Gustavo Pérez and Oneyda González, 2015 Princeton University Library research grant recipients, are preparing a documentary on the Cuban artist, writer, and critic Severo Sarduy (1937-1993). They have come from Camaguey, Cuba, to see our collection of paintings and drawings by Sarduy, among other resources.

The project began over ten years ago, with Oneyda González’s publication, Severo Sarduy: escrito sobre un rostro (Camagüey: Editorial Ácana, 2003). Then, thanks to a grant from Cinergia, she was able to develope the initial script for a documentary entitled Severo Secreto (Secret Severo). In 2007 filmmaker Gustavo Pérez joined the project and they began compiling interviews including Antón Arrufat, Pablo Armando Fernández, Luis Marre, Gustavo Guerrero, Rafael Rojas, Juan Goytisolo and François Wahl, among other intellectuals of Sarduy’s generation.

A trailer for their documentary has been posted on YouTube and can be accessed here:

Thanks to the Program in Latin American Studes (PLAS) for help with the funding of these research grants. For more information about our collection of Sarduy’s art, see: https://blogs.princeton.edu/graphicarts/2011/11/severo_sarduy.html

This untitled gouache by the American illustrator Walter Biggs was probably drawn as an illustration for Century magazine in the early 1900s during the years that he shared a studio with George Bellows but we have not yet been able to match it to a particular story. It’s not surprising since Biggs work for over fifty years as a successful commercial illustrator. This small section from Donald Gunter’s biography gives some idea of the amount of work the artist produced.

“Biggs began achieving commercial success in 1905, when his illustrations appeared on the covers of Young’s Magazine in January and Field and Stream in July. After completing his formal art studies he rented a small studio and worked on a variety of projects. His early assignments included illustrations for a story in the McClure’s Magazine of October 1908, a color frontispiece for Myrtle Reed’s novel Old Rose and Silver (1909), and drawings for Belle Bushnell’s John Arrowsmith—Planter (1910). In May 1912 he illustrated a story in Harper’s Monthly Magazine, launching a twelve-year relationship as a contributor to that magazine. In 1913 Biggs’s illustrations appeared in the January issue of the Delineator, in Kate Langley Bosher’s novel The House of Happiness, and in The Land of the Spirit, a collection of short stories by Thomas Nelson Page. He illustrated a series of stories by Armistead Churchill Gordon that appeared in Scribner’s from 1914 to 1916 and were also published as Ommirandy: Plantation Life at Kingsmill (1917). In 1918 he illustrated a story by Alice Hegan Rice for the Century. Many of those illustrations were set in the American South, and Biggs won praise during his career for his sympathetic portrayals of African American life.” From “Walter J. Biggs (1886–1968)” by Donald W. Gunter and the Dictionary of Virginia Biography

A small portrait of Sir Walter Scott was acquired by Princeton to complement the Parrish collection of Scott’s Edinburgh editions. The painting has been attributed to the Scottish artist Samuel Mackenzie (1785-1847) and dated 1825. Mackenzie was greatly influenced by the artist Sir Henry Raeburn (1756-1823) and in the early 19th century worked in Raeburn’s studio. Their styles are similar and it is sometime difficult to separate work done by Mackenzie. In particular, the portrait of Scott closely resembles Raeburn’s 1822 portrait of the writer. It is possible that Mackenzie produced a copy of Raeburn’s popular canvas [below], which hangs today in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

The actor Joseph Jefferson, best known for his performance as Rip Van Winkle, was also a talented painter. If the date on the work in the Graphic Arts Collection is 1895, the painting was probably included in his 1901 Washington D.C. exhibition, admired and reviewed by Willa Cather in her 1901 essay “Joe Jefferson, the Painter.” See: Willa Cather (1873-1947), The world and the parish; Willa Cather’s articles and reviews, 1893-1902 (1970). Firestone Library (F) PS3505.A87 A16 1970

A second review by A.D. Albert Jr. begins, “On the occasion of a recent exhibition of paintings by Mr. Joseph Jefferson, the artist was present and joined frankly in the criticisms of those professionals and students who were in attendance. His evident pleasure in intelligent compliment and the eagerness with which he argued for the mood of particular paintings indicated unmistakably the spirit of earnestness and affection out of which the pictures have grown.

…Those of Mr. Jefferson’s critics who have seen him as Caleb Plummer or Rip Van Winkle insist, unconsciously perhaps, on regarding his paintings as the “aside” of a great character of the stage, or the studies of a dilettante. …There is too much merit in the work to warrant any study of it except as the ripened productions of a true student of nature. No concessions are necessary because Mr. Jefferson has done other things well or allowances required because his appearance as a painter is one of the later manifestations of his artistic temperament.

That any man whose life has been so busy could acquire a deep insight into the art-spirit of trees and rolling hills is not often to be expected, probably; but when that insight once speaks in serious purpose to express itself it deserves to be taken seriously and the expression judged solely on its merits.”–A.D. Albert Jr., “Mr. Joseph Jefferson as a Painter,” The Critic 39 (1901).