://www.gardnermuseum.org/calenda... In 1916, John Singer Sargent (1856–1925) met Thomas Eugene McKeller (1890–1962), a young Black elevator attendant, at Boston’s Hotel Vendome. McKeller posed for most of the figures—both male and female—in Sargent’s murals in the Museum of Fine Arts. The painter transformed McKeller into white gods and goddesses, creating soaring allegories of the liberal arts that celebrated the recent expansion of the city’s premier civic museum. Sargent then gave the preparatory drawings of McKeller to Isabella Stewart Gardner, ensuring their preservation in perpetuity. This video explores the rediscovery of these drawings and their meaning from the perspective of artists, curators, and the decendants of Thomas McKeller. Want more? Follow us on Twitter or Facebook @gardnermuseum or visit our website at http://www.gardnermuseum.org/