Sargent. Donald Wigal

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      At the end of the century both the beauty and the decadence of Belle Epoque Paris was spectacular. A critic observed: “In the hands of a John Singer Sargent the elegance of Paris becomes intoxicating. However, Sargent spent most of his life in England, but his gorgeous froth – his brush is as fluent, and sometimes as superficial, as a bon mot – seems more French than English, let alone American. Sargent doesn’t just illustrate the stylish; he is stylishness itself.”

      Venetian Bead Stringers

      c. 1880–1882

      Oil on canvas, 66.9 × 78.1 cm

      Friends of the Albright Art Gallery Fund (1916)

      Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo

      During the same time, in England, brilliant but outrageous public figures, including the flamboyant Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) and his young male entourage shocked the Victorian public. Private lives were often made to be public theatre.

      While most American artists visiting France, even those who intended to live the expatriate life, could not speak French, Sargent was fluent, as were James McNeill Whistler and Mary Cassatt.

      Venetian Glass Workers

      c. 1880–1882

      Oil on canvas, 56.5 × 84.5 cm

      Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection

      The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago

      These American artists, as well as Charles Sprague Pearce and others, made Europe their home. However, most of the Paris-trained artists returned to America and, as New York City critic James Gardner expressed it: “Modernism began hesitantly to take root on our shores.” He added: “It would be some decades before our art came into its own during the post-war years, but the seeds of that miraculous flowering were planted in Paris more than half a century before.”

      Portraits of Edouard and Marie-Louise Pailleron

      1881

      Oil on canvas, 152.4 × 175.3 cm

      Edith M. Usry Bequest Fund, in memory of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. George Franklin Usry

      Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines

      In 1877, while visiting the Brittany Coast near Saint-Malo, Sargent painted two works with the title Oyster Gatherers of Cancale. One of these was the first of Sargent’s to be accepted by the Paris Salon, while the second was accepted by the Association of American Artists. That same year, Sargent showed a portrait of his friend Frances Watts, titled Portrait de Mile W. It was well received, except for some criticism of how the artist treated the hands of the subject.

      Doctor Samuel Jean Pozzi at Home

      1881

      Oil on canvas, 204.5 × 111.4 cm

      Armand Hammer Collection

      UCLA Hammer Museum, Los Angeles

      It is usually noted that Sargent considered that a minor criticism. However, it is interesting to see what meticulous care is given to hands in such subsequent works as Madame Edouard Pailleron (1879) and Doctor Samuel Jean Pozzi at Home (1881). Furthermore, in El Jaleo (1882) at least a dozen hands are shown, each caught during a very expressive gesture. Being a perfectionist, Sargent made several studies of details that were especially challenging, such as hands.

      Vernon Lee

      1881

      Oil on canvas, 53.7 × 43.2 cm

      Miss Vernon Lee Bequest through Miss Cooper Willis (1935)

      Tate Gallery, London

      Back in Paris in 1878, Carolus-Duran saw how accomplished his prize student Sargent had become. The master then asked his student to do a portrait of him. This portrait demonstrated Sargent’s ability to identify the “role-playing side” of the subjects who posed for him, a talent which, opined biographer Swinglehurst, “perhaps arose from his own nature and his way of coping with the world”.

      A Street in Venice

      c. 1880–1882

      Oil on canvas, 75.1 × 52.4 cm

      Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown

      Throughout his life the artist displayed his talent for acting as if he actually was whatever was needed at the time. He somehow captured this quality also in his sitters. With the Carolus-Duran portrait, exhibited in the 1879 Salon, the public acknowledged that as a portraitist, Sargent had ironically surpassed the talent of even his famous teacher. It began a new chapter in the artist’s remarkable life of achievement.

      Street in Venice

      1882

      Oil on wood, 45.1 × 53.9 cm

      Gift of the Avalon Foundation

      National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

      Sargent travelled yet again during 1878 and 1879 to Spain and Morocco. He produced several works reflecting his love of the local colour, including Moorish Buildings in Sunlight and Luxembourg Gardens at Twilight, both in 1879. On his way to Andalusia, he detoured to Madrid to see the works of his hero Velázquez, which were in the Prado. There, Sargent undoubtedly saw the master’s Las Meninas (The Family of Philip IV or The Maids of Honour) (1656).

      A Venetian Interior

      c. 1882

      Oil on canvas, 48.4 × 60.8 cm

      Sterling and Francine Clark Institute, Williamstown

      The influence of that work undoubtedly influenced Sargent’s portrait of The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit, which was by far the most important work, produced СКАЧАТЬ