Oscar WILDE – Original photograph by Napoléon Sarony. 1882.

Oscar Wilde (1854.1900)

Original photograph by Napoléon Sarony.

Vintage albumen print, mounted on heavy card, in cabinet card format (9.50 x 17.10 cm).

New York. January 1882.

One of the most famous portraits of Wilde in the United States.

_____________________________________

Upon his arrival in New York, Oscar Wilde visited the studios of Napoleon Sarony, one of the most fashionable American photographers. Sarony took approximately twenty photographs of Wilde, in various poses and costumes, revealing the dandyism of the young British author.

In this portrait, Wilde is wearing a fur coat which he was very fond of and which his brother had to sell when he was imprisoned: "I wore it all the way to America, it was at all my firsts, it knows me perfectly and I really want to find it again" (Pléiade, pp. 94-95).

Invited to present a series of lectures on the theme of Aesthetics and Decorative Arts, Oscar Wilde arrived in the United States on January 3, 1882, for a tour initially planned for four months. This tour ultimately extended over a full year, encompassing one hundred and forty lectures, and taking him as far as Canada.