Strapless: John Singer Sargent and the Fall of Madame X [Hardcover]

Deborah Davis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 24, 2003

The story behind the legendary John Singer Sargent painting that propelled the artist to international renown but condemned his subject to a life of public ridicule.

John Singer Sargent's Madame X is one of the world's best-known portraits. As the Metropolitan's most frequently requested painting for loans, it travels to museums around the globe. The image of "Madame X" decorates book and magazine covers, greeting cards and screen savers. She's even been immortalized as a Madame Alexander doll.

Few people, though, know the fascinating story behind the painting. "Madame X" was actually a twenty-three-year-old New Orleans Creole, Virginie Gautreau, who moved to Paris and quickly became the "it girl" of her day. All the leading artists wanted to paint her, but it was Sargent, a relative nobody, who won the commission. Gautreau and Sargent must have recognized in each other a like-minded hunger for fame.

Unveiled at the 1884 Paris Salon, Gautreau's portrait did generate the attention she craved-but it led to infamy rather than stardom. Sargent had painted one strap of Gautreau's dress dangling from her shoulder, suggesting, to outraged Parisian viewers, either the prelude or the aftermath of sex. Her reputation irreparably damaged, Gautreau retired from public life, destroying all the mirrors in her home so she would never have to look at herself again.

Why had Sargent chosen to portray her in such a provoc-ative manner? Was the painting, with the scandal it generated, the machination of a sexually conflicted man who desired a woman and a lifestyle he could never possess? Drawing on documents from private collections and other previously unexamined materials and featuring a cast of characters including Oscar Wilde and Richard Wagner, Strapless is an enthralling tale of art and celebrity, obsession and betrayal.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A stunner about a stunner." —The Philadelphia Inquirer

--This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

About the Author

Deborah Davis is a writer and veteran film executive who has worked as a story editor and story analyst for Warner Bros., Columbia TriStar, Disney, Miramax, and the William Morris Agency.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Tarcher; First Edition edition (July 24, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1585422215
• ISBN-13: 978-1585422210
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #918,369 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

112 of 116 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "The unpaintable beauty and hopeless laziness...", October 3, 2003

By 

Bruce Loveitt (Ogdensburg, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Strapless: John Singer Sargent and the Fall of Madame X (Hardcover)

The title of this review refers to something John Singer Sargent wrote in a letter when he was attempting to complete the "Madame X," painting. He was having a great deal of difficulty in deciding what pose Madame Gautreau should adopt for the painting. It didn't help that the 24 year old woman appeared to suffer from Attention Deficit Disorder: she hated to hold a pose. She was rich, she was young, and, well, she had other things to do! I have to admit that when I read on the book jacket that "Deborah Davis is a writer and veteran film executive...",I was a bit put off. I thought, "Oh, this is going to be presented in a 'Hollywood' way, with a lot of style but no substance." Well, shame on me. Ms. Davis (who admits she is not an art "expert") has written a very good book. Although the book is relatively brief, the author covers a lot of ground. Even though the book is not meant to be a biography of Sargent, we still get a pretty good feel for what the man was like: sensitive, intelligent, ambitious, lonely and sexually conflicted. Sargent had already made a pretty good name for himself before he painted Amelie Gautreau. By painting a celebrated beauty, however, he was going for the brass ring - he was hoping to become even more well known and to generate more commissions for portraits of the rich and famous. When Ms. Davis talks about the actual public display of the painting at the 1884 Paris Salon, she also is quite good. We learn about the quirks of a culture where it was perfectly fine to have acres of naked flesh cavorting in a historical painting, but it was scandalous to have a fallen shoulder strap if you were painting a real, contemporary woman. Although this is not an academic work, it is still fascinating from a psychological/sociological standpoint. While Sargent was working on the portrait, Amelie (and her mother) thought it was wonderful. However, after the critics trashed it (and the public found it immoral), mother and daughter wanted nothing more to do with it. Sargent kept the painting because Amelie Gautreau wouldn't buy it. She had wanted fame, but not of this sort. Sargent had to "re-group" and for later Salons came up with paintings that were non-controversial but still showed off his virtuosity. After awhile the scandal was forgotten and Sargent was back in vogue. (In a classic case of "Be careful what you wish for, you might get it," in later years Sargent was so much in demand for portraits that he no longer wanted to do them. As Ms. Davis writes, "Sargent derisively spelled the word 'paughtrait,' and declared 'No more mugs!' to whoever would listen.) As Amelie Gautreau got older, and as the public forgot about her, she, sadly, began longing for any kind of fame. She commissioned other portraits, none of which could measure up to Sargent's. In 1891, in a pictorial shout for attention, she had Gustave Courtois do a portrait of her: she posed in a white gown (rather than the black gown she had worn for Sargent), with, yes, a fallen shoulder strap. If this book has any fault, it is that Amelie Gautreau comes across as a bit of a cipher. All we see are her vanity and attempts to bring attention to herself. It's a bit of a caricature, really. I'm not sure if that's because there's a paucity of information about her (especially when compared to Sargent) or if it's because it bolsters Ms. Davis's argument that with "Madame X," Sargent was trying to portray an exemplar of a shallow segment of society. Still, as a study of Sargent, of ambition - both professional and social, and of the late 19th century Paris art world (and of how artistic reputations rise and fall like the tides), this is a very rewarding read.

37 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Biography, August 18, 2004

By 

HeyJudy "heyjudy" (East Hampton, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Strapless: John Singer Sargent and the Fall of Madame X (Hardcover)

STRAPLESS is an excellent work of scholarship, combining biographies of two unrelated people whose stories always will be entwined in popular theory.

Here, author Deborah Davis traces the lives of artist John Singer Sargent and the subject of his most famous painting, Madame X.

Madame X was a renowned beauty in late 19th century Paris named Virginie Gautreau. Oddly, both Sargent and Gautreau were American ex-patriates, and Davis does an excellent job of describing the American colony in Paris at that particular time.

At the moment of its completion, in the portrait of Virginie, her gown had a strap depicted as falling off her shoulder. So decadent was this considered, so blatantly alluding to things sensual, that the portrait caused a scandal.

Sargent then was considered a rising star and both he and Virginie expected this portrait to solidify their places among the stars of the Belle Epoque. Yet luster would not be added to either of their reputations, not even after Sargent had re-painted the strap into its proper place.

Sargent fled to England, where his prestige slowly recovered. Gautreau, however, remained a virtual outcast of society as a consequence of the negative reaction. Over the decades, Sargent has remained famous, while Virginie's actual name has fallen into obscurity.

And if Davis had not decided to step in and tell the whole tale, Virgine probably would have remained obscure. STRAPLESS shows marvelous research about a fascinating moment in time.

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Davis has painted a vibrant and luminous picture!, September 11, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Strapless: John Singer Sargent and the Fall of Madame X (Hardcover)

As an artist and a art historian, I was very pleased to get new insight into the story behind the painting Madame X and the people and places that surrounded her creation. As in The DaVinci Code, many mysteries were uncovered in an intriquing way (but without all of the running around). Bravo for writing a book that is accessible to artists and laypeople alike. Davis has painted a picture of the process the artist goes through when making decisions that remain on the canvas years after the artist and model are long gone. Worth taking the time to read the story and to see the beautiful reproductions of Sargent's paintings.