An Illustrated Chronology
Links Open In New Windows
Pre-tour cartoons of Wilde as aesthetic, and even in this case androgynous, helped to established a curiosity to see him.
Contemporary cartoon depicting Aestheticism personified as a sad maiden bidding adieu to Wilde's ship setting sail to America.
Printed announcement of Wilde's first lecture in America.
A fragment of Wilde's manuscript notes for his first lecture: The English Renaissance.
The concert hall where Oscar Wilde gave his first lecture in America.
Early drawing and bas-relief made of Wilde while he was in New York, in January 1882.
Comic verse about Oscar and the aesthetic movement.
Wilde meets Walt Whitman in January, 1882.
A page from Wilde's letter to Walt Whitman written shortly after he had met him in February, 1882.
Wilde on the lecture platform in 1882 as imagined by Max Beerbohm many years later.
Wilde takes a break at Niagara Falls—but would it cure his disappointment with the Atlantic Ocean?
Owing to public curiosity, the press closely monitored Wilde's movements. Here his visit to Niagara is reported.
The arrival of Oscar Wilde was much anticipated in every town his visited. Here  he is listed twice among daily news events.
Wilde was not afraid to express his opinions. Here he upsets Chicagoans with his comments about their water tower.
Wilde was treated like a celebrity wherever he went and was taken to the finest places. In Cincinnati he visited the opera.
One of many memorable experiences Wilde had in America was meeting the niece of his favorite poet and receiving from her a wonderful gift.
Wilde visits the opera and meets the famous Italian diva.
Wilde, often mistakenly referred to as English, took the opportunity to express his patriotism to his Irish artistic heritage on St Patrick's Day 1882.
After lecturing in the larger East coast cities, Wilde reached America's Midwest, which was still a place of frontier development.
The ridicule of Wilde's pose that had begun in Britain continued in America.
One journalist's opinion.
Wilde traveled many thousands of miles by train during his lecture tour. The longest single journey was across country to California.
Wilde arrives in San Francisco.
One question of correctly identifying Wilde’s lecture venue.
Wilde usually stayed at the best hotel in town. In San Francisco it was the best in the world.
Wilde was not the only curiosity in America in 1882— a certain elephant came under Oscar’s aesthetic influence.
An aesthetically Wildean future for America as imagined by Puck magazine.
Oscar standing on the beach casts a long shadow.
The beginnings of Oscar’s life in literary society.
A recently discovered final lecture in New York.
Mixed opinions and still caricatured.
Punch magazine's reference to Wilde and the penchant for lecture tours.
Oscar Wilde In America | © John Cooper, 2024
