SARGENT: PORTRAITS OF ARTISTS AND FRIENDS │ National Portrait Gallery, London → 25 May 2015

Carolus-Duran, 1879. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts (photo by Michael Agee).

Ramón Subercaseaux, c.1880. The Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis, Tennessee

‘Édouard and Marie-Louise Pailleron’ (1881)

Dr. Pozzi at Home 1881. Oil on canvas. 79 3/8 x 40 1/4 in. (201.6 x 102.2 cm). The Armand Hammer Collection

Robert Louis Stevenson and His Wife, by John Singer Sargent, 1885. Photograph: Dwight Primiano/NPG

Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose, 1885-6

Robert Louis Stevenson, 1887. Taft Museum of Art, Cincinnati, Ohio

‘Claude Monet Painting by the Edge of a Wood’, 1888

Paul Helleu sketching with his wife (An Out-of-Doors Study), 1889. Brooklyn Museum of Art

La Carmencita, 1890. Paris, Musée d’Orsay

W. Graham Robertson,1894

An Artist in His Studio, 1904. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Group with Parasols, c.1904-5. Private Collection

Henry James, 1913

“Jon Sñr Sājnt (1856-1925) wz ɖ grtst pwtritpêntr v hiz jeṇrešn. Aclemd on bʈ sîdz v ɖ Atlantc, h wz clôsli cnctd t mni v ɖ uɖr līdñ ātists, raitrz, actrz n myzišnz v ɖ tîm. Hiz pwtrits v ɖz frendz n cntmprriz, includñ Ōgūst Rodĩ, Clwd Mone n Robt Lui Stīvnsn, wr rerli cmišnd n alaud hm t criet mr intiṃt n xperimntl wrcs ɖn wz psbl in hiz fwml pwtričr.

Ɖs mêjr xibišn v ovr sevnti pwtrits spanz Sājnt’s tîm in Lundn, Paris, Bostn n Ny Ywc az wel az hiz travlz in ɖ Itałn n Ñgliš cuntrīsîd. Impwtnt lounz fṛm gaḷriz n prîvt c̣lẋnz in Yṛp n America mc ɖs an unmiṣbl oṗtyṇti t dscuvr ɖ ātist’s most dẹrñ, prsnl n dstnctv pwtrits.

PARIS, 1874-1885

Born in Floṛns in 1856 t an xpatrı̣t Americn cupl, Jon Sñr Sājnt spent hiz fwṃtv yirz turñ Yṛpiyn sitiz n rzwts. On dsîdñ t studi pêntñ in Paris, h inrold at ɖ École des Beaux Arts in 1874 ẇl simlteňsli dveḷpñ hiz briłnt gifts az a pêntr undr ɖ tīčñ v Carolūs-Dŭrã, a fašṇbl Frenč pwtritist.

Sājnt wz at īz in ɖ wrld v Paris stydioz n fwmd frendšps wɖ a wîd renj v Frenč ātists n felo xpatrı̣ts. Wn v hiz clôsist frendz wz Pwl Êlu, ɖ eḷgnt pêntr n ečr v ɖ bômõd. H sōt ât Clwd Mone, hu wd rmen a lîfloñ frend v bʈ men, n Ōgūst Rodĩ, a tîtn v ɖ Frenč ātwrld. Sājnt wz xpšnli wîdli réd, ispešli in ɖ Frenč clasics, bt olso in cntmprri litṛčr.

An ŕli pêtṛn, ɖ Frenč plêrît Edwād Pîerõ, cmišnd pwtrits v hmslf, hiz wîf n hiz čildṛn, fr ẇč Sājnt wz cmperd t Von Dêc. Ɖ ātist wz a giftd piynist n a pašṇt myzicoḷjist. Hiz moḍnist cridnšlz wr demnstretd bî hiz admirešn fr ɖ myzic v Ričd Vāgṇr, n olso bî hiz inʈyziastc rspons t Spaniš myzic n dans, ẇč inspîrd fḷmnco picčrz n pwtrits.

BRWDWE, 1885-1889

Sājnt’s mastrpìs, Cānešn, Lili, Lili, Rôz, wz pêntd ẇn h wz btwn lîf in Paris n Lundn (1885-6). Ɖ ātist’s dsižn t muv rezidns fṛm wn t ɖ uɖr cem at a tîm v crîsis, ẇn hiz c̣rir wz in jeṗdi aftr hiz pṛvoc̣tv pwtrit v Madam X (Madam Pier Gôtro) cōzd a scandl at ɖ Paris Ṣlon in 1884. H fând solis in ɖ Anglo-Americn coḷni v ātists n raitrz in ɖ Cotswold vilij v Brwdwe, ẇč includd ɖ Americn ātists Franc Milit n Edwin Ostin Abi, ɖ Ñgliš iḷstretr Fred Bānād, n ɖ raitrz Henri Jêmz n Edṃnd Gos. Hir h pêntd hiz fems gādnpicčr, a cnstructd sìn yzñ ɖ Bānād dwtrz az modlz, n pwtrits v uɖr membrz v ɖ cmyṇti, includñ Lili Milit n Alis Bānād.

In Bwnṃʈ, at ɖs sem pirı̣d, h capčrd ɖ wîri frem n nrvs eṇji v ɖ raitr Robt Lui Stīvnsn in tu intns caṛcṭrîzešnz. Sājnt wz xperimentñ wɖ an Impreṣ̌nist paḷt, pêntñ vivid scečz v felo ātists at wrc ât-v-dorz, includñ Clwd Mone n Pwl Êlu, n landscêps az avãgād az eni biyñ pṛdyst in Ñgḷnd at ɖ tîm.

BOSTN n NY YWC, 1888-1912

Sājnt nvr gev p hiz Americn sitiznšp. H wz at hom in Bostn n Ny Ywc, ẇr h hd mni frendz n pêtṛnz n a brjnñ repytešn. In ɖ fwmr siti h carid ʈru hiz tu grt myṛl scīmz v dec̣rešn, in ɖ Bostn Public Lîbrri n ɖ Myziym v Fîn Āts.

In 1890, Sājnt hd ɖ oṗtyṇti v pêntñ sm v ɖ grt Americn actrz v ɖ êj fr ɖ Pleyrz Club in Ny Ywc, includñ Edwin Buɖ n Loṛns Baṛt. A fy yirz lêtr h pêntd ɖ Šêxpirı̣n actṛs Êda Riyn, n dru Mẹri Anḍsn. 1890 wz ɖ yir in ẇč Sājnt pêntd ɖ flamboynt Spaniš dansr Cāmenʈita, hu intranst Ny Ywc ōdı̣nsz wɖ hr fḷmnco dansñ.

Myzic wz a bond wɖ Iẓbela Stywt Gādnr, wn v Bostn’z culčṛl līdrz, t hūm h gev ɖ pwtrit v ɖ cmpozr Čālz Mātin Lrfḷr az a brʈdêgift.

LUNDN, 1889-1913

Sājnt wz imrst in ɖ vîbṛnt culčṛl lîf v Lundn, n a frend t mni ātists, raitrz n myzišnz. In ɖ 1890z, h wz imrjñ az ɖ līdñ Anglo-Americn pwtritpêntr v hiz jeṇrešn, n mcñ hiz māc az a myṛlist wɖ hiz cmišn, Ɖ Trîumf v Rlijn, fr ɖ Bostn Public Librri.

In 1894 Sājnt pêntd ɖ êjñ Ñgliš powt Covntri Patmor n, bî contrast, ɖ raitr n iḷstretr W. Greym Robtsn, ɖ ipiṭmi v yʈ n isʈetc rfînmnt. Ɖ noṿlist Jwj Meṛdiʈ n ɖ powt Wiłm Butḷr Yêts bʈ sat t Sājnt fr čācoldrōñz, n in 1913 ɖ ātist’s intiṃt frend Henri Jêmz, fr a pêntñ t seḷbret hiz 70^ʈ brʈde.

Sājnt wz xtrimli influenšl on ɖ Lundn myzicl sìn, pṛmotñ ɖ c̣rirz v mni myzišnz, amñ ɖm ɖ Frenč cmpozr Gabriel Fore. Ɖ Lundn ʈiytr z reprizntd bî ɖ ṣprb pwtrit v Eḷn Teri az Lêdi Mcbeʈ, a ʈiatricl n ātistc turd’fws; bî ɖ enigmatc Itałn actṛs Elionora Dūse, in a strenj n mstirı̣s imij, n bî ɖ plêrît n actrmaṇjr Hāli Granvil-Bācr, hu revluṣ̌nîzd ʈiatricl pṛduẋnz.

YṚP, 1899-1914

In ɖ pirı̣d aftr 1900, Sājnt agn trnd t landscêp az a rlif fṛm pwtritcmišnz, travlñ č sumr n ōtm t ɖ Alps, Venis n suɖn Yṛp. H wz inverı̣bli acumṗnid bî frendz, hu, f nt olwz in ɖ top flît v ātists, wr sbstanšl n taḷntd ppl. H md a pýnt v pêntñ ɖm az ɖe scečt, pirñ az it wr ovr ɖer šoldrz t si ẇt ɖe r dwñ.

Ɖz picčrz mt b cnstrud az a fwm v slfpwtričr, ɖ ātist myzñ on hiz ôn rôl in rcwdñ ɖ načṛl wrld ẇl wočñ uɖrz at wrc. W r preznt az āt z biyñ md, bt âr intrpṛtr z Sājnt n it z sīn ʈru hiz îz. Amñ ɖ mastrpìsz in ɖs žãra r An Ātist in hiz Stydio, dpictñ ɖ Itałn pêntr Ambrojo Raf̦ele; Ɖ Fânṭn, a picčr v Jên d’Glên scečñ wočt bî hr huzbnd Wilfrid, n Villa Torre Galli: Ɖ Lôja, ẇr Sr Wiłm Blêc Ričmnd n Wilfrid d’Glên cnfrunt wn anɖr fṛm oṗzit cwnrz v ɖ spês.”