John Singer Sargent
Sargent was born in Florence Italy in 1856 while his parents were travelling abroad Europe to recover from the loss of their first child. Sargent's sister Mary was born after a year, and his father, Fitzwilliam retired from his work as an eye surgeon at the Willis Eye Hospital in Philadelphia to remain abroad with his wife and kids, living off their modest savings and inheritance. They have lived a quiet nomadic life, isolated from the society. Sargent turned out to be a rambunctious child, uninterested in his studies, more interested in the outdoor activities. Formal educations at schools was difficult due to Sargent's family's itinerant life. Sargent's mother, Mary nee Singer, felt that visiting museums, art galleries, and churches ould be sufficient education for her son. Being quite a fine amateur artist herself, she encouraged Sargent's love for pencil drawing and copying illustrations of ships in the newspapers. Sargent father began to hope that his son's interest in drawing ships would lead him to a naval career. Despite the lack of formal schooling, Sargent have grown up to become quite a literate, and cultured young man. He spoke multiple languages, and had great interests in art and music. His mother soon noticed his natural talent in drawing, and decided to support him to receive lessons. In 1874 John Singer Sargent enrolled in the best art school in Paris, Ecole des Beaux-Arts, after passing a rigorous test for admission. There, Sargent studied drawing fundamentals, where he excelled and received. He also did extra studies himself, constantly copying from master drawings at the local museums. Then he met a young French artist named Carolus Duran, who was respected for his effective teaching methods, and turned out to become a very important influence to Sargent's paintings. Since Carolus Duran was an accomplished portraitist, studying at his atelier transitioned Sargent's interest into portraiture, from his original interest of ships and landscapes. Carolus-Duran's atelier focused on the alla-prima, direct painting approach, derived from a Spanish painter Diego Valasquez. Even though the traditional academic approach of careful underdrawing (practiced by Jean Leon Gerome's atelier) was popular during that time, Carolus-Duran's atelier favored the direct painting approach whereby the artist wouldn't rely on the under-drawing, but rather rely-upon the correctness of each loads of colored paints he puts down directly onto the canvas, which would result in more fluidity of the colours. Sargent excelled as a student at Carolus Duran's atelier. He was popular and respected by his fellow students. Through his friendship with Paul Helleu, Sargent became acquainted with many famous artists such as Whistler, Monet, Degas, and Rodin, and became part of their artworld. Portraiture was a great way for John Singer Sargent to promote himself, and in 1877, he was admitted into a salon with his first portrait painting of Fanny Watt, which was praised for its attractive pose. Then soon after, he was accepted to another salon with his painting of "Oyster Gatherers of Cançale" where he made two paintings in an impressionistic style, and shipped one to America. Very positive reviews were received from both salons. When Sargent turned 23, he made a debut at the Paris Salon with the portrait painting of his teacher, Carolus-Duran. Then it became apparent that Sarent had no more to learn, showing virtuosity in the portrait hich was praised by critiques and acknowledged the maturity of his craftsmanship. Sargent left for Spain, after finishing his studies with Carolus-Duran. He found new love for music in Sapin and became acquainted with many professional musicians whom he often accompanied with his accomplished piano playing. Sargent's musicianship was almost as equal to his art. He enjoyed his social life and the music scene in Spain. John Singer Sargent continuously painted and sketched. "El Jaleo" was painted during this time. He frequently visited the museums and vigorously studied the paintings of Valasquez, whom he idolized. Later on he visited Italy ,where he did the series of Venetian street scenes. Sargent's professional career as a portrait painter began as soon as he returned from his trip, as there were commissions lined up for him, acknowledging his exceptional skills. He was well mannered with his clients and spoke perfect French, which made him stand out from all the other competitors. John Singer Sargent soon became very successful and set his rates high, even turning down clients he did not want to paint. His success was steady for the rest of his career. |
with flattering aristocratic look. John Singer Sargent has created over 900 oil paintings ,over 2000 watercolours, along with countless drawings and sketches of portraits and figures. Later in his career, he made a brief departure to pursue landscapes which he also executed with great success.