JOHN SINGER SARGENT OR THE MAN WHO PAINTED “MADAME X”

John Singer Sargent or The Man Who Painted “Madame X”

In a brief discussion the other day about the Salon de Paris, I happened to mention the name John Singer Sargent and an 1884 scandal involving a “Madame X.” A short while after that, I realized that I really didn’t know much about Mr. Sargent or his art and decided to learn a bit more. I thought I would share what I found with you.

John Singer Sargent (January 12, 1856 – April 14, 1925) was an American artist who was regarded as the leading portrait artist of his time, particularly for his portrayals of Edwardian luxury. Over nine hundred oil paintings and more than two thousand watercolors, as well as a myriad of sketches and charcoal drawings were produced during his artistic career — sizeable by anyone’s standard. From the start, his work was characterized by a remarkable technical facility; in particular, his ability to draw using a brush. His work was in keeping with the accepted (and somewhat restrictive) manner of rendering portraits at the time but later in life he moved away from those limitations and devoted much of his time to creating murals and working en plein air.

His father, FitzWilliam was a successful eye surgeon in Philadelphia; however, when John’s older sister died at the age of two and his mother suffered a breakdown, the couple decided to leave the tragedy behind went abroad. Although their stated home became Paris, the couple moved around Europe following the seasons — a rather nomadic life that took them all around France, to Germany, Italy, and Switzerland. John was actually born in Florence, Tuscany. For the rest of their lives, the couple, two well-off vagabonds living on an inheritance and savings, led a quiet life, generally avoiding European society and Americans, except for friends from the world of art.

At the young age of thirteen, John’s mother noted that her son “sketches quite nicely and has a remarkably quick and correct eye. If we could afford to give him really good lessons, he would soon be quite a little artist.” It was in that same year that the boy did in fact receive some watercolor lessons from one Carl Welsch, a German landscape painter. Not only did he show talent as an artist but he was also quite literate and worldly, with more than a little knowledge of music and literature, as well as a fluency in French, Italian, and German. By age seventeen, John was described as “willful, curious, determined and strong.” It is also said that he was shy, generous and modest. As a budding artist, he was familiar with many of the masters from first-hand observation. As he said in 1874, “I have learned in Venice to admire Tintoretto immensely and to consider him perhaps only second to Michelangelo and Titan.”

John attended the Academy of Florence but things did not go well, primarily because the school was in the process of reorganization; so it was back to Paris where he studied with Carolus Duran, a young, extremely popular portrait artist noted for both bold artistic techniques and his modern methods of teaching. Later that year, John passed the arduous examination which was required to gain admission to the École des Beaux-Arts, the premier art school in France, where he studied drawing — classes that also included both anatomy and perspective. He also spent much of his time practicing drawing in museums as well as in a studio which he shared with James Carroll Beckwith [(September 23, 1852 – October 24, 1917), an American landscape, portrait and genre painter whose Naturalist style led to his recognition in the late nineteenth and very early twentieth century as a respected figure in American art.] and additional lessons from Léon Bonnat.

As noted, Duran was a progressive and dispensed with traditional academic approaches to art, approaches which required careful drawing and underpainting. Duran taught the alla prima method working directly on a canvas with a loaded brush, relying on proper placement of tones of paint. This same method allowed for spontaneous flourishes of color which were not dependent on any under-drawing. Sargent took to this approach like a duck takes to water. As Julian Alden Weir noted, Sargent was “one of the most talented fellows I have ever come across; his drawings are like the old masters and his color is equally fine.” John was both popular and admired and it was through a friendship with Paul César Helleu, that he was able to meet some of the greats of his time, such as Degas, Rodin, Monet, and even Whistler.

Fanny Watts (1877)

Although Sargent was most enthusiastic over landscapes and not portraiture, Duran finally influenced him to follow that path; portraits being perhaps the best way to promote one’s art career and exhibiting in the Salon — not to mention gaining commissions and thus a livelihood. His first major portrait was of a friend, Fanny Watts, in 1877 which was also his first work exhibited at the Salon — immediately drawing the attention of public and judges alike. His second submission to the Salon was “Oyster Gatherers of Cancale,” a painting in an impressionistic style. He made two copies of this painting and sent one to the United States — both received more than favorable reviews.

In 1879 Sargent produced a portrait of Duran which met with wide public approval at the Salon and marked the path that his mature work would follow. American writer Henry James wrote of Sargent that the artist offered “the slightly uncanny spectacle of a talent which on the very threshold of its career has nothing more to learn.” Sargent then left Duran’s tutelage and traveled to Spain where he studied the painting techniques of Velazques and where he obtained ideas for future works. He also found himself captivated by Spanish music and dance, reawakening his own talent for music and providing the visual expression found in his work “El Jaleo” (1882). From that point on, music and not just painting played a significant part in his social life and as an accompanist to various amateur and professional musicians, as well becoming an advocate of contemporary composers such as Gabriel Fauré.

"El Jaleo" (1882)

After Spain he went to Italy and then returned to Paris where he received numerous commissions for portraits, and his career was thus firmly established, giving him both fame and the ability to pick and choose who sat for him, and to very set high prices. He worked with a high degree of stamina and concentration, almost workman-like, which became one of his trademarks for the next quarter of a century.

The best of Sargent’s portraits show the distinct individuality and personality of the sitters, perhaps only matched at the time by Velazques, as seen in “The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit” (1882). One of his most exhibited portraits of that period was “The Lady with the Rose” (1882) – a portrait of Charlotte Burckhardt who was both a close friend of Sargent’s and a possible romantic interest as well.

"The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit" (1882)

"The Lady with the Rose" (1882)

It’s interesting how things turn out sometimes — Sargent’s most controversial work, “Portrait of Madame X” a portrait of Madame Pierre Gautreau rendered in 1884, was his most controversial work and now is regarded as one of his best, not to mention the artist’s own personal favorite: “I suppose it is the best thing I have ever done.” When it was first unveiled at the 1984 Salon, it stirred such a negative reaction that it drove Sargent to move London. His self-confidence had led him to attempt an experiment in portraiture which seemed to backfire. The portrait had not been commissioned by her; but instead, he had pursued her for a chance to paint the lady. He wrote to a mutual friend somewhat egotistically, “I have a great desire to paint her portrait and have reason to think that she would allow it and is waiting for someone to propose this homage to her beauty…you might tell her that I am a man of prodigious talent.”

When she at last agreed, it took Sargent over a year to complete the painting, whose first version portrayed a now famous plunging neckline, white-powdered skin, an arrogantly cocked head, and an off-the shoulder dress strap which gave a daring and sensual effect. Ultimately Sargent changed the strap to assuage some of the controversy but — too late! Almost as quickly as lightning, his French commissions ceased. Gravely disappointed, he even contemplated giving up painting for a second career in music. French poet and historical novelist Judith Gautier, the daughter of Théophile Gautier, wrote of the exhibition of “Madame X”: “Is it a woman? A chimera (a monstrous fire-breathing hybrid creature of Lycia in Asia Minor, composed of the parts of more than one animal), the figure of a unicorn rearing as on a heraldic coat of arms, or perhaps the work of some oriental decorative artist to whom the human form is forbidden and who, wishing to be reminded of woman, has drown the delicious arabesque? No, it is none of these things, but rather the precise image of a modern woman scrupulously drawn by a painter who is a master of his art.”

Prior to the “Madame X” scandal, Sargent had painted exotic beauties such as Rosina Ferrara of Capri and Spanish model Carmela Bertagna, but those had never been widely exhibited in public. As for “Madame X,” he kept “her” prominently displayed in his London Studio until it was sold to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1916.

English critics were at first rather cold to Sargent, citing his “clever Frenchified” techniques; one reviewer calling his technique “hard” and “almost metallic” with “no taste in expression, air or modelling.” Eventually, with the help of that same critic, he began to gain English admiration.

By 1900 Sargent was at his peak of fame. Although still only in his forties, he began to travel more and to devote less time to painting. In 1907, at the age of fifty-one, he officially closed his studio, stating “Painting a portrait would be quite amusing if one were not forced to talk while working…What a nuisance having to entertain the sitter and to look happy when one feels wretched. In that same year, he also painted his own modest, serious self-portrait — his last portrait. Instead, he pursued architectural and landscape subjects.

As Sargent wearied of portraiture he pursued architectural and landscapes subjects instead; however, his fame remained remarkable — he even turned down a knighthood. He made numerous visits to the United States including an extended stay form 1915 until 1917, during which he produced some very grand portraits, including one of John D. Rockefeller. But not so soon later, Sargent found himself relegated more and more to the category of a “master of the past.” Modernism was in and trends such as Cubism and Futurism pushed him aside

In 1922 Sargent co-founded New York City's Grand Central Art Galleries along with Edmund Greacen and Walter Clark, participating in the gallery and its academy until his death in 1925 in England of heart disease.