The Gilded Age; Monumental America

Abbott Handerson Thayer, "The Angel"

A gem from digging through research on artists of the Gilded Age for an upcoming school trip to DC:

Thayer wrote, after working on the head in the painting above, “Yesterday I found the head so on the right track at last that I had an inspired moment partly aided by that strange summoning of clear sight, and when I looked at it I saw at a glance my best thing. I am blissful.”

And a prayer that some of the amazing electricity of growth and connection and understanding that is bouncing around the studio these past few days touches each of us with that precious and rare moment Thayer describes above.