John Singer Sargent, Women at Work, c. 1912
oil on canvas, private collection. The shadows and contrasts here are stunning, one of my favorites in the show.
John Singer Sargent, Study for the Spanish Dance, c. 1879-1880, oil on canvas, Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO. Gift of Julia and Humbert Tinsman. Another of my favorites. Look at the arms of both figures! Her dress! The combination with the background. Sargent has been called the greatest American impressionist painter although he never lived in the U.S. His parents were Americans, and he was born in Florence, Italy.
Attention, Parents! Firsthand experiences can mean so much more than schoolroom learning! Carpe diem for your brood! Read on.
For art lovers at Christmas, a finer pleasure than to walk the galleries of the Sargent and Spain exhibition at the National Gallery of Art would be hard to beat, and for a gift?A finer gift that the new catalog ($55) of the American's time in Spain,would be hard to beat.*
John Singer Sargent, Manuel García, 1904–1905, oil on canvas. Lent by Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence. Garcia (1805-1906) was a renowned Spanish baritone and teacher whom Sargent was commissioned to paint on the occasion of the musician's 100th birthday, according to label copy. Sargent's affinity for the styles of the Spanish painter, Diego Velázquez (1599-1660) is evident in this work.
John Singer Sargent, La Carmencita Dancing, 1890, oil on canvas, private collection. Sargent painted several portraits of La Carmencita whom he saw dance and met in New York where she entertained at music halls and private parties. She traveled the world, showing off her talents and is screened in a short video at the exhibition, filmed at Thomas Edison's studio in 1894, a snippet, below.
The Sargent paintings and drawings hanging in the eight rooms at the National Gallery are lovely to behold, bewitching, enabling one to travel to time and scenes of yesterday, almost floating from one place to another.
John Singer Sargent, Escutcheon of Charles V of Spain, 1912, watercolor over graphite on white wove paper. Lent by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1915. An "escutcheon" is a shield, this one belonging to Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor and king of Spain from 1516-1556. It's positioned above a large fountain dedicated to the king. Curators speculate that because this is above eye level, Sargent may have used a photograph and painted it indoors.
John Singer Sargent, Street at Camprodón, Spain, 1892
watercolor over graphite, with gouache, on paper, private collection. This street, the Carrer de Isaac Albéniz, leads down to a medieval bridge over the Ter River and is named after a pianist and composer of Spanish folk music whom Sargent greatly admired.
John Singer Sargent, Group of Spanish Convalescent Soldiers (detail), c. 1903
watercolor over graphite, with gouache, on paper, private collection.
John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) loved Spain and spent part of three decades on seven trips there between 1879 and 1912, painting the landscapes, the events, the people, the church, the variety of life he found, including the dancers and making copies of works by Velázquez whom he admired and whose styles he incorporated in his own works.
The three curators NGA's Sarah Cash, the UK's Richard Ormond (the artist's grand-nephew), and Elaine Kilmurray, present 140 works, including some never-before-seen photographs, the only known pictures of Sargent in Spain discovered in research for the exhibition, some of them almost guaranteed to have been taken by the artist himself.
Dr. Ormond and Dr. Kilmurry are the world's foremost authoritities on Sargent and have collaborated on the nine-volume Sargent catalogue raisonné (1998-2016). They came for the National Gallery's Sargent opening in October when Dr. Kilmurray was gracious enough to give me a few moments of her time to chat.
She said she and Dr. Ormond have "done a number of [Sargent] exhibitions in the U.S., Spain, Italy, the UK," essentially, around the globe.
I asked her what sparked her interest in Sargent, and she explained that she had no "personal interest. I was invited to participate.My interest developed from that."
[The nine-volume catalog] has taken "a long time in research and writing, and Richard asked me to join him on what's been an amazing adventure!"
Their "lifetime's work" began in the early 1980s.
"Richard used to be at the National Portrait Gallery in London and then at the Maritime Museum in London when he was director. He's retired. We're both independent scholars."
She talked a bit about Sargent's background:
"He was born in Italy; his family traveled. In the hot months they'd go to the Alps where it was cooler; in the winter they'd be in Rome, Bologna, Venice, Nice.
"He was really saturated in European art.
"His mother was an amateur water colorist; quite accomplished. He didn't go to school the way children do now; his education was the European experience. He spoke fluent French, pretty good Italian, some Spanish, some German. [And English.]
"He's very much a cosmopolitan artist. These early years of kind of a vagabond lifestyle, moving from one place to another had a huge impact on his artistic personality."
"Often when he was painting portraits, he would play music. It was a way to develop relationships with the sitter; it's background and I suppose it was something to talk about."
He loved Wagner, Kilmurray said. "At the time Wagner was [considered] progressive. Sargent had extensive musical contacts and was a considerable musician himself. He played piano. We think he played guitar and banjo in a kind of 'folksy' kind of way almost. But he was a very considerable pianist. He would not have been self-taught."
Prepare to be delighted at this exhibition with loaned works from private collectors and 46 institutions and named individuals.
*Also available, prints, magnets, and journals, from $12. Order here. NGA also has a Sargent ornament! ($24)* NGA's Catherine Southwick, with the help of Diana Seave Greenwald and Katherine Pratt-Thompson, researched and prepared a chronology and year-by-year listing of Sargent's time in Spain. The catalog has 256 illustrated pages.
The people of the United States and visitors are grateful to the Bank of America, the national tour sponsor, and others for providing support for the exhibition which next moves to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Feb. 11 - May 14, 2023.
What: Sargent and Spain
When: Through January 2, 2023. The National Gallery hours are 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. daily.
Where: West Building, National Gallery of Art, 6th and Constitution, Washington
How much: Admission is always free at the National Gallery of Art.
Metro stations for the National Gallery of Art:
Smithsonian, Federal Triangle, Navy Memorial-Archives, or L'Enfant Plaza
For more information: (202) 737-4215
Accessibility information: (202) 842-6905
patricialesli@gmail.com
The three curators NGA's Sarah Cash, the UK's Richard Ormond (the artist's grand-nephew), and Elaine Kilmurray, present 140 works, including some never-before-seen photographs, the only known pictures of Sargent in Spain discovered in research for the exhibition, some of them almost guaranteed to have been taken by the artist himself.
Dr. Ormond and Dr. Kilmurry are the world's foremost authoritities on Sargent and have collaborated on the nine-volume Sargent catalogue raisonné (1998-2016). They came for the National Gallery's Sargent opening in October when Dr. Kilmurray was gracious enough to give me a few moments of her time to chat.
She said she and Dr. Ormond have "done a number of [Sargent] exhibitions in the U.S., Spain, Italy, the UK," essentially, around the globe.
I asked her what sparked her interest in Sargent, and she explained that she had no "personal interest. I was invited to participate.My interest developed from that."
[The nine-volume catalog] has taken "a long time in research and writing, and Richard asked me to join him on what's been an amazing adventure!"
Their "lifetime's work" began in the early 1980s.
"Richard used to be at the National Portrait Gallery in London and then at the Maritime Museum in London when he was director. He's retired. We're both independent scholars."
She talked a bit about Sargent's background:
"He was born in Italy; his family traveled. In the hot months they'd go to the Alps where it was cooler; in the winter they'd be in Rome, Bologna, Venice, Nice.
"He was really saturated in European art.
"His mother was an amateur water colorist; quite accomplished. He didn't go to school the way children do now; his education was the European experience. He spoke fluent French, pretty good Italian, some Spanish, some German. [And English.]
"He's very much a cosmopolitan artist. These early years of kind of a vagabond lifestyle, moving from one place to another had a huge impact on his artistic personality."
"Often when he was painting portraits, he would play music. It was a way to develop relationships with the sitter; it's background and I suppose it was something to talk about."
He loved Wagner, Kilmurray said. "At the time Wagner was [considered] progressive. Sargent had extensive musical contacts and was a considerable musician himself. He played piano. We think he played guitar and banjo in a kind of 'folksy' kind of way almost. But he was a very considerable pianist. He would not have been self-taught."
Although the title Gypsy Dancer is sometimes associated with Sargent's work, Kilmurray explained that for cultural sensitivities, the National Gallery of Art has elected to avoid the term "gypsy" which, in 2022, is considered "derogatory.
"We tried to respect," others, she said, emphasizing national in the name, National Gallery of Art. Roma has been substituted for gypsy, she said.
Dr. Kilmurray explained that artists frequently did not title their works but titles evolve through sales and exhibitions.
"The world we are living in now is very sensitive and the National Gallery is being national, trying to respect that."
Indeed, the catalog states (p. 242): "Some titles and dates also reflect new research and language--for instance, the term 'gypsy' is strongly associated with negative stereotypes and has been removed from the titles of Sargent's works."
Sargent was a workaholic, Kilmurray said, always painting until his death.
Large photographs of the artist are found hanging in the last gallery, one with his celebrated Madame X which shook the world and Sargent, too, forcing his move from Paris to London to escape the Parisian criticism.
"We tried to respect," others, she said, emphasizing national in the name, National Gallery of Art. Roma has been substituted for gypsy, she said.
Dr. Kilmurray explained that artists frequently did not title their works but titles evolve through sales and exhibitions.
"The world we are living in now is very sensitive and the National Gallery is being national, trying to respect that."
Indeed, the catalog states (p. 242): "Some titles and dates also reflect new research and language--for instance, the term 'gypsy' is strongly associated with negative stereotypes and has been removed from the titles of Sargent's works."
Sargent was a workaholic, Kilmurray said, always painting until his death.
Large photographs of the artist are found hanging in the last gallery, one with his celebrated Madame X which shook the world and Sargent, too, forcing his move from Paris to London to escape the Parisian criticism.
Prepare to be delighted at this exhibition with loaned works from private collectors and 46 institutions and named individuals.
*Also available, prints, magnets, and journals, from $12. Order here. NGA also has a Sargent ornament! ($24)* NGA's Catherine Southwick, with the help of Diana Seave Greenwald and Katherine Pratt-Thompson, researched and prepared a chronology and year-by-year listing of Sargent's time in Spain. The catalog has 256 illustrated pages.
The people of the United States and visitors are grateful to the Bank of America, the national tour sponsor, and others for providing support for the exhibition which next moves to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Feb. 11 - May 14, 2023.
What: Sargent and Spain
When: Through January 2, 2023. The National Gallery hours are 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. daily.
Where: West Building, National Gallery of Art, 6th and Constitution, Washington
How much: Admission is always free at the National Gallery of Art.
Metro stations for the National Gallery of Art:
Smithsonian, Federal Triangle, Navy Memorial-Archives, or L'Enfant Plaza
For more information: (202) 737-4215
Accessibility information: (202) 842-6905
patricialesli@gmail.com
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