Vallots Auctioneers
Live Auction

MALE NUDES + HOMOEROTIC ART

Thu, Oct 31, 2024 12:00PM EDT
Lot 153

John Singer Sargent (American, 1856-1925)

Estimate: $300 - $500

Bid Increments

Price Bid Increment
$0 $10
$100 $25
$500 $50
$1,000 $100
$2,500 $250
$5,000 $500
$10,000 $1,000
$25,000 $2,500
$50,000 $5,000
$100,000 $10,000
'Apollo.' 1920. Collotype on paper. A study, originally for the mural at the Boston Public Library, and was printed by the Guild of Boston Artists when each artist was the Guild's featured member. Printed signature bottom left. 30 x 26"

In 1916, John Singer Sargent met Thomas Eugene McKeller (1890-1962), a young black elevator attendant, at Boston’s Hotel Vendome, and McKeller became an important model in Sargent’s major artistic commissions in and around Boston. His depictions of McKeller were the basis for both male and female figures of gods and goddesses. The nature of these depictions and their transformation from the model to the paintings call attention to questions of race, class, and sexuality, and the questions they raise are as relevant today as they were in Gilded Age Boston.