CANTIDAD:

500

RESUMEN

Sarah Choate Sears (May 5, 1858 - 25 Sept. 1935), art collector, artist and photographer, and cultural entrepreneur, was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Charles Francis Choate, a railroad president, and Elizabeth Carlisle. ‘Her husband, Joshua Montgomery Sears (Dec. 25, 1854 - June 2, 1905), real estate magnate, was born in Yarmouth Port, Massachusetts, to Joshua Montgomery Sears, Sr., and his wife, Phebe Snow Sears. Like the Sears, the Choates were Boston Brahmin’ elite - a class of influential families in New England society. Joshua Sears was one of the wealthiest men in Boston.

Choate Sears was educated in private schools and immersed herself into the world of art as a young woman. In 1876, she studied painting at the Cowles Art School in Boston before enrolling in courses at the Museum of Fine Arts. Art critics initially highlighted Sears’ wealth rather than her talent, but her skills as a watercolorist earned her prizes at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago (1893), the Universal Exposition in Paris (1900), the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo (1901), and the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in Saint Louis (1904). Choate Sears was not only an artist, but also an avid cultural patron who played an important role in a number of artists’ careers by buying their work and offering additional support. She was a lifelong friend of John Singer Sargent (1856-1925), the leading American portrait painter of the late 19th century. Together with her friend and fellow art collector, Isabella Stewart Gardner, Choate Sears served as a preeminent trendsetter in Boston at the turn of the twentieth century. The support that she and her husband gave to the Harvard Summer School for Cuban teachers in 1900 ($500) reflected the popularity of that program among the Boston area’s cultural leaders.

Influenced by the American photographer Alfred Stieglitz (1864-1946) Choate Sears was an early champion of photography as an art form. She was elected to several prestigious photography associations including the Linked Ring in London and the Photo-Secession in New York. In later life she became a collector of contemporary art, including early impressionist paintings by Edgar Degas and Edouard Manet, and in her final years returned to painting, mainly still lifes in pastel.

In 1904, Choate Sears stopped working to care for her husband. After his death in 1905, she managed the family’s finances before departing to Europe. She spent the remainder of her life traveling across Europe collecting art and living among artists, musicians, and writers.

Sarah Choate Sears died on September 25, 1935 in West Gouldsboro, Maine. She was 77 years old.


Further Reading

A painting of Sarah Choate Sears by John Singer Sargent is part of the collection of The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas. https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/mrs-joshua-montgomery-sears-sarah-choate-sears

1. Hirshler, E. E. “The Fine Art of Sarah Choate Sears. Antiques (U.S.A.), 160(3), (2001); 320-329.

2. “Sarah Choate Sears,” https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Sarah_Choate_Sears