Sargent: Portraits of Artists and Friends - Hardcover

Richard Ormond

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1855145456 ISBN 13: 9781855145450

Publisher: National Portrait Gallery, 2015

Synopsis

Many of the sitters in this collection were John Singer Sargent’s close friends. They are posed informally, sometimes in the act of painting or singing, and it is evident from the bold way they confront us that they are personalities of a creative stamp. Brilliant as these pictures are as works of art and penetrating studies of character, they are also records of relationships, allegiances, influences and aspirations. This volume, and the exhibition it accompanies, aims to explore these friendships in depth and draw out their significance in the story of Sargent’s life and the development of his art. The book is structured chronologically, with sections arranged according to the places Sargent worked and formed relationships during his cosmopolitan career: Paris, London, New York, Italy and the Alps. The cast of characters includes famous names, among them Gabriel Fauré and Auguste Rodin, Robert Louis Stevenson and Henry James. But the authors also make their point with images of Sargent’s familiars, such as the artists Jane and Wilfrid de Glehn who accompanied him on his sketching expeditions to the Continent, and the Italian painter Ambrogio Raffele, a recurrent model in his Alpine studies. In such paintings Sargent explored the making of art (his own included) and the relationship of the artist to the natural world. These are examples of an absorbing range of images and personalities, all distinguished in one way or another for their artistry, and all linked by friendship and a shared aesthetic to the central figure of Sargent himself.

About this title

Review:

John Singer Sargent's reputation has been in need of reclamation ever since fellow painter Walter Sickert described his paintings as "wriggle and chiffon", implying that they lacked substance. The publication of this marvellous book--it accompanies 1998's major retrospective exhibition at the Tate Gallery in London--does just that as it magnificently illustrates that Sargent was so much more than a rather shallow portraitist of rich people. The book, of course, includes his portraits, but it also takes us through his early landscapes, exhibits at the Paris Salons in the 1880s, as well as late period murals, water colours and landscapes.

Richard Ormond--Sargent's great-nephew--provides a comprehensive biographical essay and an assessment of his development as an artist with Elaine Kilmurray providing most of the commentary on the individual paintings. The Sargent that emerges is not only technically brilliant, but also thoughtful and astute. Behind the wealth, one sees the insecurities and family tensions of his portrait subjects. His landscapes are lush and sensual and his vast murals for the Boston Library and Museum--he worked on them for 35 years from 1890 until his death in 1925--a triumph of scope and ingenuity. This book is a fine tribute to a wonderful artist. --Nick Wroe

Review:

In this fine exhibition of paintings of his friends, Sargent emerges as a more complex, multifaceted artist than the society portraitist he has sometimes been derided as. Unlike in his commissioned portraits, here revelation of characters takes precedence over the visual panache. --The Daily Telegraph

Walking into this exhibition is like being a fly on the wall at a late nineteenth-century soirée of the in-crowd ... His use of tonal expression and elegant composition flows throughout these paintings ... Sargent always retained a swift ease. The way he applies paint is delightfully contemplative. --Time Out

Anyone who enjoys the art of painting is bound to find endless charm, skill and virtuosity in Sargent's work. This exhibition, which focuses on pictures of friends, writers, musicians, actors and fellow artists, emphasises the best in him. The fun and verve are not kept on a leash, as they tended to be in his portraits of the grand and the plutocratic. --The Spectator

About this edition

• Publisher: National Portrait Gallery
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1855145456
• ISBN 13: 9781855145450
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256