Fellow Wanderer: Isabella Stewart Gardner's Travel Albums

Fellow Wanderer is a critical edition of Gardner's collaged travel albums, featuring unpublished facsimiles and essays by scholars exploring her global influences and impact on art and culture. The exhibition will be held at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston from February 16 to May 21, 2023.

Format: Hardback
Length: 244 pages
Publication date: 04 April 2023
Publisher: Princeton University Press

In 1865, art collector and philanthropist Isabella Stewart Gardner (1840–1924) tragically lost her only child to pneumonia at just two years old. In an attempt to lift her from depression, Gardner and her husband, Jack, embarked on a journey to northern Europe and Russia. This marked the beginning of numerous travels that would eventually span from the Middle East to Asia, all documented meticulously in exquisite collaged travel albums.

Fellow Wanderer, a captivating and meticulously illustrated critical edition, presents a compilation of nearly thirty remarkable travelogues by Gardner. Spanning thirty-nine countries, these travelogues offer a profound insight into the global influences that shaped this legendary collector and art patron. This book features stunning facsimiles of Gardner's travel albums, many of which have remained unpublished until now. Accompanied by essays by esteemed scholars, these essays place Gardner's diaries and sketchbooks within the broader context of nineteenth-century art and culture in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. The essays delve into various aspects, including Gardner's engagement with world religions during her travels, her innovative approach to incorporating designs and ideas from diverse regions into her Boston museum, and the ways in which the imperial power structures of the era facilitated her adventures.

Lushly illustrated, Fellow Wanderer offers a truly intimate glimpse into how Gardner's profound and diverse experiences abroad cultivated her exceptional collecting and patronage, imbuing her with a truly global vision of art. Published by the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, this edition is scheduled for exhibition at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston from February 16 to May 21, 2023.

Weight: 2386g
Dimension: 312 x 365 x 26 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780691973869