Street in Venice, 1882
I've come to learn that Sargent was an American living abroad in Europe thanks to his parents' lifestyle. And that Sargent was a bachelor for life and often spent a lot of time with his friends (including other painters and authors like Henry James!). Looking at his paintings, I would have thought he was a reserved and stoic man, not a social butterfly! In any event, during his life, he established himself as a portrait painter and painted well-to-do ladies. Madame X of course is one of his most well known portraits and apparently, caused quite a bit of scandal for the shoulder baring and cocked head position of the subject (really??).
Madame X (1884)
Isn't Madame X beautiful? She is timeless. We can see a beautiful lady like Madame X in today's society too, right?
Here are some more of my favorite Sargent paintings.
Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose (1885-1886)
Rio Di San Salvatore, Venice (1903-04)
In the Luxembourg Gardens (1879)
(See here for citation).
p.s. Still feeling a bit tired and worn out. When is the weekend coming??!!
I LOVE John Singer Sargent, and his Venetian street scenes are indeed evocative of all sorts of imaginings and stories. I was just in Venice in September, and walked around taking pictures of so many alleys and walkways, thinking about how I was probably walking in the very same spots he stood in and painted! I've been so intrigued by the artist and his times that I've written a novel that is about to be published (February 2013) -- it focuses on the years he was in Paris when he painted Madame X and also the Daughters of Edward Darley Boit. If you're interested, please check out my new blog about JSS and the book - http://www.portraitsofanartist.blogspot.com. And don't worry, the weekend's almost here! Cheers, Mary Burns
ReplyDeletealso, i LOVE Henry James, too! (He's a character in my book too!)
ReplyDeleteSuch beautiful work!! It's so funny how much our social norms have changed, so much so that I can't for the life of me figure out why her head position would be so controversial haha! :)
ReplyDeleteseriously - today, we have ladies doing a lot more than just tilting their heads in their photos and making a living out of doing so. can you imagine if those folks saw our modern strapless evening gowns?!
DeleteHaving done a lot of research on the subject of Madame X, I can tell you that the original painting -- which had the strap on her right shoulder hanging down onto her arm -- caused quite a scene--but mainly because Virginie Amelie Gautreau (Mme. X) was an American socialite (though of French heritage) who "married up", (a wealthy husband of course) and became a much-talked-about "professional beauty" in the fin-de-siecle days of Paris -- so all the spiteful old guard matriarchs just detested her! So when Sargent's painting was displayed at the Salon that year, they trashed it and her--and Sargent too, another "upstart" American, in their eyes, though he had been born in Florence and lived nearly all his life in Europe, then England. Ah, the green-eyed envy! Check out the book "Strapless" by Deborah Davis, a non-fiction account of this whole scandal, really fascinating.
ReplyDeleteMary Burns, thanks for your comments and sharing your expertise. I loved that you used the word "fin-de-siecle" - that is one of my favorite fancy schmancy words. And congratulations on your novel - do let me know when it's published. I will also be checking out your blog as well!
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