Review: Picturing Emerson (2017)

Valerie Wingfield

Joel Myerson and Leslie Perrin Wilson. Picturing Emerson: An Iconography. Cambridge: Houghton Library, Harvard University Press, 2017. 140 pages. Paperback, $30.00.

Joel Myerson and Leslie Perrin Wilson’s Picturing Emerson: An Iconography is a clear and concise book describing photographic images and, to a lesser extent, works of art about Ralph Waldo Emerson. The parameters for the images are stated in the Introduction, “[b]y design, this is a partial catalogue. Including only portraits produced during Emerson’s lifetime, it focuses on only those photographs and works of art that might be termed ‘original’ or ‘non-derivative’” (4).

Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803 — April 27, 1882) had a multi-faceted career as an essayist, philosopher, poet and lecturer and was known as a leader of the transcendentalist movement. Emerson’s advocacy for individualism and challenge to religion attracted followers and critics. He became a highly successful lecturer traveling throughout the United States and Europe, when he was not at home in Massachusetts. Emerson was also contemporaneous with the development of photography, although fascinated with the subject, Emerson was less than enthusiastic about having the camera aimed at him. Emerson commented “My portraits… generally oscillate between the donkey and the Lothario” (2). Yet, what could he do? As a public figure Emerson could not say no and would eventually become one of the most photographed individuals in the nineteenth century.

Myerson and Wilson have produced a meticulous and detailed book covering the scope of verifiable images of Emerson. The result is a visual renaissance. The chronological arrangement of the images offers a time lapse effect of Emerson as a young man to late in life. Emerson was often photographed with a slight smile on his face. While most of the photographs have him seated alone, there are several of his family, friends and colleagues. There are two remarkable photographs of Emerson as an elderly man with his son Edward Waldo Emerson and his grandson Charles Waldo Emerson. In one of the photographs, taken in 1878, Emerson was seated holding his grandson (77).

Of interest is the ambiance of the photographs. For example, there were three daguerreotypes of Emerson taken between 1857 and 1858 by Southworth and Hawes (28–30). The publisher subtlety indicates the variations of the daguerreotypes’ color, condition and texture. The second of the three images has lost its casing. The impression of the former case is evident as well as the deteriorated condition around the edges of the image (29).

Non-photographic images are worth remarking upon. For example, there is a painted silhouette of Emerson. This silhouette was published in David Greene Haskins, Ralph Waldo Emerson: His Maternal Ancestors, circa 1843 (10). While abroad in Europe, Emerson consented to have his portrait painted by artist David Scott outside Edinburgh, in 1848. Both men had strong opinions of each other. Emerson wrote to his wife that he found Scott to be “a sort of Bronson Alcott with easel and brushes.” Scott remarked that he found Emerson to be “guarded” and “cold” at times, and his appearance “severe, hard and dry.” As an admirer of Emerson’s transcendentalism, Scott painted a symbolic rainbow in the upper left corner of the painting (18–19). This portrait now hangs in the reference room of the Concord Free Public Library.

Myerson and Wilson have provided the reader with historical background, comments from Emerson and his contemporaries, information about the artist or photographer, the circumstances for the production of the image, other relevant details and date ranges (Many of Emerson’s images are not dated, p. 3). The book has two appendices. Appendix A. Apocryphal Images of Emerson that lack conclusive evidence about their authenticity and Appendix B Unlocated Images of Emerson; Notes and an Index. The Index offers additional information for the researcher through the list of proper names mentioned in the text and the names of the libraries that holds images of Emerson.

Joel Myerson and Leslie Perrin Wilson have completed an exhaustive work for the study of images about Emerson. This book will be a valuable resource for researchers and others interested in learning about the iconography of Emerson.

Valerie Wingfield, Archives Unit, New York Public Library