“Picture and Text” started off by asking a question that I also had while reading John Singer Sargent’s biography: Why is he considered an American artist? He was born and raised in Europe and his style is clearly linked to Paris and other great European artists and masters. Later in his life he decided to settle down in England, not the United States, despite British commissioners being hesitant about his French style while Americans were excited to sit for his portraits.
But origins aside, the sample of paintings blended into the writing were undoubtedly brilliant. The lighting and sharp contrast between dark and light created a severe, dramatic effect. With Lady Playfair (1884), he managed to cultivate a shiny, metallic texture for her clothing and a wrinkled-paper-type look for the background using the soft oils of paint.
Lady Playfair (1884)
Intriguingly, the women in his portraits have a steely determination in their gaze – a sharp contrast to the soft, naive sweethearts or seductive models portrayed by various other artists. These women have character and position; they have a household to run and family to support; they command your attention and respect. This is especially evident in one of Sargent’s most popular portraits, Lady with the Rose (1882), seen below.
She may be holding a delicate flower but her facial expression and stance shows that she is anything but!
I found the tracing of Sargent’s stylistic influences interesting in H. Barbara Weinberg’s essay “John Singer Sargent (1856-1925)”. She names Claude Monet, Diego Velazquez, Rembrandt, Sir Anthony van Dyck, his teacher Carolus-Duran, and even Japanese prints to have a profound effect on his style that is visible in his work.
Philip IV (c.1624-27)
The portrait shown above was painted by Diego Velazquez. The influences on Sargent that Weinberg mentioned are clear in the distinct clarity of the face and dark shadowed background and clothing.
The clarity and sharpness of his painting is what drew me most to Sargent. At first glance, I thought his portraits were photographs! This is the very simplicity and “lucid” tenor that rings true with Henry James in his essay “Picture and Text”. As he exclaims, “the process by which the object seen resolves itself into the object pictured is extraordinarily immediate. It is as if painting were pure tact of vision, a simple manner of feeling.” John Singer Sargent manages to turn art, that intangible complex practice of conversion from mind to medium, into something very straightforward and visible to us all.
John Singer Sargent’s skill might as well have been a modern day camera with all the skill that he possessed. It is fascinating how there are so many things that influence his artwork, from other famous artists and the cultural knowledge he gained from travelling. However, is his art very straightforward? If his paintings were straightforward would we be talking about him today? I feel that all his paintings are similar in style, but each has a slight niche that can tell more than meets the eye. It is definitely more apparent in his female portraits, maybe he preferred girls over guys.
Looking at his paintings I also felt like they had a very realistic and natural style to them. His art style was derived from many different artists so therefore he was able to create such a unique type of drawing into his painting that he soon became well-known for. Just the contrasts between the colors shows how in depth and thought out each of his paintings were. Not only do they express a realistic, almost picture-like style to them, they also evoke curiosity about the painting.
You definitely made a valid point about how Singer’s drawing techniques are near perfect. He uses different aspects to help the subject stand out from the background, and he puts in so much detail into the clothing and facial expressions. His paintings always have this strong contrast between light and dark and I’m glad you noticed it too. It helps makes his paintings seem more realistic.