Oscar Wilde arrives in New York to begin his North American lecture tour

Background. In 1881, Richard D'Oyly Carte invited Oscar Wilde to tour North America. This initiative aimed to promote the US tour of Gilbert and Sullivan's Patience and sell Wilde's aestheticism to the American public. Wilde, an Irish author and poet, had recently published Poems and completed his first play, Vera. The tour focused on lectures regarding the English Renaissance in art and interior decoration.

Arrival in New York. Wilde traveled on the SS Arizona, arriving in New York City on 2 January 1882. He disembarked the following day. His arrival coincided with a period where aestheticism was caricatured by Gilbert and Sullivan in Patience. The press reception was initially hostile, with Harper's Weekly featuring a caricature of Wilde as a monkey in its January 1882 issue.

Press and Public Reception. Despite hostile press coverage, including caricatures in Harper's Weekly and the Washington Post, Wilde was well received in diverse settings. He was praised as an engaging speaker and original thinker in some cities, while others viewed him as a fraud. He was fêted in fashionable salons and reportedly drank whiskey with miners in Colorado, demonstrating his varied social interactions during the tour.