John Singer Sargent was an American artist, considered the "leading
portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of
Edwardian era luxury.
[Ormond, p. 34, 1998 ("While his art matched to the spirit of the age, Sargent came into his own in the 1890s as the leading portrait painter of his generation.")]
New Orleans Museum of Art
("At the time of the Wertheimer commission Sargent was the most celebrated, sought-after and expensive portrait painter in the world."). During his career, he created roughly 900 oil paintings and more than 2,000 watercolors, as well as countless sketches and charcoal drawings. His ''oeuvre'' documents worldwide travel, from Venice to the Tyrol, Corfu, Spain, the Middle East, Montana, Maine, and Florida.
From the beginning his work was characterized by remarkable technical facility, particularly in his ability to draw with a brush, which in later years inspired admiration as well as criticism for a supposed superficiality. His commissioned works were consistent with the
grand manner
Grand Manner refers to an idealized aesthetic style derived from classicism and the art of the High Renaissance. In the eighteenth century, British artists and connoisseurs used the term to describe paintings that incorporated visual metaphors in ...
of portraiture, while his informal studies and landscape paintings displayed a familiarity with
Impressionism.
In later life Sargent expressed ambivalence about the restrictions of formal portrait work, and devoted much of his energy to
mural painting and working ''
en plein air''.
Works
References
Bibliography
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External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sargent, John Singer
Works by American people
*
Sargent
Sargent or Sargents may refer to:
People
* Sargent (name), includes a list of people with the name
Places
*Sargent, California
*Sargents, Colorado
*Sargent, Georgia
* Sargent, Scott County, Missouri
* Sargent, Texas County, Missouri
*Sargent, Ne ...