JOHN SINGER SARGENT RESEARCH

John Singer Sargent self-portrait-1907

John Singer Sargent was an American artist who lived from January 12th 1856 to April 14th 1925. Considered the leading portrait artist of his time, Sargent created roughly 900 oil paintings, 2,000 watercolours as well as many charcoal sketches. His parents were American but he was born in Florence; he was also trained in Paris prior to moving to London. All of this gave him a good deal of international acclaim. His work in France also provided controversy, in his Portrait of Madame X 1884 the reception was one of scandal as the aristocratic status of the subject and the ‘sexual’ portrayal of her was not well received. Sargent later left Paris after the humiliation and disappointment although this later helped him to build a high-profile career in Britain and America. Sargent’s work is characterized by his ability to draw with a brush, his technical abilities, the accuracy of his portrait and his impressionist landscapes. Later in life, he also branched out into mural work, although most of his work was ignored by art historians until the late 20^th century.
Early Life

Sargent’s parents became nomadic expatriates when his father’s older sister died at the age of two and his mothers suffered a breakdown to recover. Although based in Paris, they moved regularly around Europe. While his mother, Mary, was pregnant they stayed in Florence due to the cholera epidemic. After resigning his post in Philadelphia following the birth of John Singer Sargent in 1856 and his sister a year later, his father and mother raised their children on little money and lived quite a reclusive but kept in contact with friends in the art world.Sargent’s mother was a fine amateur artist and his father was a skilled medical illustrator and were encouraging of young Sargent drawing too by buying him sketchbooks and taking him on drawing exertions. Despite having an incomplete education, Sargent was highly literate and accomplished in art, music and literature. He was fluent in French, Italian and German too.

On returning to Paris, Sargent began his art studies with Carolus-Duran, who was re-known for his bold technique and left a lasting impression on Sargent from 1874-1878. He then entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts art school in France. The primary classes he took were perspective and and anatomy, which is shown in his series of sketches later in his professional works. Sargent shared a studio with James Caroll Beckwith who also became particularly influential on him at the time-he helped Sargent make connections with other artists in America. In addition to this, he took some lessons with Leon Bonnat. One of the apporaches that Sargent was taught for painting derived from Diego Velaquez which required the proper placement of tone as well as sparsely-placed vibrant colours which comes across in his limited colour palette and portraits. During this time, Sargent also developed a love for landscapes.

After his controversy in Paris, Sargent moved to London and became the most infamous portrait artist of his time, although he was not hailed in Britain at first and critics had to warm up to his 'frenchified' style of painting. Sargent continued to gain popularity in his intricate style of painting and commissions of the upperclass, in which he exhibited them in museums around the world.