Monroe Wheeler (13 February, 1899 – 14 August, 1988) was an American publisher and museum coordinator whose relationship with the novelist and poet

Glenway Wescott Glenway Wescott (April 11, 1901 – February 22, 1987) was an American poet, novelist and essayist. A figure of the American expatriate literary community in Paris during the 1920s, Wescott was openly gay.Eric Haralson, ''Henry James and Queer Mo ...

lasted from 1919 until Wescott's death in 1987.

Biography

Wheeler was born in

Evanston, Illinois Evanston ( ) is a city, suburb of Chicago. Located in Cook County, Illinois, United States, it is situated on the North Shore along Lake Michigan. Evanston is north of Downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, Wil ...

in 1899. He met

, who was his partner for the rest of their lives, in 1919. During the 1920s, Wescott and Wheeler lived and worked in Germany and France. With an inheritance from his family, Wheeler bought a small printing press, and with Barbara Harrison, established ''

Harrison of Paris Harrison of Paris was a publishing house originally founded in Paris in 1930 by Monroe Wheeler and Barbara Harrison Wescott. Origins In the 1920s Monroe Wheeler bought a small print press he named ''Manikin''. Partnering with Barbara Harrison Wesco ...

'', specializing in limited-edition books; they published in total thirteen books, including two works by Wheeler's partner, Wescott. In 1934 they moved the press to New York City. The last book published by ''Harrison of Paris'' was ''Hacienda'' by

Katherine Anne Porter Katherine Anne Porter (May 15, 1890 – September 18, 1980) was an American journalist, essayist, short story writer, novelist, and political activist. Her 1962 novel ''Ship of Fools'' was the best-selling novel in America that year, but her sho ...

. In 1935, Wheeler was employed by New York's

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

. He was initially on the Library Committee and three years later he was made ''Director of Membership,'' before becoming ''Director of Publications'' in the following year. In 1940, MOMA created the role of ''Director of Exhibitions'' and Wheeler was the first person to hold the post. In 1944, he became one of MOMA's

Trustee Trustee (or the holding of a trusteeship) is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, is a synonym for anyone in a position of trust and so can refer to any individual who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility to t ...

s and he later sat on the Executive Committee, the Exhibitions Program Committee, and also the Coordination Committee. By 1948, Wheeler was leading the Exhibitions and Publications, the outreach programs and the library. For over a decade, the photographer

George Platt Lynes George Platt Lynes (April 15, 1907 – December 6, 1955) was an American fashion photography, fashion and advertising, commercial photographer who worked in the 1930s and 1940s. He produced photographs featuring many gay artists and writers from ...

had a relationship with Wheeler and Wescott. Both Paul Cadmus' ''Conversation Piece'' (1940), and

Jared French Jared French (February 4, 1905 – January 8, 1988) was an American painter who specialized in the medium of egg tempera. He was one of the artists attributed to the style of art known as magic realism along with contemporaries George Tooker ...

's ''Glenway Wescott, George Platt Lynes and Monroe Wheeler'' made

triptych A triptych ( ; from the Greek language, Greek adjective ''τρίπτυχον'' "''triptukhon''" ("three-fold"), from ''tri'', i.e., "three" and ''ptysso'', i.e., "to fold" or ''ptyx'', i.e., "fold") is a work of art (usually a panel painting) t ...

portraits of Wheeler, Wescott and Lynes. ''When We Were Three: The Travel Albums of George Platt Lynes, Monroe Wheeler, and Glenway Wescott, 1925-1935'' was published in 1998. Lynes ended his relationship with Wheeler and Wescott in 1943 to be with his studio assistant, George Tichenor. Another of Wheeler's lovers was the artist and model

Christian William Miller Christian William Miller (born William Henry Miller; August 7, 1921 – July 5, 1995) was an American artist and model who contemporaries qualified as "one of the most beautiful men" in the gay social scene of New York City in the 1940s. Early ...

. When

Lloyd Wescott Lloyd Bruce Wescott (November 21, 1907 – December 24, 1990) was an agriculturalist, civil servant, and philanthropist in New Jersey. Born and educated in Wisconsin, he moved to New York after college before settling in New Jersey where he ...

, Glenway's brother, moved to a farm in Union Township in 1936, Wescott, Wheeler and Lynes took over one of Lloyd's farm's houses and named it ''Stone-Blossom''. In 1959, when Lloyd Wescott acquired a farm near Rosemont in

Delaware Township, Hunterdon County, New Jersey Delaware Township is a township in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, United States. Part of the township is on the Hunterdon Plateau, while the southern portions are in the Amwell Valley. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township's popul ...

, Glen Wescott moved into a stone house named "Haymeadows" on his brother's land. In 1987, Glenway Wescott died of a stroke at home. Wheeler died in New York City in 1988, but his ashes were buried with Wescott and this latter family at Haymeadows.

References

External links

* Monroe Wheeler Papers. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. {{DEFAULTSORT:Wheeler, Monroe 1899 births 1988 deaths People from Evanston, Illinois American art curators