John Singer Sargent
American
(1856- 1925 )
John Singer Sargent is not my favorite artist, although in my opinion, he is one of the most interesting.
Sargent may be the most gifted portrait painter that ever lived. He was a prolific painter, with over 900 oil paintings, 2000 watercolors, with countless sketches and other works in his oeuvre, and was generally regarded as a virtuoso. He has painted the portraits of many famous and wealthy people, including the portraits of the American President Theodore Roosevelt, the novelist Henry James, the novelist R.L. Stevenson, and the businessman John D. Rockefeller, to name just a few.
Traditional portraiture, which is the type of portraiture that John Sargent studied and practiced, requires that the sitter be present to sit for their picture. This is no small requirement for many important patrons, as they
often have very busy schedules. A typical portrait could take weeks or even months to complete. Having a “sitter” present is also more taxing for the artist. It requires that the artist be talented not only at painting a satisfying portrait, but that they be an engaging conversationalist at the same time! Sargent once remarked that “Portraiture would be fun, if it were not for the talking”.
His talent in portraiture lies primarily in being able to capture a sitter’s personality, and convey that in his paintings, with remarkable sensitivity and skill.
Accurate drawing mixed with a loose ‘painterly’ style, and refined sense of color, was his trademark. That, combined with his easy-going and self-abasing personality, contribute to his great success within his field. However, his paintings suggest a sensual side that I personally find distasteful, and keeps him from being further up on my list of favorites.
During the height of Sargent’s career he lived and painted primarly in and around Paris (although he travelled extensively his entire life). The public taste for “realism” backed by the powerful Ecole des Beaux Art, was met by the controversial and explosive new “Impressionist” movement led by Monet. (In my opinion, these two contrasting points of view have done more to revitalize fine art in the past 100 years than almost any other movement in history.) Sargent not only knew many of these important figures, but talked and painted with them. He beautifully synthesized the best of their thoughts into his work, and still kept his paintings looking fresh and effortless.; This is my favorite quality in Sargent’s work.
*Post Script- Did you notice the eyes looking directly at the viewer? It looks as if the sitter’s eyes are looking at you from anywhere in the room, making the picture difficult not to notice. This is a common, but very effective, contrivance in portraiture called an “ubiquitous gaze”.