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- Read more | A beginner\u2019s guide to art history<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
In 1870 Sargent started to attend drawing classes in Florence. He moved to Paris in 1874 where he entered the studio of French painter Carolus-Duran. Over the next ten years, Sargent travelled and worked, gradually building his reputation as an artist.<\/p>\n
Scandal, success and Madame X\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n
In 1884, scandal hit when Sargent exhibited his famous Portrait of Madame X <\/em>at the Paris Salon. The sitter was Virginie Am\u00e9lie Gautreau, a well-known Parisian socialite with a salacious private life. A good friend of Sargent\u2019s, the statuesque Gautreau was a striking beauty \u2013 she accentuated her pale complexion with lavender powder, and dyed her hair red with henna.<\/p>\n
Sargent\u2019s daring full-length portrait captures Gautreau turning coquettishly away from the artist, so that her face is shown in profile. Her pale skin contrasts with the shimmering black dress accentuating her narrow waist and ample cleavage. While her pose was interpreted as sexually suggestive, what caused most comment was a single strap of her dress which Sargent captured slipping down over her shoulder. Gautreau appeared a mere wiggle away from exposing herself to the viewer.<\/p>\n
![\"Portrait]( "\\"Portrait")
\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>\u2018Portrait of Madame X\u2019 by John Singer Sargent. (Photo by VCG Wilson\/Corbis via Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n The painting caused an immediate stir when it was exhibited, with many claiming it to be vulgar and deliberately provocative. Sargent eventually reworked the painting so that the offending strap no longer slipped down. He later said of the work, \u201cI suppose it is the best thing I have ever done\u201d. In 2024, the portrait of Madame X returned to the country for the first time in 20 years, loaned to the Tate Britain.<\/p>\n
After the Madame X scandal, Sargent moved to London and settled on Tite Street in bohemian Chelsea. Here, his neighbours included American painter James Whistler and writer Oscar Wilde. By the 1890s, he had achieved international recognition as a portrait artist and was in demand on both sides of the Atlantic. In this period his sitters included many distinguished individuals \u2013 from wealthy industrialists and statesmen to well-known actors and writers. He became famous for his sumptuous portraits of the wealthy, capturing luxurious fabrics and sparkling jewels with his incredible technical skill. Sitting for a portrait by Sargent became the ultimate mark of distinction.<\/p>\n
Sargent\u2019s life: \u201cAnything but conventional\u201d<\/h3>\n
Sargent never married and was very private about his personal life. Many believed that he had romantic relationships with men. Indeed, the French artist Jacques-\u00c9mile Blanche, who knew Sargent, claimed his liaisons with men were \u201cnotorious in Paris, and in Venice, positively scandalous\u201d.<\/p>\n
![\"John]( "\\"John")
\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>John Singer Sargant. (Photo by J.E. Purdy\/Library of Congress\/Corbis\/VCG via Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n Although scholars have historically been reluctant to explore this aspect of the artist\u2019s life, it has received more attention in recent years. It has been suggested, for instance, that Sargent may have had a relationship with Thomas McKeller, an African-American model who was the subject of many of his striking nude studies. A number of Sargent\u2019s sitters and friends are also known to have had same-sex relationships, from trailblazing suffragette and composer Ethel Smyth to his neighbour Oscar Wilde.<\/p>\n
While we might ask what difference it makes to his art whether or not Sargent was gay, this is just one aspect of his life and career that challenges the view of the artist as a shallow society artist. Looking beneath the spectacular surface of Sargent\u2019s portraits, we find a fascinatingly complex figure who was anything but conventional.<\/p>\n
By 1907, Sargent had grown tired of demanding patrons and said he would no longer accept commissions. Instead, he produced charcoal sketches of his clients, which could be completed in a single sitting. He called these works \u2018mugs\u2019.<\/p>\n
Sargent now devoted himself to landscapes, also working on a series of murals for the Boston Public Library in America (which he had started in 1890).<\/p>\n
During the First World War, the British Government commissioned Sargent to paint a war scene which was to be the central painting for a Hall of Remembrance. His theme was meant to be Anglo-American co-operation, but instead he produced a huge oil painting depicting the aftermath of a mustard gas attack on the western front \u2013 he had travelled to the front to see the devastation for himself.<\/p>\n
![\"Portrait](\"https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/7\/2024\/03\/GettyImages-544268210-ee19dfa.jpg?quality=90&resize=524%2C1024\" "\\"Portrait")
\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>![\"John](\"https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/7\/2024\/03\/GettyImages-640475529-b1af830.jpg?quality=90&crop=2px%2C80px%2C808px%2C538px&resize=620%2C413\" "\\"John")
\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>![\"'Gassed'](\"https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/7\/2024\/03\/GettyImages-154424059-83ff421.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C234\" "\\"John")
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