Customer Reviews

John Singer Sargent: Figures and Landscapes, 1874-1882; Complete Paintings: Volume IV

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The color reproductions are awesome. This books is a collection of Sargent's less known work which is refreshing. Some oils are not as polished as the more well known work which helps to show his technique in early stages---a plus to serious professionals and students. To me, this book provided a wealth of visual clues to understanding his thought process and technical principles. The writing, however, is the typical stuff used to fill most coffee table books. No insight whatsoever into Sargent's painting principles, tonal procedures or color palette. The author obviously knows little in that regard but there is so much information out there the text could have been more illuminating. Buy it for the reproduction quality and awesome collection of works. Worth every penny in that regard.

i was very pleasantly surprised to see so many Sargent paintigs and drawings i had never seen before. Some quite obscure images in color - many studies and sketches - things that interest other artists and Sargent fans - I have not read much of the content yet but the little I have read was very interesting, although not of great use to artists in that there is not much description of Sargents working methods (although there was some) - but this is usually the case with monographs - much history but not much instruction. So as artists we must learn mainly from the paintings - which fortunately are very well reproduced in this volume.

These books are the epitome of scholarly research into Sargent's work, made even better by the researchers inclusion of intimate personal and professional details. This presents a great background to viewing the well printed illustrations. One should not just purchase one of these volumes, indeed the experience palls UNLESS all three are not bought . One cannot praise this sort of in depth research and the resulting publications highly enough. The only quibble is one of size, given that Sargent revelled in life-size compositions, it is a a pity that pure economics forbid the printing of larger volumes- I mourn the death of the "elephant folios" so derided by librarians.

The best book on a painter I have been able to buy for quite a while. As with the other three volumes so far published of Sargent's catalogue raisonne, this is absolutley stunning. Paintings are all in colour unless they have been lost, and the figures and landscapes are breathtaking. The text is anecdotal and interesting, with contemporary correspondence and criticism. This is what a catalogue raisonne should be, and never is - something exhaustively illustrated and investigated, rather than an artist's lifetime crammed into one volume with highlights followed by black and white "postage stamps" at the back (as long as the artist is worth it - and Sargent is worth it). A great tome on a great artist, and unbelievably good value. Go out and treat yourself.

I found this book to be so comprehensive, that it will be invaluable to any artist, amateur or professional - will keep me engrossed for a long. long time to come.

for three years since the last published book on John Singer Sargent. I keep finding new things about the artist whose parents were expatriates who wanted to take in everything cultural that is Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. I can't wait to look at the never-before seen paintings from Italy, Capri, the Middle East, Spain, France, and North Africa. It contains more information and pictures of several key models, Rosina Ferrara, Giglia Viani, the anonymous Venetian, Spanish, French, and Middle Eastern models. The book also goes in depth Sargent's travels and association with various artists of his time as well as details on places and peoples at various locales.

This book coincides with the 150th anniversary of his birth(he was born in Florence, Italy in 1856). I want to say thanks to the authors for contributing so much on the most prolific and versatile man JSS.

I recommend this book to art lovers and JSS fans everywhere. Please take a look at this loaded and interesting book. You'll be amazed.

Sargent excelled in all media and this book, the third in a series, clearly shows why he was the best of late 19th century American artists. Many of his paintings have become icons of American art, and here they are shown in the context of his life and artistic development. The color reproductions are superb and the book offers many hours of repeat perusal.

Adding this volume to my library on John Singer Sargent now almost completes the most important books covering this outstanding artist of the past. This volume covers many paintings that have not been touched by the other books in my collection. I would recommend it to those that wish to discover this man's talents that covered landscapes and seascapes. The quality of the printing and size of the images allows the viewer to get into the paintings. It is a over the top book. George M. Postmus

great, good fine, excellent and I hope there are enough words to make it 20...I guess I need a few more, so hope this amount of words are enough.

This volume on Sargent is a big one, with beautiful, high quality reproductions showing a variety of wonderful and interesting paintings. A surprising number of the paintings are unfinished; they are early works of a man learning his craft. For a practicing artist, that makes them especially interesting and even encouraging. One can see Sargent trying many things and learning from them, which is what any student of painting does. This is a very interesting book.