Category: Reading Responses (Page 11 of 11)

(Self Portrait)

This is John Singer Sargent – an educated and very cultured American painter who made a reputable name for himself despite criticisms by painting many forms and styles of art – murals, portraits, watercolors, genre scenes – and and displaying it to the public world successfully.

When reading the simple art biography of Sargent, I was very interested in the kinds and styles of art John Singer learned about during his journey on to be a successful and respected artist. In May 1874, Sargent was taught under Carolus-Duran who urged his art students to just paint on the canvas suddenly instead of  outlining or practicing any drawings first. This was to “preserve the freshness of the sketch in completed works”. It’s difficult to imagine someone going straight to the canvas and paint a whole picture without any idea on a piece of paper to assist him or her. If I were one of the students, I would take a bit of paint with my brush, put it on the canvas, be unsatisfied, and would have to start all over. Again and again.

Sargent later on went to gain reputation for his portraits and subject pictures when he started to submit his paintings when many people demanded and commissioned him to paint their portraits.

Henry James, the author of “Picture and Text” explains in great detail about some of the portraits of John Singer Sargent painted. He describes how Sargent was able to bring something alive from his paintings of the people who modeled for him. Sargent could paint reality and display it to whoever saw and admired the portraits. The audience could feel something and react well to the paintings. I felt like Sargent had portrayed directly what he saw when he was painting his models. One could say that his portraits were like photographs, but his brushstrokes conveyed much more than that and expressed a lot more.

A good example is Madame X, one of John Singer Sargent’s best-known portrait.

However, the portrait elicited criticism for Sargent’s “indifference to conventions of pose, modeling, and treatment of space”. What he painted was unconventional and different from the usual type of paintings in that time period.  When I started to look and scrutinize some of John Singer’s paintings, I do have to admit that I had a questionable look on my face. The way some of the models had their hands positioned and what they were holding or what they were posed next to did cause me to be a little confused.

But like all artists, Sargent had a reason to pose his models as so which created some sort of reaction to the people who saw his work – regardless if it was bad or good.

Later on, when many Americans were eager to sit for Sargent, John Singer once again began to gain popularity for his portraits. He jumped over the obstacle of criticisms.

Similar to some other artists, like Thomas Eakens, John Singer Sargent wanted to do more than paint portraits. He branched out to mural paintings for institutions such as the Boston Public Library, Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, and the Harvard University library. He branched out even further to do watercolors. Later on, Sargent had a great reputation in painting not only portraits, but murals and watercolors paintings.

Karer See, 1914

His watercolor paintings, in my opinion, do not portray as much as a sense of realism than I received from his portraits, but Sargent creates more of a dream that sticks in the person’s mind after seeing it. He gives us just a little glimpse of the beauty of the scene he was painting.

Great artists come and go; however, it is those that still create discussion, debate, and reverence, that are truly considered the greatest of their time. John Singer Sargent is certainly one of those geniuses of his era.

Sargent, who lived from 1856-1925, primarily worked throughout Europe. Having trained in Florence, and working in London, Italy, France, the United States, and more, Sargent has a diverse spectrum of influences, as well as spectators. Primarily creating oil paintings and watercolors, Sargent is most notably known for his mastery in his portrait painting style.

According to “Picture and Text”, an essay of John Singer Sargent’s work, Henry James considers Sargent one of the greatest Impressionist artists of his time (possibly ever). James goes on to say that this great praise came with extreme criticism. Some considered Sargent an odd artist, whose work seemed to be “unfinished”; though I do not see it this way. I realize that when one is in a position of greatness, condemnation and negative assessments will be inevitable. Of all his works, Sargent is most notoriously critiqued for one of his earliest works, Madame X (1884).

Madame X(1884)

This specific piece was a portrait put on display at the Paris Salon, and received heavy, scandalous censure. Seeing this piece for my first time, I instantly realize it was way before its time. When I think of 19^th century portraits my mind instantly goes to lavish, gaudy garments. The characteristics of such clothing includes modesty. Though this particular piece may seem a bit revealing for its time, I find it to be simply intriguing. The contrast of the pale skin color to the thick black dress, and the dark brown background, catches my eye right away. That, along with the model’s face looking to the right, brings about a sense of tentativeness and ambivalence. I now see why this particular work received such “hit or miss” assessments.

Furthermore, another specific creation of Sargent which similarly grabbed my attention is Young Lady in Black(1879). Another incredible portrait of a woman, this work happens to be notably more detailed and real. After looking at the portrait for some time I couldn’t help myself from thinking it to be so basic. But when I analyzed the background of the painting I realized what it meant to me. The young woman in the painting seems so elegant, and beautiful. In terms of her appearance she seems so graceful, and captivating. Having said that, when you look at her stature, her dress, and the room she is in, the work as a whole seems so amiss. The lady is dressed in a grim black dress, standing impatiently; she seems extremely fed up, and negative. The room she seems to be posing in looks rundown and repulsive. This entire piece of work turned into such a gloomy, eerie scene. It is then that the lone, single white flower that the lady is holding, creates the message in the setting. In such dark, miserable circumstances in life, there is always a bright light at the end of the tunnel. This portrait may have seemed plain and straightforward to some, however, it spoke wonders to me. When discussing this piece, James said, “The language of painting, the tongue in which, exclusively, Mr. Sargent expresses himself, is a medium into which a considerable part of the public, for the simple an excellent reason that they don’t understand it, will doubtless always be reluctant and unable to follow him.”

Young Lady in Black (1879)

After primarily being in Europe, Sargent started to do much work in America. It was there that he became very popular for his Watercolor paintings. Tommies Bathing (1918) was created with a voyeuristic viewpoint, which would usually act as a repellent to me in the arts. Instantly though, I related this work to the Biblical account of Adam and Eve.

Tommies Bathing(1918)

The two person character setting, the freedom of being alone in a field, and the oblivious nakedness, draws direct similarities to Adam and Eve. This painting made me question if Sargent had any religious motivation, or connection. I found this particular work very mysterious to me because it is done without much detail. Even more interesting is the fact that the shadows casted across the bodies are done so accurately. I wonder what the message is there. Tommies Bathing proved to be the coolest artwork of Sargent to me, due to the fact that it seemed so familiar, yet so puzzling.

John Singer Sargent seems to be the epitome of what a great artist should be. From the time Sargent was trained by his master, Carolus Duran, he knew what his style was. Sargent worked for his own approval, rather than for others. He truly was a genius in his field, and he did not let others inhibit the way he went about his work. As Henry James wrote, “Those who have appreciated his work most up to the present time articulate no wish for a change, so completely does that work seem to them, in its kind, the exact translation of his thought, the exact “fit” of his artistic temperament.”

Portrait of Carolus Duran(1879)