Meryle Secrest is an American biographer, primarily of American artists and art collectors.

Biography

Secrest was born in

Bath, England Bath () is a city in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary area in the county of Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman-built baths. At the 2021 Census, the population was 101,557. Bath is in the valley of the River Avon, ...

, and educated at the City of Bath Girls School, a city-run grammar school strong in the arts and Humanities. Her family emigrated to Canada, where she began her career as a

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

. She worked as women's editor for the ''Hamilton News'' in

Ontario, Canada Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

; shortly thereafter she was named "Most Promising Young Writer" by the

Canadian Women's Press Club Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

. After marrying an American in 1964, she began writing for ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', doing profile interviews of notable personalities from Leonard Bernstein to Anaïs Nin. In 1975, she left the ''Post'' to write books full-time. Since then she has written a number of biographies; her subjects have included

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...

, Lord Duveen, Stephen Sondheim, Leonard Bernstein,

Salvador Dalí Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (; ; ; 11 May 190423 January 1989) was a Spanish surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, and the striking and bizarre images in ...

Kenneth Clark Kenneth Mackenzie Clark, Baron Clark (13 July 1903 – 21 May 1983) was a British art historian, museum director, and broadcaster. After running two important art galleries in the 1930s and 1940s, he came to wider public notice on television ...

Bernard Berenson Bernard Berenson (June 26, 1865 – October 6, 1959) was an American art historian specializing in the Renaissance. His book ''The Drawings of the Florentine Painters'' was an international success. His wife Mary is thought to have had a large ...

Romaine Brooks Romaine Brooks (born Beatrice Romaine Goddard; May 1, 1874 – December 7, 1970) was an American painter who worked mostly in Paris and Capri. She specialized in portrait painting, portraiture and used a subdued tonal Palette (painting), palette ...

, Richard Rodgers, and Amedeo Modigliani. Her autobiography is entitled ''Shoot the Widow''. She lives in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

Awards and recognition

Secrest's ''Being Bernard Berenson'' was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 1980 and for the American Book Awards in 1981. In 1999, she received the George Freedley Memorial Award of the American Library Association for her outstanding contribution to the literature of the theatre. In 2006, she received the Presidential National Humanities Medal from President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

at the White House for illuminating the lives of great architects, artists and scholars of the 20th century.

Books

*''Between Me and Life: A Biography of Romaine Brooks,'' 1974. *''Being Bernard Berenson,'' 1979. *''Kenneth Clark: A Biography,'' 1984. *''Salvador Dalí,'' 1986. *''Frank Lloyd Wright: A Biography,'' 1992. *''Leonard Bernstein: A Life,'' 1994. *''Stephen Sondheim: A Life,'' 1998. *''Somewhere for Me: A Biography of Richard Rodgers'', 2001. *''Duveen: A Life in Art'', 2004. *''Shoot the Widow: Adventures of a Biographer in Search of Her Subject'', 2007 *''Modigliani: A Life'', 2011 *''Elsa Schiaparelli'', 2014 *''The Mysterious Affair at Olivetti: IBM, the CIA, and the Cold War Conspiracy to Shut Down Production of the World’s First Desktop Computer'', 2019

References

External links

Library of Congress bio

Transcript of an interview
by NEH chief Bruce Cole * Meryle Secrest Papers. James Marshall and Marie-Louise Osborn Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Secrest, Meryle American biographers Living people National Humanities Medal recipients Year of birth missing (living people) English emigrants to Canada American autobiographers American art historians Women art historians