John Singer Sargent and Admitting Uncertainty

[This article is a companion piece to a YouTube video I co-wrote with my friend and colleague on Museums and Sex. You can find the link at the end of this blog post.]

​In December 2022, my girlfriend and I took a day trip to Boston, during which we visited the Museum of Fine Arts. While browsing the collections on display, we came across this portrait, Nude Study of Thomas McKeller by John Singer Sargent. At this point, I was already aware that some saw Sargent as a queer man, so I was excited to see how the museum handled that. It was therefore very disappointing to see that there was very little discussion of that side of him, opting instead to simply gesture at the debate rather than engage directly. Sexuality was even given the last word in the accompanying label. 

John Singer Sargent, "Nude Study of Thomas E. McKeller," oil on canvas, about 1917-1920, Museum of Fine Arts.

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