Monthly Archives: July 2025

………………Chapter #8………..In my humble opinion no other artist showed us what the wealthy people looked like during the “Belle Epoque”, and the “Gilded Age” like John Singer Sargent…..He showed us the sumptuousness of the era….the glamor and the drama, as the portrait of the Spanish lady at the far left magnificently shows…….He was a ‘fashion magazine” unto himself!……It is of no wonder to me what a sort after artist he was…..Who wouldn’t want their portrait immortalized by the genius……John Singer Sargent! If they could afford him!

……………….Chapter #7……………..I call this group of painting “Sittings”……There were the formal sittings for portraits, as the woman in the black dress and hat…but then there were the others….less formal….more relaxed….capturing a moment…..There were not many paintings of children alone. These were all commissioned works by the families…..The little girl at the far left, sitting on the bench, looks like her “mummy” told her to sit VERY still for Mr. Sargent….She looks a little petrified….while the little girl sitting on the floor playing with her doll…looks like she could care less…..The man at the left and the woman at the far right look like they were in the middle of a conversation…the man serious….the woman light and joyful…..He captured the wistfulness of the lady gazing out the window…..One could make up a story about what she was looking at….or waiting for…..There is nothing like seeing, and marveling over the actual paintings!

……………….Chapter #6……………Sargent, through out his life, painted many male subjects……The three photos to the left were of a model he painted often….It is believed they too had an intimate relationship……He did many male nudes, but as the exhibit pointed out….he rarely showed any of them…..In the entire exhibit there were few of men, and I can only recall one female nude painting.

……………….Chapter #5………….I found it interesting that critics at the time did not consider Sargent an “IMPRESSIONIST” painter…..though I found many of his painting were of this school…..He was a genius at “capturing a moment”, and a mood…..a woman sitting alone at a table with red lamps, a mother and father watching their son blow out birthday candles…..a man lighting a cigarette, as a woman looks on….a gray and over caste day in Venice…..a man sitting in a gondola reading a book……and the serenity of a dining table on a shaded veranda…..to me are all very Impressionistic.

……………..Chapter #4…………..Though Sargent was primarily known for his portraits…..he loved painting out of doors, and the practice of painting outdoors had a name….it was called “en plein air” in French…..which is the practice of creating a painting outdoors, directly from the subject, in natural light…capturing the essence of a scene or subject while immersed in the actual environment…..It gave him a much need break from his studio, and concentrating solely on his single subjects…..Later in his life he did more and more out door paintings and less portraits….He traveled all over the world, and Morocco was very inspiring for him….These are just a few of his “PLEIN AIR” paintings.