3 July - The Tate Britain
- chirp54
- Aug 16, 2024
- 2 min read
Last night's wonderful celebration (with more wine than was probably wise) dictated that this morning would start with a lie-in. In fact, I didn't get moving till almost noon, when I decided to make the trip to the Tate Britain
and the John Singer Sargent exhibition "Sargent and Fashion." It was an incredible collection of his work, featuring over 50 portraits. The Tate described it thus:
Celebrated for his striking portrait paintings, this exhibition sheds new light on John Singer Sargent’s acclaimed works. It explores how he worked like a stylist to craft the image of the sitters he painted, who he often had close relationships with.
Sargent used fashion as a powerful tool to express identity and personality. He regularly chose the outfits of his collaborators or manipulated their clothing. This innovative use of costume was central to his artwork – for example, tugging a heavy coat tighter around a man to emphasise his figure or letting a dress strap sensuously slip from a woman’s shoulder. It was these daring sartorial choices that allowed him to express his vision as an artist.
Here are some of the memorable portraits - really, it took all the restraint I posses not to present all of them.
Lady Sassoon
and the cape in which she posed. (Sorry about the glare on the glass case.)
Mrs. Fiske Warren and her daughter Rachel (1903)
Photos of Sargent painting Mrs. Warren:
Miss Elsie Palmer or A Lady in White (1889-90):
Mrs. Hugh Hammersley (1892):
Dresses by the House of Worth, though not pictured in any of the portraits, were on display.
Worth's most successful years coincided with the height of Sargent's career as a portraitist. Worth cultivated the image as couturier as artist saying, "I have Delacroix's sense of colour and I compose. An ensemble is as good as a painting."
Ena Wertheimer (1904):
Dr. Pozzi at Home (1881):
My favorite was this portrait of Ellen Terry as Lady MacBeth. (1889)
How marvelous to have the gown she wore, featuring embellishments of jewel beetle wings.
Madame Ramon Subercaseaux (1880-81):
La Carmencita, Carmen Dauset Moreno (1890)
Lady Helen Vincent (1904):
Charles Stewart, Sixth Marquess of Londonderry (1904):
The Honorable Pauline Astor (1898-9):
By 1907 Sargent had effectively stopped painting commissioned portraits. Much of his later career was dedicated to large-scale mural projects in Boston. He also served as a war artist during the First World War.
Another lovely day in London.
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