John Singer Sargent at Artprice. To look at auction records, find Sargent's works in upcoming auctions, check price levels and indexes for his works, read his biography and view his signature, access the Artprice database.
John Singer Sargent, son of American expatriate parents, was born in
Florence, Italy. He grew up in Europe, and studied painting in the Paris
studio of the noted French portraitist Carolus-Duran
and at the École des Beaux-Arts. His first visit to the USA took
place in 1876. He traveled much throughout Europe to study the art of different
countries and times.
Among Sargent's first important clients
in Paris were the Paillerons. He painted four portraits for them. Edouard
Pailleron, was a noted poet and playwright, and the son-in-law of the
editor of a literary journal, Revue des deux mondes. His wife’s
family, the Bulozes, collected modern paintings. Sargent painted the portraits
of both spouses in 1879.
At the 1884 Paris Salon, Sargent showed his now famous picture Madame X, the portrait of the 23-year-old American Virginie Gautreau. Virginie’s extravagant gown, bare shoulders, and arrogant manner, shocked the public. Critics found the picture eccentric and erotic. After this failure, Sargent dropped his hopes of establishing himself as a portrait painter in Paris. In 1886, he moved to London, where he spent most of his adult life, visiting America only on short trips.
During the next two years Sargent experimented with the Impressionist style. He was a close friend of Claude Monet, whom he painted sketching out of doors (Claude Monet Painting at the Edge of a Wood). Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose was really the first piece of public impressionism to be produced in Britain, and for several years after its exhibition in 1887 it remained the most important example of the new style.
In 1888-1889, Sargent “was busy painting the play of light on sunlit water, catching the exact flicker, the ripple of the reflections and their fleeting effect on objects with range. He made several studies of his sister, Mrs Ormond, under those conditions: A Morning Walk, A Gust of Wind. These pictures show a delicacy of touch and a tenderness of color which give way to other qualities in his later work. The charm we see here is not the charm we are accustomed to look for in the work of subsequent years. It is more intimate and personal, more subtle and pervasive. Broken touches, here and there broken color, lightness of key, harmony of tone, unity of effect, and contrast reduced to its lowest terms.” (The Hon Evan Charteris: The Life of John Sargent. William Heinemann. p. 99)
In a few years Sargent became the most admired portrait painter in Britain and the United States. Sir Osbert Sitwell, who sat for Sargent with his family as a boy, summed up his popularity: “…looking at his (Sargent’s) portraits, they understood at last how rich they really were… They had waited, among other things for Sargent to record them, and he snatched many of them from Time’s effacement; the aristocrat with his top hat and his riding whip, his handsome ram’s head and air of dowdy elegance, the fashionable beauties who were beautiful but in so unstylized and fade a manner that it was almost impossible to formulate them upon canvas, and the fashionable beauties who were ugly and so much easier to paint. But all the women in his picture are richly clothed and all have the same harpies’ hands, grasping and ineffectual, with long grey-green talons, and hold, or allow to dangle, the same arm’s-length white kid gloves. Then there are the generals, the statesmen and the viceroys, and a ponderous and pondering author or two, with domed forehead and business man’s jaw, looking out of presentation portraits inexpensive frames…”
Sargent painted more than five hundred portraits. His mature portraits, e.g. Ena and Betty, Daughters of Asther Wertheimer, Mrs. Joseph Chamberlain, etc., showed little evidence of the broken touches of color he had used in the later eighties.
By 1907, Sargent got tired of portrait painting and accepted few commissions. He resumed his travels through Europe and to America. He painted constantly but turned to landscapes, producing more than 1,000 oils and watercolors. He also gladly accepted the more demanding challenge of murals for the Boston Public Library, for the Museum of Fine Arts and for the Widener Memorial Library at Harvard on which he was still working at the time of his death. Sargent died in London in 1925.
Carolus-Duran, artistic name
of Charles-Emile-Auguste Durand (1838-1917) French painter, born in Lille.
He was strongly influenced by Velasquez
and the Spanish school. He was the teacher of Sargent. “From a distance
Carolus-Duran appeared a glamorous figure; close-up he was engaging; his
character was highly magnetic. He had charm. He had warmth. And above all,
he was a superb but eccentric teacher, leaning unfortunately less on rudimentary
preparation than on mere repetition of his own original version of how
best to paint. But his students were drawn to him precisely for his originality,
and they adored him. It was probably this extra bonus of affection that
helped to produce so many immediately recognizable echoes of his painting
on both sides of the Atlantic for several decades. Carolus’ success was
meteoric and bolted straight across the face of hallowed academic tradition.
He was controversial, and quickly became the darling of the youger generation.
He was witheringly talented, but somehow his visual language got arrested;
he never seemed to move on from his brilliant achievements in the late
1860s and early 1870s. And in truth he did not look much like a very superior
conjuror.” (John
Singer Sargent. His Portrait. by Stanley Olson.
Macmillan London Ltd. 1986. p 33). Sargent finished the portrait of his
teacher in 1879 and sent it to the Salon. The portrait was favorably met
by critics.
See: John Singer Sargent. Portrait of
Carolus-Duran.
Paul César Helleu (1859-1927)
French painter and close friend of Sargent. “They (Sargent and Helleu)
were constant companions, going everywhere together, having their meals
together, seeing each other every day. They shared similar tastes in dress;
Helleu also disliked the popular relaxed fashion of his fellow-students,
and refused to wear the generous velvet trousers, tight at the ankles,
the flowing silk cravats, the soft felt hats. Both Helleu and John were
noted for his disdain and for their distinguished appearance; they might
easily have been brothers.” (John
Singer Sargent. His Portrait. by Stanley Olson. Macmillan
London Ltd. 1986. p 63).
See: John Singer Sargent. Paul Helleu
Sketching His Wife Alice.
The Family of the Duke of
Marlborough. To draw the family of the 9th Duke of Marlborough, Sargent
came to Blenheim. “He had to deal with four persons and three dogs, and
cover a canvas eleven feet by eight feet. The Duke wore Garter robes, the
Duchess a dress Sargent had copied from a Van
Dyck in the Bleiheim collection, their sons were in costumes he also
designed, and they were craftily posed in such a way as to disguise the
Duchess’s height. His treatment of the dogs was borrowed from Rubens.
His only regret, he explained to Helleu, was that the official nature of
this picture meant the Duchess was not allowed to smile. “… her face loses
all its charm in this grandiose picture.” (John
Singer Sargent. His Portrait. by Stanley Olson. Macmillan
London Ltd. 1986. p 222)
Charles Richard Spencer-Churchill (1871-1934), 9th Duke of Marlborough,
son of George Charles Spencer-Churchill, 8th Duke of Marlborough, and Albertha
Hamilton, married Consuelo Vanderbilt in 1895. They had two sons: John
Albert William Spencer-Chirchill, 10th Duke of Marlborough, and Lord Ivor
Charles Spencer-Churchill. Their marriage was annuled in 1926.
See: John Singer Sargent. The Family
of the Duke of Marlborough.
Edward Darley Boit (1840-1915) “
was an ideal patron, a man quivering on the outskirts of art who encouraged
John by the sheer force of his administration. He was, down to his toes,
a Bostonian – Boston Latin School, Harvard, Secretary of Hasty Pudding,
Freshman crew, tall, poetic, athletic, confident, and rich (richer still
for having married a Cushing – Charlotte Louisa, known as “Iza” – the only
daughter of a vastly wealthy merchant whose estate “Belmont” gave the town
its name) – with a very curious difference. In 1868 he saw the work of
Corot, and at that instant discovered painting in a blinding flash and
spent the rest of his life in service to that revelation… John liked them
(the Boits) for somewhat more basic, straightforward reasons. They were
educated. They were musical, and also ardent Wagnerians. They were agreeably
uncomplicated, and Edward Boit’s order for a group portrait of his young
daughters interested John a great deal.” (John
Singer Sargent. His Portrait. by Stanley Olson. Macmillan
London Ltd. 1986. p 97)
The Daughters of Edward D. Boit: Jane, aged twelve, stands facing forward;
Florence, aged fourteen, is immediately to her right, in profile looking
left, her hands folded in front; Mary, aged eight, is next to Florence,
her arms clasped behind her back; Julia, aged four, is sitting, playing
with a doll.
See: John Singer Sargent. The Daughters
of Edward D. Boit. Mrs. Edward D. Boit.
Mrs. Henry White “was the eldest
daughter of seven children born to Lewis Morris Rutherfurd, one of the
chief pioneers in the development of the photographic telescope. Law, however,
had been his first career, and he moved on to the stars when his wife became
ill. The Rutherfurds were rich, and self-conscious. They lived in high
style in New York and in New Jersey (on their estate called Tranquillity),
when they were not traveling abroad. They were excessively aware that one
of their ancestors had signed the Declaration of Independence. Mrs White
was the fine result of such a background,, loaded down with refined tastes
and she could be little else than a frosty Puritan. During the height of
her English success, in 1888, she was assessed: “very handsome, young,
rich, splendid, admired and successful, to a degree which leaves all competitors
behind… She has never read a book in her life; but she is ‘high up’ all
the same.” For some wholly uncharacteristic reason, Mrs White was called
Daisy.” (John
Singer Sargent. His Portrait. by Stanley Olson. Macmillan London
Ltd. 1986. p 99)
See: John Singer Sargent. Mrs. Henry
White.
Virginie Gautreau (1859-1915,
née Avegno) was born in Louisiana to Marie-Virginie de Ternant,
said to be the only surviving child of the 2nd Marquis de Ternant, and
Major Anatole Placide Avegno, himself of Italian descent. When her father
died from wounds received at the battle of Shiloh, her widowed mother packed
up and sailed to France, taking Virginie (aged four) and her elder sister
Julie. They never returned to America. As her daughters grew older, Madame
Avegno worked to place them in society, which meant marry them well. The
Faubourg turned its back on these colonial hybrids; their genealogy was
too flimsy, their background too mysterious, to permit them to move in
the highest circles. They were, despite their thin aristocratic connection,
considered arriviste, and were summarily dismissed. But the girls
possessed such beauty – having inherited a full portion of their mother
and their father’s glorious appearance – they were impossible to ignore.
Their looks were a considerable social asset, and Virginie was not backward
or modest about showing herself off. She was excessively proud of her features
and her figure; proud to a degree that parodied such a gift… She married
a wealthy banker and ship owner, Pierre Gautreau, and found a place – not
an altogether secure place – in Paris society. She moved among the professional
classes; financiers, doctors, politicians… She was alleged to have had
a long affair with Dr. Pozzi.” (John
Singer Sargent. His Portrait. by Stanley Olson. Macmillan London
Ltd. 1986. p. 102)
Virginie was painted by different artists. John
Sargent started work on his portrait of her when she was twenty three year
old. The portrait was showed at the Spring Paris Salon in 1884 and aroused
severe critic. “The storm that swirled around the picture gathered force
from a basic confusion. The fierce reaction was caused primarily by the
subject, and the painting was used as evidence. People were jeering at
Madame Gautreau herself.” (John
Singer Sargent. His Portrait. by Stanley Olson. Macmillan London
Ltd. 1986. p. 103)
See: John Singer Sargent. Madame X (Madame
Pierre Gautreau).
Lady Astor - Nancy Witcher Langhorne
Astor, Viscountess (1879-1964) American-born British politician, born in
Danville, Virginia. Wife of William Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor (1879-1952)
she succeeded her husband as Conservative Member Parliament for Plymouth
in 1919, and was the first woman to take seat in the House of Commons.
See: John Singer Sargent. Lady Astor.
Bibliography:
John
Singer Sargent by Patricia Hills. Harry N Abrams, 1986.
John
Singer Sargent by Carter Ratcliff. Abbeville Press, Inc., 2001.
John
Singer Sargent: The Sensualist by Trevor J. Fairbrother, John
Singer Sargent. Yale Univ Pr, 2000.
John
Singer Sargent: The Life of an Artist (Artist Biographies)
by Eshel Kreiter, Marc Zabludoff. Enslow Publishers, Inc., 2002.
John
Singer Sargent: The Male Nudes by John Singer Sargent, John
Esten. Universe Books, 1999.
Sargent
Abroad: Figures and Landscapes by Warren Adelson, Donna Seldin
Janis, Elaine Kilmurray, Elizabeth Oustinoff, Richard Ormond. Abbeville
Press, Inc., 1997.