Customer Reviews

John Singer Sargent: The Life of an Artist (Artist Biographies)

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A nicely made, 46 page, hardbound book of the life of Sargent. About eight inches by nine inches. Roughly the size of the Golden Books of your childhood only better and certainly sturdier. Aimed at children. Surprisingly pleasing color reproductions, although several images are inexplicably only in B&W, including the watercolor "Bedouins", the original being a masterpiece in blues, blues, and blues.
Besides the nice images, there's an entertaining and informative text. One learns that Madame Gautreau's mom was not happy with the reception of her daughter's portrait and why she was not happy, if only roughly. After all, this is a book aimed at children. So there's also no speculation about Sargent's putative orientations nor any mention of "Dr Pozzi at Home" (image in the book) as the inventor of the bimanual pelvic exam for women. In that bright red dressing gown, I would surely hope that he is at home and not at work. Nor is it revealed that later Dr. Pozzi was shot in his medical office by an irate husband. Nope, this is a book absolutely safe for children, yet still a good children's introduction to Sargent and his work. After all, in fact very little of Sargent's is remotely racy, or as the book puts it, risque.
I think it should be paired with something about how paintings are made. Maybe one of those inexpensive instruction kits / book about using watercolors. This would give a child a feel for creating images a well as admiring the great ones.
Worthwhile for children.

This book is for children, not adults. I had to return it to bookseller.