John Singer Sargent was an American painter, he lived from 1856 to 1925. He was born in Florence to American parents, he grew up in Europe and traveled a lot from childhood on. I found him when I was searching for watercolour exhibitions in New York. His watercolours were presented in an exhibition in the Brooklyn Museum last Summer, but unfortunately I missed it. The exhibition showed 93 works by John Singer Sargent, predominantly watercolours created between 1901 and 1911, plus 9 oil paintings.
I liked the watercolours presented at the exhibition website for their very spontaneous and varied style, for example here the bridge of sighs. I researched a little further and found more beautiful watercolours and oil paintings.
The painting that caught me was the enchanting “Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose” (1885-1886). There is a wonderful effect of the warm coloured light of the lanterns against the white dresses of the two girls and the lilies and other flowers. A wonderful painting full of atmosphere. Technically I’m admiring how Sargent painted the blue grass in the foreground. Maybe this is easier to do with oils, since that medium permits to add light colours over a dark background. This compositional element is something with which I struggle when using watercolours. But the light and colour effect of the lanterns might work beautifully in watercolour as well.
I wonder how someone could paint this from memory without using a photograph – is it possible to compose such a painting from just preparatory sketches and memory? Sargent certainly did not have the two girls standing for hours until he’d finish the painting!
I also liked the oil painting “A street in Venice”, which has several sister paintings of street views in Venice. There’s something very modern and timeless in this painting, and again the use of light is very impressive. The narrow pathway between two houses almost unlit, with the two figures in dark tones, are intensely contrasting to the house front in the background in bright sunlight. I find this modern in that it is so casually painted, focussing on the essence and leaving out unneccessary details.
For a closer look on Sargent’s watercolours, I chose “A siesta”, depicting two girls lying in the grass beneath an umbrella, resting. Again I find the treatment of light very impressive – the entirely white top of the umbrella, and the transparent tones of the women’s clothes made me recognize that this is watercolour, not an oil painting.
Finally I selected the Palms watercolour. I like how the palm tops are composed of colours and the characteristic marks of the palm leaves. The palm tops are in a beautiful contrast to the intensely blue background sky. There’s glaring sunlight captured in this painting.
When I compare this to my recent study of greens outside (the Tudor Park studies), I see that Sargent depicted trees convincingly without painting the exact individual leaves. This is something I suspected to work but didn’t dare to try out.
I have an idea of painting the characteristic elements of trees and plants together without actually copying what a camera would produce, by just by painting the features together and then the observer’s brain will combine the elements to see the whole. This would be consistent with a looser style and is one of the paths I’d like to explore further – besides doing detailed studies to train my eye and develop technical skills of accurate representation.
I’m quite happy that I found another American painter to whom I can relate, because I find making the first steps towards exploring American art difficult: There are so many artists, where am I going to begin, and what are my selection criteria? It will probably take some time until I become oriented in the history of American art and my choices become less dependent on chance.
Now if I could also be successful in the original aim of finding watercolour exhibitions in the New York area, that would be great!
Sources
Brooklyn Museum John Singer Sargent exhibition page, with teacher resources to download http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/sargent_watercolors/#
Website with complete works online http://www.johnsingersargent.org/