We came to New York City back in June with two purposes in-mind: to attend our dear friend, Anne Kaufman's, memorial service and to see the Singer & Paris exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum. (Had Anne still been alive and mobile, she most certainly would have come to the exhibition with us.) We succeeded on the first goal; it was wonderful to see Anne's friends gathered-together in her honor. But, on that Wednesday morning, as we walked-up to the museum, we were confronted with the big red signs: "The Museum is Closed on Wednesdays." During all my years living in New York, the Met Museum was always (and notoriously) closed on Mondays! We were so close! And, yet, we were blocked from entering this most important event.
So, here we are—now in July—having raced back to the city (for one night) to catch this wonderful exhibition before it leaves for the Musée d'Orsay next week. It was truly worth the 16 hours of roundtrip driving! I hope that John Singer Sargent realizes the extent to which we will travel to stand before our favorite "modern era" artist. Over the next few days, I will be sharing some of my pictures from Sargent & Paris.
Sargent's preternatural skill with pencil, charcoal or paintbrush was evident in his boyhood. Shown above, one of Sargent's "academic" charcoal sketches—when he was a 17 or 18 year old student—of a Classical Ancient Greek sculpture, The Dancing Faun. Copying ancient masterpieces was a common exercise for 19th Century draughtsmen. In this image, we see that the teen Sargent had not yet developed the "economy" which he would soon possess. Nonetheless, it is a fabulous rendering.
Drawing from live models was another frequent exercise for developing artists. At the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, in Paris, Sargent spent two hours every afternoon drawing from live models. Shown above, such a sketch (titled Light and Shade) produced when Sargent was (likely) still in his late teens. Art schools, in the past, spent a lot of time ensuring that artists had mastered the foundation of their craft: drawing. Today's art schools (at least in America) seem to have dismissed drawing as the foundation of good art. I think that this is a big mistake. Repetitive discipline is the bedrock of all good art: painting, singing, dancing, writing.
When Sargent was a little older (say 22 years old), he could start to select and hire his own models. Sargent seems to have had "a type." Dark, brooding and very handsome Mediterranean men were always a Sargent favorite. Shown above, Head of a Male Model was painted circa 1878, when Sargent was in his very early Twenties. This model appears in other works by Sargent—and this painting was once owned by gay British aristocrat, Sir Philip Sassoon. Sassoon was a friend of Sargent—and he hosted and sat for the artist. Some historians have questioned whether Sargent's dismissal as an artistic icon (in the decades after his death) could have been, in part, to art world institutional anti-semitism. Though Sargent was not Jewish, he was close to many Jewish families, some of whom had commissioned him to paint their society portraits. He portrayed them as distinguished members of society. A tinge of art world, anti-Jewish bigotry might have colored the academics' perception of Sargent's oeuvre. Perhaps some art world elites didn't appreciate seeing that many Jewish families "had arrived."
Although Sargent would evolve into the world's preeminent society portraitist of his age, he also created a large body of "non-commercial" work: landscapes, architectural subjects, genre scenes and, as one can see, paintings of very handsome men. Shown here, Man Wearing Laurels (c. 1874-1880), also painted while Sargent likely was in his Twenties. Many of these "private" pictures he kept for himself or shared with a small circle of appreciative friends.
While I am not an art scholar, I am an art lover. As I've studied Sargent's portraits over many years, I trust I can tell when Sargent was excited by a subject or not. In my opinion, he loved most to paint handsome men and fabulous, larger-than-life women. Shown above, Young Man in Reverie, circa 1876-1878.
And they don't get much more handsome than Dr. Pozzi at Home (1881). Dr. Samuel Jean de Pozzi was a pioneering French gynecologist. He developed numerous modern gynecological techniques, wrote important, groundbreaking books, and had a long schedule of eager patients—especially amongst the rich and famous. Pozzi was a notorious lover, a connoisseur and a bon vivant. I just know that Sargent enjoyed spending many hours with Pozzi, skillfully capturing the man's sensuous aura with his spontaneous slashes of paint. Notice how Sargent captured Pozzi's hands and fingers—the "tools of his trade."
Though our Greenwich Village store is now permanently closed, LEO Design is still alive and well! Please visit our on-line store where we continue to sell Handsome Gifts (www.LEOdesignNYC.com).
To arrange a visit our Pittsburgh showroom (by private appointment only), please call 917-446-4248.