Presentation Transcript

1. John Singer Sargent Portraits and Paintings
2. John Singer Sargent January 12, 1856 – April 14, 1925 • An American artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation”. Portraits are realistic paintings of people. • During his career, he created roughly 900 oil paintings and more than 2,000 watercolors, as well as countless sketches and charcoal drawings. • He traveled worldwide during his life; from Venice to the Tyrol, Corfu, the Middle East, Montana, Maine, and Florida.
3. His parents were American, but he was trained in Paris prior to moving to London. Sargent enjoyed international acclaim as a portrait painter, although not without controversy and some critical reservation. 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. *discussed in the next slide* His commissioned works were consistent with the grand manner 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. He lived most of his life in Europe. John Singer Sargent, Self-Portrait, 1907.
4. THE GRAND MANNER Sargent painted portraits early on in what was known as “The Grand Manner”. The Grand Manner refers to an idealized aesthetic style derived from classical art, and the modern "classic art" of the High Renaissance. In the eighteenth century, British artists and connoisseurs used the term to describe paintings that incorporated visual metaphors in order to suggest noble qualities. (This meant to put noble qualities into everyday people, to make them look more distinguished and more formal than they were in real life. This was to create a persona (an image of the individual), in order to portray something that really did not exist.). * This is what is meant by “superficiality” in the previous slide. But the viewer (you and I), are led to believe that the person is noble, happy, sad, pensive, beautiful, serene, based on the interpretation of the artist and the viewer (the person looking at the artwork.). In this way, Sargent painted realistic subjects but gave them surreal qualities. Surreal is something that is a mixture of fact and fantasy, something imagined, but with a basis in reality Look at the subjects (the people) in the portraits and see that they often look austere and unapproachable. This was the fad in the era of the eighteenth century, and many people wanted their portraits painted to suggest ‘noble qualities’. This was very much a sign of the times in the late 1800’s.
5. Examples of portraiture in “The Grand Manner” style.
6. What things do you see in these photos that make them look more ‘noble’ or ‘formal’? Look at the foreground, the background What kind of clothes are the people wearing?What ‘props’ are in the portraits? Are they casual clothes or very formal and dressy?
7. More portrait examples. Look at these closely. What different things do you see? What things are the same in the portraits? If someone painted your portrait, how would you look? This was also a sign of the times. To try to capture the nobility of the subject, but to personalize it with a pet, a musical instrument, a dress, a style, a look.
8. As time went on, these “Grand Manner’ portraits became more ‘casual’ in style, and attempted to reflect the real person rather than a surreal image of what had been attempted in the past. Sargent used his beautiful artistic brush stroke style to get the nuances of color, light, tone, and personality in the eyes of his subjects. He did many children and most of these were more casual in style.
9. Although better known for his portraits, Sargent painted many landscapes and painted what was known then as “en plein air”, which translated from French means “In the Open Air”. This means going outside with his sketchbook and paints in order to paint the outdoors exactly as he saw them at the time. Do you do this with Mrs. Pyles in her class? I think so! I also think you do journaling and draw pictures and sketches of different plants and nature with Mr. Houser. Think about it! Sargent was also highly literate and accomplished in art, music, and literature. He could speak many languages, but was fluent in French, Italian, and German. At seventeen, Sargent was described as "willful, curious, determined and strong" (after his mother) yet shy, generous, and modest (after his father). Many of these qualities were prevalent in his life and in his landscape paintings. A landscape is all of the visible features of an open outdoor area, countryside, or lands.
10. Examples of Sargent’s landscapes.
11. More examples of Sargent’s landscapes and landscapes with people.
12. Some of Sargent’s portraits can be seen at The Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina. If you visit, you can see them for yourself! These were paintings commissioned by the Vanderbilts(the original and current owners of Biltmore), and are still there today. Two paintings in particular are of importance: These are Frederick Law Olmsted, who designed all of the gardens in Biltmore and the surrounding acres of land. A world renowend landscape architect, he also designed Central Park in New York City. The other portrait is of the architect of the Biltmore, Richard Morris Hunt, who designed what is known today as “America’s Largest Home”. Frederick Law Olmsted, 1895. Richard Morris Hunt, 1895.
13. In 1922 Sargent co-founded New York City's Grand Central Art Galleries together with Edmund Greacen, Walter Leighton Clark, and others. He died on April 14, 1925, in England, of heart disease. Memorial exhibitions of Sargent's work were held in Boston in 1925, and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Royal Academy and Tate Gallery in London in 1926. The Grand Central Art Galleries also organized a posthumous exhibition in 1928 of previously unseen sketches and drawings from throughout his career. Sargent has been the subject of large-scale exhibitions in major museums, including a retrospective exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1986, and a 1999 "blockbuster" travelling show that exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the National Gallery of Art Washington, and the National Gallery, London. His paintings today sell for millions of dollars and are considered priceless. In December 2004, Group with Parasols (A Siesta) (1905) sold for $US 23.5 million, nearly double the Sotheby's estimate of $12 million. The previous highest price for a Sargent painting was $US 11 million.
14. QUESTIONS AND DISCUSSION. Did you know that portrait artists meet with their subjects numerous times in order to do sketching of different poses to determine the best one? If someone had to paint your portrait, do you think you could sit still for a long period of time? If you had to paint a portrait of someone, who would it be? How do you think you would start? What props or things would you use in order to show the person in the portrait’s personality? Time to start on activities and more discussion!