Never has an artist been more exalted or vilified throughout his career and afterwards. John Singer Sargent was best known for his remarkable portraits, mostly high-society commissions, which many of his critics hailed as mere "art applied to social requirement and social ambition." However, no one can deny the opulence with which he portrayed his wealthy patrons, nor the luminosity of his other subject matter, be it foreign landscapes, people or architecture.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
John Singer Sargent (1856-1925), the famous portrait painter, spent his childhood traveling around Europe with his American expatriate parents. After studying at Paris's Ecole des Beaux Arts, he launched his career at the Paris Salon. But scandal ensued after he exhibited his most famous portrait, Madame X. The daring (at the time) picture of a beautiful socialite in a provocative dress, her shoulder strap slipping off, created such a stir among its viewers that Sargent eventually repainted the strap into a more proper position and relocated to London. There he continued portrait painting. Creating lush images full of light and incredible brushwork, "[He] breathed new life into the tradition of grand manner portraiture. Like his great predecessors he made his sitters look nobler, more beautiful than they were in reality.... What Sargent brought to the tradition that was new and different was his ability to infuse into his portraits a sense of the immediate and the actual, as if what we see before us is life unfolding as it really is." In 1907, the portraitist abandoned the craft and focused primarily on mural commissions, like the one for the Boston Public Library, and landscape painting.
This book, the catalog to a traveling exhibition that hits the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, among other venues, includes three essays on Sargent's life and work and detailed background information for all the paintings shown. It is a manageable 285 pages, with 171 color and 85 black-and-white images. --Jennifer Cohen --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Review
This lavish production boasts detailed commentary . . . covering all phases of the artist's career, from his early landscapes to his famous portraits . . . to his late images of the ravages wrought by advancing technology and WWI. -- Publishers Weekly
Admirers of Sargent will welcome John Singer Sargent and read it with the same relish and thoroughness that went into its writing. It is an intellectual and visual feast. -- Gary Michael, The Bloomsbury Review
--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is the best Sargent book so far,
By
This review is from: John Singer Sargent (Hardcover)
I have no idea what the others are complaining about. I compared this Sargent book side by side at a book store with other published Sargent books, and this one had the best reproduction by far. It is even better than "John Singer Sargent : The Early Portraits (The Complete Paintings , Vol 1)", which is by the same author and editor as this one. Make no mistake, this is the best book so far I've seen on Sargent. I'm not concerned about the writing since I'm a fan of Sargent because I'm a painter, and he's one of the best there ever was. Sure I'd read the text, but it's not nearly as important as the reproductions of his paintings. It's all about the paintings, and he is an artist. That's all that matters.
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A satisfying book,
By
This review is from: John Singer Sargent (Hardcover)
I saw this exhibit at the Tate Gallery, London. The exhibit was terrific, though something seemed lacking in the over all presentation. Sargent is one overlooked watercolorist. He is one of the greatest, on an equal or superior platform to Homer. His Valasquez like eye made him a superior artist, though he seemed to get trapped in his facile technique in society portraits. Sargent is an amazing artist. One whose personal power has always been challenged by those that believe technique is secondary. Tell that to someone who appreciates his lively beautiful brushwork and intelligent landscapes. They won't buy it! The reproductions are not second rate as stated previously. They are rather good!The essays are good reading too.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
John Singer Sargent: Fashionable Portrait Painter,
By A Customer
This review is from: John Singer Sargent (Hardcover)
I found no cause for criticism. The text was informative and accessible, offering a tantilizing glimps into the life of a brilliant artist who was the darling of the Victorian and Edwardian era's but whom has been subjected to much derision by succeding generations. Not having had the good fortune to have seen the recent exhibition, I found this book to be the next best thing. I would highly recommend it to anyone studying John Singer Sargent, and for the general reader alike.
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