A Kaleidoscope of Love: Californian Painter Orrin Peck (1860—1921)

A Kaleidoscope of Love: Californian Painter Orrin Peck (1860—1921)

Chapter in a book

His achievements in knitting and crocheting were not breathtaking, there was always some mistake or imperfection; he needed to draw and prepare his patterns. Yet he had to pass time on his arduous journeys between the East and West Coasts, and Europe and America. Unlike the men in his generation – his friend William Hearst, the heir of the silver mines, and the media and film magnate, for instance – he did not have to prepare to rule the world or a huge corporation, deal with piles of business letters, decode the tiny stock market figures, burden his mind with expanding the power, capital, or both. He could simply spend time by what he enjoyed. He was rather eccentric anyway and he did not hide his love for men – as much as it was possible in the 19th century, he did not have to engage in activities the society expected from men. Unlike other ostracized people with non-heterosexual desires, the painter Orrin Peck (1860‒1921) was extremely lucky in one aspect: he found his soulmate, the emancipated and wealthy woman with a big heart: Phoebe Apperson Hearst (1842‒1919). She probably did not know about Peck’s non-heterosexual orientation, but she accepted all his demonstrations of otherness and she hosted him and his partner, painter Carl, in her mansion in Pleasanton at least once.

His achievements in knitting and crocheting were not breathtaking, there was always some mistake or imperfection; he needed to draw and prepare his patterns. Yet he had to pass time on his arduous journeys between the East and West Coasts, and Europe and America. Unlike the men in his generation – his friend William Hearst, the heir of the silver mines, and the media and film magnate, for instance – he did not have to prepare to rule the world or a huge corporation, deal with piles of business letters, decode the tiny stock market figures, burden his mind with expanding the power, capital, or both. He could simply spend time by what he enjoyed. He was rather eccentric anyway and he did not hide his love for men – as much as it was possible in the 19th century, he did not have to engage in activities the society expected from men. Unlike other ostracized people with non-heterosexual desires, the painter Orrin Peck (1860‒1921) was extremely lucky in one aspect: he found his soulmate, the emancipated and wealthy woman with a big heart: Phoebe Apperson Hearst (1842‒1919). She probably did not know about Peck’s non-heterosexual orientation, but she accepted all his demonstrations of otherness and she hosted him and his partner, painter Carl, in her mansion in Pleasanton at least once.

queer history; queer art; queer theory; LGBT; gay studies; art history; Orrin Peck; Phoebe Hearst

queer history; queer art; queer theory; LGBT; gay studies; art history; Orrin Peck; Phoebe Hearst

JACKSON, L.

2022

25.10.2021

J. William Fulbright Commission in the Czech Republic

Praha

978-3-16-148410-0

Perspectives on Time, Space and Memories

106

118

12

https://www.fulbright.cz/en/perspectives-on-time-space-and-memories/

perspectives_211107 copy-pages-1,54,56,58,60