While at the Art Institute in Chicago recently (you can read a bit more in a previous blog), Cam and I came upon five John Singer Sargent (1856 – 1925) paintings on display. They ranged from paintings I was fairly familiar with (including a life-sized portrait) to one that was a complete and utter surprise – Sargent? Truly?

I remember when I was doing my graduate degree and everyone pooh-pooh-ed Sargent (including my supervisor if I remember correctly!). Some of the words used were ‘slick’, ‘commercial’, ’empty’. Well if I could paint like Sargent painted, I’d be a most happy camper!!

Let’s have a look at two well-known pieces. The first is one of Sargent’s society portraits:

 

 

This painting is huge (life-size)! Such a treat to see Sargent’s brushstrokes up close. I took a few closeups to show you what can be easily missed!

 

Look at that face, how beautifully and efficiently painted. And the fabric – can’t you just feel it? Can you hear it rustle as it moves?

 

Ahhhh that hand. A few strokes made from precise observation. Looks easy but just try it.

 

Extreme close-up!! That’s about life-size brushstrokes. Look at how thickly that paint has been applied! So confident and in the perfect place.

 

Look at the turn in that wrist and the positioning of the hand and again, so little to indicate the fingers and hand yet all sits in space in just the right way. And while you’re at it, have a look at the few brushstrokes on the dress indicating folds and shadow.

 

And then there’s the chair upholstered in satiny fabric. A few brushstrokes in just the right value (darkness), just the right colour, just the right placement, and then you have a chair. Amazing!

 

Okay, onto the next known painting:

 

She feels so real doesn’t she, as if she’s just turned while plaiting her hair. At the time, the Magazine of Art wrote, “A superb studio study of the nude, masterly alike in strength, truth, and grace of drawing.” There is such subtle shading of the skin. You can sense the flesh underneath. I particularly appreciate the back of her knees 🙂

 

I found this piece of writing about the painting when I did an internet search.

 

Now let’s look at the less-known-to-me paintings. The first I have seen reproduced before but still, it was a nice surprise to see it.

 

Sargent produced a number of plein air paintings, often on his many travels. They were done for himself, no doubt a relief from his commissioned pieces. This painting, of his friends and fellow artists Wilfred and Jane Emmet de Glehn in a sunlit garden in an Italian town, was apparently painted over a number of days, as they were frequently interrupted by rain.

From the Institute website comes this information: Jane described the work as a “most amusing and killingly funny picture” in a letter to her sister Lydia. She continued: “I am all in white with a white painting blouse and a pale blue veil around my hat. I look rather like a pierrot, but have a rather worried expression as every painter should who isn’t a perfect fool, says Sargent. Wilfrid is in short sleeves, very idle and good for nothing, and our heads come against the great ‘panache’ of the fountain.”

In this close-up, you can see the thick impasto of paint. So few brushstrokes to say so much!

 

The next painting was a surprise to me – I’d never seen it reproduced before, and coming from Jamaica, I was entranced by Sargent’s ability to capture the fallen palm fronds, coconuts and debris. Take a look:

I love the white suit – typical dress for the time of white folk in the tropics (here, Miami). I also rather like the vignette of life in the distance.

 

 

This close-up shows once again the combination of thinner paint with brushstrokes loaded with thick paint. And look at those hands. I bring this to your attention because I find hands one of the more difficult body parts to paint correctly…and Sargent does it with just a few strokes and with such assurance.

 

And now for the surprise painting!!

 

Check this out:

 

When I first saw this painting, I couldn’t quite make out what it was. Then slowly, I could see the seating, the instruments, the musicians, the sheets of music, and then the whole slotted into place. But really, would you have thought this a Sargent??

 

This painting was created during Sargent’s time as a student with Carolus-Duran, or just after. Remember, the first Impressionist exhibition had taken place in 1874. No doubt the young Sargent, all of about 20 years old, was trying his hand at this new direction in art.

 

From Wikipedia: “Carolus-Duran’s atelier was progressive, dispensing with the traditional academic approach, which required careful drawing and underpainting, in favor of the alla prima method of working directly on the canvas with a loaded brush, derived from Diego Velazquez. It was an approach that relied on the proper placement of tones of paint. This approach also permitted spontaneous flourishes of color not bound to an under-drawing.” This painting seems to be a prime example.

 

You can see in this detail, the very abstract nature of the whole. Look at the pattern created by the black and white shapes interrupted by the lines made by bows and necks of stringed instruments. And then there are those strange and delightful clowns in the foreground bringing colour and perspective to the painting.

 

So what do you think?? I haven’t given you much historical background to Sargent. I’ll just say here that he was born to American parents in Florence, Italy and spent most of his life in Europe (France and England primarily). You can read more about him in Wikipedia and gain much from this interview with Richard Ormond – both Sargent’s grandnephew and one of the foremost authorities on the artist -about an exhibition of Sargent’s watercolours at the Brooklyn Museum this summer.

 

I am lucky enough to own a book on Sargent that I’ve had for years (you can see it below). I am now spending time reading and looking through it.

 

I’d love to know what you think of Sargent – master painter or mere illustrator?

 

Thanks for joining me. If you enjoyed this post, feel free to share it with others and spread the word of art history 🙂

 

Until next time,

~ Gail

 

And to give you an idea of scale….

 

And here’s the book I own. Fabulous illustrations!