John Singer Sargent - Hardcover

Ratcliff, J.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0896600149 ISBN 13: 9780896600140

Publisher: Abbeville Press Inc.,U.S., 1993

Synopsis

John Singer Sargent's name evokes paintings of marvelously gowned Edwardian belles, of brooding aristocrats and princes of industry. Born in Florence in 1858, he spent a nomadic childhood before studying painting in Paris. He learned quickly and by the 1880s had begun the steady climb to fame that ultimately placed him at the center of his world, with a circle of friends and rivals that included Henry James, Claude Monet, and James McNeill Whistler.Sargent's enduring popularity has prompted a thoughtful reappraisal by prominent art critic Carter Ratcliff, who shows us the surprising breadth of his art -- the extravagant glamour of his portraits, the exuberance of his watercolors, the stately pomp of his murals. It is perhaps the watercolors, reproduced here with sparkling fidelity, that are most exciting to contemporary eyes -- bold, spontaneous, and vividly hued, they capture his subjects with breathtaking immediacy.

About this title

Review:

"Not just another art history book, no title in recent memory recalls with such exactitude the style of an era that. in retrospect, has become increasingly golden.... The book and its prose shimmer." —The New York Times

"Never before have Sargents talents been so gloriously displayed as they are here. Quite simply, this... is a stunner, a book as satisfyingly extravagant as a Sargent portrait." —Christian Science Monitor

"John Singer Sargent by Carter Ratcliff is that rare beast, a truly lively, tangy biography of an artist, with layouts and reproductions that do the paintings proud." —Newsday

"The spontaneity, elegance, and grace that characterize Sargents work are everywhere evident on these large, luminous pages. . . . A visual delight." —Art and Antiques

About the Author:

Carter Ratcliff is a leading art critic and contributing editor of Art in America. Among his many books are Botero, Andy Warhol, Komar and Melamid, and The Fate of a Gesture: Jackson Pollock and Post-War American Art. He has taught at the School of Visual Arts and Hunter College and lectured at a variety of institutions, including the Whitney Museum of American Art and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

About this edition

• Publisher: Abbeville Press Inc.,U.S.
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0896600149
• ISBN 13: 9780896600140
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256