The 100 Day Project #53

Dinner at Saint-Gaudens

Cornish, NH, 2018

The 100 Day Project, Day 53

I love house museums. Not for the grandeur or the historical significance, though both have their place. I love them for the objects. The things a person chose to keep, to display, to set on a table. The accumulated evidence of a life's particular enthusiasms and affections. You can learn more about a person from what sits on their shelves or decorates their walls than from almost any biography.

I made this photograph in the dining room of the home of sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, now a National Historic Park in New Hampshire. The table is set for a summer dinner, late afternoon light falling across it the way light falls in a room that has known a great many meals and conversations. Standing in a space like this, I am ever curious about the people who lived there, the lives they lived, who they dined with at that table, the memories created, the disagreements, the birthdays and other moments that make up a life.

Augustus Saint-Gaudens was a celebrated artist. His home and studio survive because of that. I find myself wondering, as I often do in spaces like this, about the others who sat at this table. Who cooked the meals. Who arranged the flowers. Whose hands set these places and cleared them after. Their names are not on the landmark.

I am a pretty nostalgic person. It is a particular kind of delightful when I am antiquing or thrifting and I come across something that reminds me of someone in my life, a moment in my youth. For years I have been slowly collecting items for a forthcoming project, "Objects from My Mother's First Marriage" (more on that soon). There is something quietly profound about preservation — the decision to say this mattered.

About the 100 Day Project: A global creative challenge where thousands of artists share a piece of their practice every single day for 100 days. I'm joining creatives around the world, and I'm excited to bring you along. Each day I'll be sharing one of my photos — some recent, some old, and some from my current project — along with the story behind it: where I was, who I was with, and why I love it.