John Singer Sargent Watercolors
Museum of Fine Arts Boston
October 13, 2013 - January 20, 2014
Ann and Graham Gund Gallery
11 rooms, 97 works of art...
The huge rectangular Gund Gallery space has been divided into 11 rooms, thematically divided to showcase Sargent's wide ranging interests and spectacular skill at jolting the viewer with a sense of 'right now' freshness. Most widely known for his huge oil portraits, this exhibit explodes with scores of the brilliant, compact watercolors he painted in the last twenty years of his life.
John Singer Sargent (1856-1925): inquisitive mind, creative urges. Sargent was the leading portrait artist for the last twenty years of the 1800s, his customers being wealthy American and British families. The canvasses were large format oil color paintings, classic compositions that displayed his mastery of color. He rendered a sense of mystery in his subject's faces. His "The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit" at the MFA Boston is a prime example. By 1900, he'd tired of the limitations of oil painting and looked to watercolors to extend his creative reach.
An avid traveler, it wasn't enough to witness moments in life, he became dedicated committing them to paper with his collection of brushes, crayons, paint trays. His way of relaxing was to work. Was he driven or was this just the way he breathed in the life around him? If he were an essayist or poet, his work wouldn’t have been as widely appreciated. You can’t walk into a gallery and get a visual sense of Thoreau’s descriptions of Walden Pond. Sargent’s watercolors hit you right between the eyes.
Born to American parents in Italy, the world was his playground. As he traveled through Spain, Portugal, Greece, Switzerland, Italy, Syria, Palestine in the early 1900s, he left a wake of brightly colored landscapes, architectural views, and figure drawings. His days of working indoors were done. He was the early 20th century version of blogger, recording impressions of every place he visited. He worked quickly. Sometimes he could capture a scene with a sense of completion, sometimes his watercolors had a looser sketchy appearance. What connected them was his deft use of translucent and opaque watercolors and the subtle way he could suggest movement. Sargent could make sunlight dance.
It must have taken him weeks or months to complete the massive oil portraits of the late 1800s. Give him a few hours in sunny Venice and he might have been able to complete a doozy.
"Venice: Under the Rialto Bridge" Translucent watercolor, touches of opaque watercolor,graphite underdrawing 1909 It features some of Sargent's trademark treatments of sun and shadow, along with a kinetic sense of movement and distinctive elements of Venetian architecture. My favorite watercolor in the show. You'll find your own favorites.
A close up shows Sargent's fine brush strokes and mastery of allowing the watercolor to bleed into wet linen paper to suggest shapes.
"The Bridge of Sighs" 1904 Sargent's use of opaque and translucent watercolors, graphite and red-pigmented underdrawing are visible to the discerning eye in lots of his compositions. You have to be observant to see some of the underdrawing on many of the watercolors.
"Gondoliers' Siesta" 1902 Watercolor with ink. What gives lots of his work such a sense of immediacy is where he sets up to paint. It looks like he painted this from another gondola on the water a few feet away.
"Bedouins" Opaque and translucent watercolor 1905 Sargent visited "The Ottoman Levant" (Jerusalem, Beirut, parts of present day Syria), probably due to his fascination with the area after reading "Travels in Arabia Deserta" in 1888. He really piled on the opaque watercolors to make them pop against the pale sky.
"In Switzerland" Translucent and opaque watercolor and graphite underdrawing 1905 Sargent enjoyed painting pictures of figures in repose. To my mind, anyone who can paint a foreshortened composition this successfully is a genius.
"Simplon Pass: Reading" Opaque and translucent watercolors, wax resist, graphite underdrawing 1911 To most observers, this portrait that Sargent carefully orchestrated (see photo) is the star of the show. My bet is that this is the one that gets you in the door but you'll find others that appeal to you even more.
"A Tramp" Translucent watercolor and touches of opaque watercolor 1904 This is an astonishing portrait using watercolor. The man's face has great detail and the rest is far sketchier. The shades of blues, greens, browns and blacks frame the man's face brilliantly.
"White Ships" Majorca. Translucent and opaque watercolor, wax resist, graphite underdrawing 1908 Sargent used a clear wax on the right side of the larger boat to repel the blue watercolor washes and create white highlights. You can almost feel the sun on your back as you view the boats from a little skiff bobbing on the water nearby.
"Carrara: A Quarry" Translucent and opaque watercolor, wax resist, graphite underdrawing 1911
"Carrara: A Quarry II" Translucent watercolor, touches of opaque watercolor, wax resist, graphite underdrawing 1911
Any artist who can make quarries an interesting subject has my vote. Sargent reveled in capturing sunlight in its infinite variations.
"Simplon Pass: The Lesson" Translucent watercolor, touches of opaque watercolor, wax resist, graphite underdrawing 1911 The artist's sister Emily at work: this is probably a clue about how Sargent himself worked - brush clenched between teeth, other brushes and paint in tin paint trays in his lap, fierce concentration on his face.
"An Artist In His Studio" oil on canvas, 1904 Pretty tricky a portrait including a landscape painting. Sargent loved painting whites, the white reflecting off the sheets is a classic technique, difficult to master and wonderful to see captured in oil or watercolor, which you see below.
"La Biancheria" Translucent watercolor, touches of opaque watercolor, wax resist, graphite underdrawing 1910 As in most of the images here, my photos do not do justice to the original paintings. My jaw dropped when I saw this bravura scene of white sheets drying in sunlight, the whites framed by the nature's outdoor palette of greens, browns, orangey reds, and gray. The overall feel of the composition is quite impressionist.
"Genoa University" Translucent watercolor, touches of opaque watercolor, wax resist, graphite underdrawing 1911 Sargent must have lived to capture sunlight with his brushes. You can almost see him dropping everything to set up easel, grab brushes and tubes of paint to spread the watercolors on paper before the golden afternoon sunlight vanishes. Try to count the gradations of sunlight from the whites on the columns to the deep honeys in the vault...I gave up.
"Venice:La Dogana" Translucent opaque watercolor, graphite underdrawing 1911 I can almost feel my neck craning upwards to see the statue of Fortune on the cupola of the customs house in Venice. Don't you marvel at how Sargent subtlely tints the white architecture with reflected pure blue sky.
"Daphne" Translucent watercolor, touches of opaque watercolor, wax resist, graphite underdrawing 1910 This artist never picks the easy way out. He manages to show a silhouette without losing detail in the white against white upper section and give the statue warmth and marble texture at the same time. And those llttle dabs of red, yellow, orange and blue in the foreground pull it all together. You'll see.
The exhibit is divided by themes represented in John Singer Sargent's work: In Venice; Figures Lying Down; Oil or Watercolor; Portraits at Hand; Water Craft; At Work; In Villa Gardens; Sunlight on Stone; Bedouin Encounter.
This was one of the best shows of 2013. It ends January 20. Start the new year with a call to arms from a master Sargent!
Photos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.
Carol went to this exhibit and loved it!
Posted by: Myke Farricker | January 05, 2014 at 06:34 PM
Hi Paul,
Thanks for your impressions of the show. I loved it, and your insights add another dimension. Wasn't the video of the artist's replication fascinating? I was inspired and took detailed notes then bought a good how-to book in the gift shop. I really need to take a class if I am going to do this. I did some dabbling, and I mean dabbling, years ago.
I always enjoy your reviews and pass them along to friends.
Posted by: Kristen Eichleay | January 05, 2014 at 06:42 PM
Whoops Somehow I missed the video.Another friend of mine, a photographer, has taken up watercolors. Have fun!
Posted by: Paul A. Tamburello, Jr aka pt at large | January 05, 2014 at 06:45 PM
HI Paul.
I loved reading your Sargent review, and also about the gallery where it is all happening. Tried to get in last weekend, but crazy long line. Will definitely get there, and can't wait. And love your pics of Chile!! Wish I had flip flops on instead of boots.
Posted by: Cathleen Cavenaugh | January 14, 2014 at 12:11 PM