Edward Augustus Brackett: The Life, Art and Tumultuous Times of an American Original

In this engaging, superbly researched book, the noted art historian Eleanor Heartney brings to life an important, hitherto neglected sculptor whose many interests reflected 19th-century America in its dazzling variety.David S. Reynolds, Distinguished Professor CUNY Graduate Center, Author, Abe: Abe Lincoln in His Times.In this rollicking narrative, a prominent art critic presents the first comprehensive biography of her great-great-grandfather, the 19th century polymath Edward Augustus Brackett. Based in Boston, Brackett was a well regarded artist, abolitionist, spiritualist, poet and conservationist. He is known today mainly for highly accomplished marble sculptures which are now in the collections of some of the nation’s most prestigious museums. But he was also deeply enmeshed in the cultural, political and intellectual currents of his day. His long life spanned the 19th century and thrust him into the midst of an era suffused with civil and racial strife, threats to democracy, looming environmental disasters and widespread yearning for social and spiritual renewal. As a result, Brackett’s story is also the story of the political, cultural and social upheavals of a period whose conflicts and concerns continue to reverberate today.Eleanor Heartney is an award winning author of numerous books about contemporary art. Using publicly available material and Brackett family archives, she establishes her progenitor as a powerful force in the life of his times. His concerns were wide and deep. Brackett sculpted an iconic bust of the notorious abolitionist John Brown. He was mentor to Edmonia Lewis, the first African American woman artist to achieve international recognition. He built a unique octagonal home that is today on the National Register of Historic Houses. He went to seances with William James and, in a text much admired by Arthur Conan Doyle, wrote movingly about his belief in life after death. In numerous other writings, he grappled with the changes unleashed by mind spinning new developments in science and technology. He was also a poet, a horticulturalist and an animal breeder who, in his last decades, helped shape the nation’s nascent environmental consciousness through his work as the Massachusetts Fish and Game Commissioner. Edward Augustus Brackett: The Life, Art and Tumultous Times of an American Original is a portrait of an unforgettable man. It is also a dive into an era whose political turmoil, spiritual aspirations and sectarian conflicts set the stage for our own times. Read more