Picturing Isabella

Isabella Stewart Gardner and photography came of age at the same time. By 1840, the year of Isabella’s birth, photography had been introduced to a broader public. By the late 1800s, it was a staple of American visual culture. Notable people were photographed again and again. But as Isabella’s fame grew, she hid from the camera. 

Through a lifetime of photographs, we can trace Isabella’s changing and complicated relationship to image, fame, and legacy. She deliberately cultivated a public persona that was both dramatic and enigmatic. She curated images of herself as carefully as the galleries of this Museum, which would become her most enduring legacy. 

Today, photography continues to be a crucial tool for creative people inventing personas, whether in galleries or online. Persona: Photography and the Re-Imagined Self, an exhibition in the Hostetter Gallery of the New Wing, presents photographs by contemporary artists who create personas that question and challenge identity. Throughout the Gardner this spring, we invite you to find power in all the ways you might be yourself.