In "John Singer Sargent," Trevor Fairbrother, Deputy Director for Art and John and Mary Shirley Curator of Modern Art at the Seattle Art Museum, presents a rich and thoughtful interpretation of Sargent and his art. Fairbrother explores the opposing elements that made Sargent a complex figure and a great artist: he accepted his New England Puritan heritage but, for the most part, lived grandly in Europe; he achieved wealth and fame as a portraitist while hoping that his murals in Boston cultural institutions would win him a loftier reputation; his art revels in the sumptuous effects of brilliant paint surfaces but Sargent himself was shy and retiring in public; the worldy, sophisticated persona of a preeminent artist of the Gilded Age may have concealed a conflicted sexuality.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
Considered one of the brilliant portraitists of his age, Sargent has remained an enigmatic figure. An American expatriate initially welcomed by critics as a modern heir to Velazquez, he was attacked during the Depression by the likes of E.M. Forster and Lewis Mumford; in the 1960s, his reputation was resuscitated with the benefit of praise by, of all people, Andy Warhol. Fairbrother, Beal Curator of Contemporary Art at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, admirably handles Sargent's complex background, including his New England Puritan heritage, his wealth and fame in Europe, and his conflicted sexuality. Careful not to focus too much on either praise or scorn, Fairbrother characterizes the range of Sargent's work as "massive, diverse, and uneven." For a good biography, see Stanley Olson's John Singer Sargent, His Portrait (St. Martin's, 1986). A wonderful entry in the much praised "Library of American Art" series, this is highly recommended for all libraries.
Daniel J. Lombardo, Jones Lib., Amherst, Mass.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Daniel J. Lombardo, Jones Lib., Amherst, Mass.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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More About the Author
Trevor Fairbrother is a free-lance writer and curator. He has organized exhibitions for the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Seattle Art Museum; the Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover; the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem.
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