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152:, completed in 1897, would serve as memorial to the author. In that work his daughter Mary had initially been painted holding a plaque with Stevenson's monogram, but Thayer transformed the plaque into a laurel wreath and dedicated the work to his children after being told that the painting's connection to Stevenson was not clear. The winged figure of
268:, in 1912 he offered a general explanation: "Doubtless my lifelong passion for birds has helped to incline me to work wings into my pictures; but primarily I have put on wings probably more to symbolize an exalted atmosphere (above the realm of genre painting) where one need not explain the action of the figures".
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From the 1890s on many of the winged figures painted by Thayer are thought to have expressed the artist's contemplations on grief, and to represent his beliefs on the relationship between body and spirit, but it is also said that the artist painted his models the way that he saw their soul and had a
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was Bessie Price, a guest of the Thayer household that caught the attention of Mr.Thayer. She had just traveled from
Ireland to visit her siblings who worked in the household and decided to stay in America to be Thayer's servant. She had previously posed for other paintings by the artist, including
136:, atop which Stevenson was buried after his death in 1894. Although he later painted over them, originally Thayer inscribed Stevenson's name and coat of arms across the top of the canvas. After its completion the painting was exhibited in museums across the country, to popular and critical acclaim.
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With not too much conviction I offered my criticism. "Good!" said Thayer. "Now I'll go out. You take my brushes and paint the rock the way you think it ought to be. And call me when you've finished."....So I went to work. And when I had done the best I could, I called Thayer back. Thayer was
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generous. "Yes," he cried, "I think you've helped it." Suddenly he cried, "Look! We're both wrong—building it up little by little like that! God said, 'let there be a rock'—and there it was." And picking up a broom he swept it right and left across the painting. It did the trick.
196:, but was not completed until years later. In 1914 Thayer transformed it into a memorial for his late wife, with his daughter Gladys posing for the figure and a Latin inscription translated as "Mother of my daughter! To you this monument" painted below.
179:, who at that time worked as an apprentice and copyist in Thayer's studio, Thayer was displeased with the appearance of the rock upon which the figure was seated, and asked for the younger artist's opinion:
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allowed Thayer to meld his own concepts of "the polar extremes of darkness and light symbolizing the coexistence of madness and sanity and good and evil" with similar themes from
Stevenson's writing.
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Abbott Thayer was moved by the writing of Robert Louis
Stevenson, whose dramatic characterizations of human conflict resonated with the artist. Thayer painted
124:. The painting features a young woman clothed in a classical white gown, embellished with wings and a halo. The rock that she sits upon bears the word
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was painted over an earlier work, also a portrait of his three children; it, too, was envisioned as a tribute to
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192:(Freer Gallery of Art), was another canvas begun as an alternative conception of the
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Although Thayer never discussed the meaning of his angelic figures like the one in
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207.2 cm Ă— 152.6 cm (81.6 in Ă— 60.1 in)
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Thayer's working methods were unconventional. According to
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is the only version to survive the artist's revisions.
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455:. National Museum of American Art. 18 October 2010
481:. Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York, 1982
144:It was Thayer's intent that an earlier painting,
1016:Paintings in the Smithsonian American Art Museum
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501:, Murray, Richard. Smithsonian Magazine, 1999
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275:According to museum curator Richard Murray,
165:My Children (Mary, Gerald and Gladys Thayer)
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324:(2). University of Chicago Press: 2–25.
16:1903 painting by Abbott Handerson Thayer
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765:More New Arabian Nights: The Dynamiter
314:"Abbott Thayer's "Stevenson Memorial""
850:Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
581:Travels with a Donkey in the CĂ©vennes
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499:Abbott Thayer's Stevenson Memorial
453:"Abbott Thayer: The Nature of Art"
272:deep connection with each model.
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956:Robert Louis Stevenson State Park
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491:Abbott Thayer: The Nature of Art
190:Winged Figure Seated upon a Rock
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613:Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa
512:Winged Figures by Abbott Thayer
485:Smithsonian American Art Museum
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146:My Children (Mary, Gerald and
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573:Edinburgh: Picturesque Notes
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132:refers to a mountain in the
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225:Young Woman (Bessie Price)
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808:The Pavilion on the Links
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672:The Master of Ballantrae
312:Murray, Richard (1999).
206:Portrait of Bessie Price
589:The Silverado Squatters
479:Abbott Handerson Thayer
98:Abbott Handerson Thayer
40:Abbott Handerson Thayer
1021:Robert Louis Stevenson
970:The Story of a Recluse
597:Memories and Portraits
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216:(Wadsworth Atheneum).
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122:Dublin, New Hampshire
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864:The Beach of Falesá
789:Tales and Fantasies
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962:Stevenson Memorial
871:The Isle of Voices
757:New Arabian Nights
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459:11 September
457:. Retrieved
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318:American Art
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939:The Student
733:collections
731:Short story
688:The Wrecker
648:Prince Otto
387:Ross, 69–71
253:Young Woman
210:Young Woman
112:Description
1005:Categories
946:Mount Vaea
897:Underwoods
472:References
424:Ross, 68–9
64:Dimensions
656:Kidnapped
398:Eye Level
346:191584270
990:Category
873:" (1893)
866:" (1892)
859:" (1891)
852:" (1886)
845:" (1885)
838:" (1885)
836:Markheim
831:" (1884)
824:" (1882)
817:" (1881)
810:" (1880)
720:St. Ives
696:Catriona
442:Ross, 74
433:Ross, 60
358:Ross, 69
247:inches.
167:, 1897.
94:American
72:Location
916:Related
338:3109297
242:⁄
232:⁄
96:artist
908:(1896)
900:(1887)
892:(1885)
881:Poetry
843:Olalla
792:(1905)
784:(1893)
776:(1887)
768:(1885)
760:(1882)
752:(1878)
744:(1878)
699:(1893)
675:(1889)
667:(1888)
659:(1886)
651:(1885)
643:(1883)
632:Novels
624:(1895)
616:(1892)
608:(1892)
600:(1887)
592:(1883)
584:(1879)
576:(1878)
568:(1878)
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54:Medium
36:Artist
557:Books
342:S2CID
334:JSTOR
283:Notes
461:2022
237:Ă— 19
130:VAEA
126:VAEA
49:1903
46:Year
326:doi
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