Queer Places:
Evergreen Cemetery, 1863 Mt Ephraim Ave, Camden, NJ 08104, United States
Weda Cook Addicks (1867 – August 29, 1937) was an accomplished American operatic contralto vocalist and musician. Recognized for her powerful voice and thorough training,
she became a prominent figure in the cultural circles of Camden, New Jersey, and Philadelphia. She is famously immortalized as the subject of
Thomas Eakins's celebrated 1892 full-length oil painting The Concert Singer, which currently resides in the Philadelphia Museum of
Art. During the creation of this portrait, which took nearly two years to complete, Cook posed for Eakins multiple times a week while singing Felix Mendelssohn's aria "O
Rest in the Lord" so that the artist could realistically capture her facial expressions and throat movements. She later married Stanley Addicks, a pianist and professor of
music who was also painted by Eakins. Throughout her later life, Cook actively managed and distributed works and artistic properties tied to Eakins's legacy, donating major
pieces to institutions like the Philadelphia Museum of Art before her death on August 29, 1937.
Cook shared a notable connection with the poet Walt Whitman during his final years in Camden, New Jersey. Both Cook and artist
Thomas Eakins were fervent admirers of Whitman, whose unconventional poetry and open celebration of the human body deeply influenced their artistic circles. Cook set several
of Whitman's poems to music and frequently performed them. She regularly visited the aging poet, and whenever they met, Whitman—who was particularly fond of Mendelssohn's "O
Rest in the Lord"—would request that Cook sing the piece for him. Through her musical interpretations of his text and her presence in the interconnected, progressive
artistic and literary milieu of Whitman and Eakins, Cook became an enduring cultural link to Whitman's inner circle.
References:
- Lloyd Goodrich, Thomas Eakins (Harvard University Press, 1982) — Contains documentation of interviews and historical notes from Weda Cook Addicks regarding her modeling sessions and Thomas Eakins's conversations about Walt Whitman.
- Henry Adams, Eakins Revealed: The Secret Life of an American Artist (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005) — References archival records and unpublished interviews involving Weda Cook Addicks.
- Ruth Bohan, Looking Into Walt Whitman: American Art, 1850–1920 (Penn State Press, 2006) — Explores the cultural and artistic intersections between Walt Whitman, Thomas Eakins, and their creative circles in Camden and Philadelphia.
- William Innes Homer, Thomas Eakins: His Life and Art (Abbeville, 1992) — Details the relationships and interactions within Eakins's circle, including his portraits and connections to Whitman.
- Philadelphia Museum of Art — Archives and provenance documentation for The Concert Singer (1890–1892), detailing its creation, sitter Weda Cook, and subsequent property management.
- The Walt Whitman Archive (whitmanarchive.org) — Scholarly resource documenting the historical interactions between Thomas Eakins, Walt Whitman, and associated figures in Camden.
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