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Primary sourcePainting1859

William James

John La Farge · 1859

An 1859 oil portrait of the teenage William James painted by his friend John La Farge, from a time when James was studying to become a painter.

This portrait shows James as a teenager, when he still hoped to become a painter rather than a psychologist.

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Oil painting of a young man in profile facing left, with short brown hair, wearing a dark vest, white shirt, and red tie, holding a palette with his right hand against a grey-green background.
John La Farge, William James, 1859. National Portrait Gallery.

About this source

What it is

This oil painting of William James was made in 1859 by the artist John La Farge. It shows James as a young man and is held by the National Portrait Gallery.

Why it matters

At the time it was painted, James was studying art in Newport, Rhode Island, and still hoped to become a painter himself before turning instead to science and philosophy. The portrait is a reminder that James's path to becoming the founder of American psychology was not set from the start, and that he was shaped early on by an artistic circle that included La Farge.

Look closer

  • What does James's pose, holding a painter's palette, tell you about his ambitions at this age?
  • How might knowing James later abandoned painting change how you look at this image?
  • What can a portrait made by a close friend show that a formal commissioned portrait might not?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of William James on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Title page of The Principles of Psychology, Vol. I, by William James, Professor of Psychology in Harvard University. Published by Henry Holt and Company, New York, 1890. Includes an owl-and-book vignette near the bottom.Book

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The Principles of Psychology

William James · 1890

Title page of the 1902 book The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature, by William James, LL.D. Text reads Being the Gifford Lectures delivered at Edinburgh 1901-1902, published by Longmans, Green, and Co., New York, London and Bombay. Small printer's ornament below the subtitle.Book

Primary source

The Varieties of Religious Experience

William James · 1901-1902

Book

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Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking

William James · 1907

Speech

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The Will to Believe

William James · 1896

Sepia-toned full-length studio portrait of a man standing with his hands in his pockets, wearing a wide-brimmed hat, dark-rimmed round spectacles, a dark jacket, waistcoat, tie, and light trousers, beside a draped table against a painted backdrop.Photograph

Primary source

William James in Brazil after the Attack of Small-Pox

Photographer unidentified · 1865

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