Love, Fiercely

January 16, 2012
In one of his most controversial paintings, John Singer Sargent captured the unconventionality of a young couple in simple street clothes that belie their wealthy Gilded Age roots. Zimmerman’s (Manhattan) unsentimental depiction of vibrant Edith Minturn Stokes (nicknamed “Fiercely” by her brother) and the cerebral but original architect Newton Stokes showcases the major episodes in the lives of the couple, whose stilted courtship led to lifelong marital devotion that lasted through success, fame, and eventual impoverishment. The force of character that Sargent captured in his portrait of Edith was also embodied as the sculptural face of the 1893 Chicago Columbian Exposition’s The Republic, making the young suffragist an icon of the era even as her husband designed greatly improved tenement housing for the poor and began the collection that would grow into his masterful six-volume iconography of Manhattan. More of an appreciation for lives well lived than a traditional romance, this biography offers insight into the wealthy during the increasingly progressive turn of the 20th century. 16 pages of b&w photos. Agent: Betsy Lerner of Dunow, Carlson & Lerner Literary Agency.

January 15, 2012
Zimmerman (The Women of the House: How a Colonial She-Merchant Built a Mansion, a Fortune, and a Dynasty, 2006, etc.) examines the mysterious couple in John Singer Sargent's famous painting Mr. and Mrs. I.N. Phelps Stokes. This "Gilded Age romance" is both a starry-eyed look at how the wealthy lived during the turn of the century and a love story full of highs and lows. The woman in the painting was Edith Minturn, nicknamed "Fiercely" for her independent streak, whose family made a fortune from shipbuilding, which it lost and regained. The man in the painting was her husband I.N. Phelps Stokes, who, though his family was in banking, was set on becoming an architect. The portrait that immortalized them was a wedding gift to the new couple, intended to show the new bride in all of her elegant finery. Instead, Sargent presented a portrait of young American vitality and, possibly, a feminist statement in a time when women were struggling for the right to vote. Zimmerman, like Sargent, sees something more in these two. She was a classic beauty who served as the model for the Statue of the Republic at the famous World's Columbian Exhibition and became a devoted wife, mother and advocate for the poor. He was a talented builder whose dreams of affordable housing for the underclass were derailed by an obsessive desire to complete a massive study titled The Iconography of Manhattan Island. Their lives were big but not dramatic; they were the kind of people who would have inspired James and Wharton, but whose own stories seem mostly interior. Zimmerman tells an intriguing history from the available evidence, but Sargent's subjects ultimately remain out of reach.

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Starred review from April 1, 2012

Demonstrating the same flare as in her previous biography, Zimmerman (The Women of the House: How a Colonial She-Merchant Built a Mansion, a Fortune, and a Dynasty) pays respect to the lives and times of Edith Minturn Stokes and Isaac Newton Phelps Stokes. Edith and Newton, as he was called, who married in 1895, were born in New York to immense privilege and became patrons of the arts and advocates for immigrant rights. The two knew each other as children and eventually fell in love. Newton, a respected architect in his own right, pulled together a massive multivolume documentary history, The Iconography of Manhattan Island, and Edith worked for many charitable organizations. Zimmerman chronicles their personal lives and love, from the heights of financial success to the depths of deteriorating health and wealth, while also encapsulating the era in which they lived. VERDICT With an impressive amount of research behind every page, Zimmerman manages to capture the sweeping drama of the turn of the century as well as the compelling story of a couple who knew how to love, fiercely. Her superb pacing and gripping narrative will appeal to all who enjoy history, biography, and real-life romance. [See Prepub Alert, 12/5/11.]--Crystal Goldman, San Jose State Univ. Lib., CA

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