Customer Reviews

John Singer Sargent

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
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John Singer Sargent's work is amazing. Each painting is a master class in tone, edges, color and drawing. This book is my favorite in comparison to the other published collections of his work. This collection not only has color reproductions but also contains several tonal prints (black and white) which clearly demonstrate his technique of using five major tonal values in his painting and having color fall within those tones.

You probably won't learn this in art school bur Mr. Sargent used a 10%, 30%, 50%, 70% and a 90% tone in all his work. In fact, if you were to print a strip of those five tones and lay them over the tonal reproductions of his paintings, you will learn so much in regards to lighting and modeling a human form for the highest degree of emotional impact.

In a time when angry political statements pass as art and highlight awful drawing skills and horrible color theory, a true student of art can look upon Mr. Sargent's work and find a pool of fresh water in a dry desert. To know each color choice is based on the actual color and temperature of the light source and has a specific tonal value is something that was once taught in our schools of higher education. This truth has been lost in many circles but Mr. Sargent keeps it alive with every brush stroke.

This book is worth every penny and is a must for an artist's library. Even the text is well done. Compare Sargent to Velazquez and you'll learn even more about dividing color temperatures and tonal values within the context of light and shadow. Art can be beautiful and Mr. Sargent continues to inspire and teach us along the way toward creating works that lift the soul and please the eye.

On the outside the book is large and gorgeous with a glossy dust jacket. Open the cover and the the inside color matches Lady Agnew's sash! Turn another page and -inferior quality paper. The colors of the reproductions are dull. TONS of black and white photographs. In some sections, pages and pages of just black and white photographs. By the large size of the book, I thought I would get to see large pictures. Not so, except for Chapter introductions where a close up of a detail might be featured, elsewhere there are sometimes 3-4 tiny pictures squeezed onto the same page. Too small (and some in black and white) to appreciate any of them. I was VERY disappointed and am going to return it. I have three other books on Sargent and the quality is just so much better than this one.

Most likely the best book about Sargent published to date. The colours are brilliant. The text well constructed. The visual detail is quite thorough. If one's to purchase only one book about Sargent this is the one.

This heavily packed artbook of John Singer Sargent's work is worth buying for any American impressionist fans. Every page is full of excellent descriptions and backgrounds of his work and life. Not to forget the colourful pages of Sargent's painting and drawings. However, if you want a complete book or at least a heavy packed bible about Sargent and his works, well, this book wouldn't satisfy you much. This is a book more of an introductory and coffeetable book for the regular art audience.

I am getting to the point I buy art books with extreme caution. If you are like me, and would like to look at the paintings in some detail, this book may be a disappointment to you. I paged through it in growing irritation - like many other art books, this seems to have way too many black and white images, and these will take up a whole page, while the color pictures are the size of a quarter of the page or less. The few that are full page size are somewhat blurry. Why would the publisher do this in this day and age? If they were trying to keep the cost down, well . . . sort of. It is still pretty expensive unless you get it at some kind of discount.
In my humble opinion, black and white should only be used in cases where the original is destroyed. I mean, come on. If you have paid for the rights and sent out a crew to 'private collections' to get the images, you know they have color versions. They do. They just don't seem to want to print them that way. Many of Sargent's works only come across in their full power in color. They seem bland and washed out in black and white.

This is not the stone age, so for this book which has almost 400 paintings, some of which are crammed 3 to a page - to have more than 100 of those in black and white is not only disappointing, it's inexcusable in this day and age. By contrast, the book 'The Society Portrait' by Gabriel Badea-Päun and Richard Ormond is roughly the same size, but it is 100% color and is actually LESS expensive. So the argument that black and white saves money is pretty flimsy. I think it must come down to laziness or just not caring. An even worse offender is the typical 'Catalogue Raisonne' - those have just about broken my heart and my wallet - as I learned very quickly, more expensive doesn't necessarily mean more color and larger pictures. That kind of art book is typically $300-$400 and 99% black and white. For academics only. So in light of that, I guess this book does ok. I am still disappointed, like another reviewer. Any books published after 1980 should have mostly if not all color images. Buy with caution.

It's nice to find a book on the subject of painting wherein the writing is almost as good as the painting described. Carter Ratcliff has a fluid, no-nonsense style that helps the reader to understand J.S. Sargent and his milieu.

H. H. Munro once said that to die before having one's portrait painted by Sargent was to have died prematurely. He was on target. Of course most of us cannot expect to afford the luxury of having our portrait painted by anyone of note, but if that lucky opportunity came along, alas!, now it is the artist himself who is no longer with us.

This is a wonderful book. It gives the art admirer a good look at much of J S Sargent's oeuvre and the illustrations are faithful, of the highest quality.

The book also allows one to trace Mr. Sargent's life and career, with enough detail to make the development of his art make sense. An American by linage, a Parisian by training and an Anglophile by choice, Mr. Sargent was at home in the best of houses and traveled to places that are still high on everyone's wish list. So whether he is giving us a look at the beau monde of two continents or the canals of Venice we are blessed with his record, which is truer than photography.

Once you have fallen in love with these works of art--and who cannot?--you will want to seek out those that are in public hands for a closer inspection. Do. There are two Sargents in the White House, for instance, Teddy Roosevelt in the East Room and The Mosquito Net in the Green Room. One of the many reasons to see our President's House.

But you will find Sargents in out of the way places, too. There is a fine portrait in the Richmond (VA) Museum of Art, Mrs. Vickers holding a magnolia blossom as she arranges a centerpiece before a dinner party. She, who is somewhat plain, holds that breathtaking flower and we almost hear Sargent saying, "The woman is this lovely, as well, if you take time to know her." It is well worth a trip there to see it.

And if you can, spend a goodly amount of time gazing at Madame X. It really is sensational in all meanings of the word.

If you have only one book on your coffee table, this is the book to have.

If I had only one book on John Singer Sargent, I would be happy with this one. It is affordable, well printed , and even if it is not the best book on John Singer Sargent , it is a good one. It helps the reader understand why Sargent was so good at what he was doing, with a multitude of examples.A great book if one is interested in or studies representational Art , or figurative painting. It illustrates well the long, fruitful and distinguished career of Sargent.Thank you for writing this book.

This book is a good career overview of Sargent. It has an abundance of full page reproductions of his works, and shows many which I haven't seen in as much detail elsewhere such as his Boston murals. If you are picky, the reproductions are not the best quality but they are big. (most of them in my copy are good, but there are a few dull / blurry ones.) The text is unusually insightful and engaging.

I purchased this book because my eleven year old needed it for a school project. It is more than just a pretty book, it has enough information in it for her to complete her report. I enjoy looking and reading about the work of John Sargent because his work is so beautiful. This is a book that when one feels the world is so crazy and ugly, you can pick up this book to escape. It was money well spent.