Sargent by Richard Ormond

Sargent by Richard Ormond

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Summary

John Singer Sargent (1856–1925) was the leading American portrait painter of his generation. This book showcases his portraits of artists, writers, actors and musicians, many of whom he knew well. These pictures were rarely the result of commissions, and Sargent was free to take a more radical approach to depicting the people he liked and admired than was possible in his formal portraiture.

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Sargent by Richard Ormond

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.
SKU Unavailable
ISBN 13 9781855145450
ISBN 10 1855145456
Title Sargent
Author Richard Ormond
Condition Unavailable
Binding Type Hardback
Publisher National Portrait Gallery Publications
Year published 2015-02-12
Number of pages 256
Cover note Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note Unavailable