John Singer Sargent in Paris

Nicole Hartwell

Le Musee d'Orsay. Photo: Nicole Hartwell

The Musee d’Orsay’s exhibition Sargent: Dazzling Paris marks the centenary of the artist John Singer Sargent’s death in 1925. Born in 1856 in Florence, and exhibiting artistic talents from a very young age, with the encouragement of his American expatriate parents, Sargent moved to Paris at 18, enrolling at the École des Beaux-Arts, and later studying under the tutelage of the artist Carolus-Duran (1837-1917). First showcased at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, with some curatorial changes the Musee d’Orsay’s exhibition highlights that while Paris ‘played a pivotal role in his career,’ Sargent has never been the focus of a major retrospective in France, until now.  

While Sargent is perhaps most well-known for his portraits, this exhibition masterfully broadens our understanding of the artist and the development of his craft through a selection of paintings that feature his regular travels across Europe and North Africa. In rural France, Italy, Spain and Morocco, Sargent created numerous plein air drawings and sketches. He used these as inspiration, when he returned to his studio in Paris, to create scenes that appear to meditate on the body and movement, light and shadow. One of the most captivating works in this section is his Fumée d'ambre gris (Smoke of Ambergris, 1880), which was described by the artist as his own contemplation on how to depict various shades of white in a singular composition.  

John Singer Sargent, Fumée d'ambre gris (Smoke of Ambergris), 1880. Clark Art Institute. © Clark Art Institute. 

The curation here skilfully highlights his masterful approach to light, such as in the extraordinary Coucher de soleil sur l’Atlantique (Atlantic Sunset, c. 1876-8) and showcases his deliberate choice of conveying scenes of places that were less traversed. There may have been an opportunity to touch more upon the broader colonial context of the period, drawing out some arguments related to the ‘orientalist gaze,’ and deeper discussion on how these images may stand, as some scholars have argued, as portrayals of cultural traditions through which Sargent experimented with the formal elements of his craft. 

While what are described as his ‘travel paintings’ are notable for their breadth and depth, it is Sargent’s portraits that provide the most striking impression in this exhibition – not only due to their scale, but also due to the fact that Sargent clearly excelled amongst his peers in this realm. It is impossible not to think of Sargent without considering his infamous portrait of Madame Pierre Gautreau (1859-1915), titled by the artist, upon its acquisition by The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 1916, ‘Madame X’ (1883-4).  

The space dedicated to Sargent’s sketches of Gautreau signify that the curator Stephanie Herdrich, who first envisioned this exhibition, initially considered dedicating it entirely to ‘Madame X’. Eleven incredibly intimate and beautifully observed sketches of Gautreau are featured, alongside contemporary publications caricaturing the portrait. Here may also be found Tate Britain’s ‘unfinished replica’ which shows the right-hand jewelled strap of her dress – the positioning which caused so much controversy at the Paris Salon exhibition of 1884 and precipitated Sargent’s move to London – missing entirely. This replica appears to have a dual-purpose; it tantalises the viewer with an indication of the sensuality of the portrait as it had originally been conceived (Sargent’s ornamentation of the table Gautreau rests her right hand against purposefully includes Sirens with serpentine tails). Conversely, the strap’s absence indicates the continued anxiety felt by Sargent over ensuring his acceptance by the Paris Salon of the late nineteenth century which could make or break an artist’s reputation.   

John Singer Sargent Study of Mme Gautreau, c. 1884. Tate Britain. © Tate Britain. 

One of the highlights of this exhibition is the world premiere of a recently verified work considered to be Madame X’s ‘predecessor’: an exquisite half-portrait of Marguerite de Ganay (1859-1940) titled Madame O’Connor (1882). Both portraits feature their sitters in profile, wearing elegant black dresses, their hair in an updo ornamented with a diamond-encrusted crescent. Madame O’Connor presents an earlier iteration of one of the key elements of the later scandal: one of her shoulders is exposed. Despite these similarities, it is in comparison with Sargent’s full-length portrait of Gautreau that one can more fully appreciate his visionary use of line; the curve of Gautreau’s neck, her arm lent against the table, coupled with her corseted waist make the addition (and later omission) of the fallen jewelled strap detail far more sensational.  

John Singer Sargent, In the Luxembourg Gardens, 1879. Philadelphia Art Museum. © Philadelphia Art Museum.   

Although settling in London in 1886, Sargent did not entirely lose his connection to France; he continued a close friendship with Monet and other impressionists, whose influences may be seen in his experimentation with loose brushwork and bright colours in his later works such as A Gust of Wind (c. 1887). While Sargent painted very few images of Paris (one notable work being In the Luxembourg Gardens, 1879), this exhibition deftly and beautifully elucidates not only the allure of Paris for Sargent, but also through commissions, controversies, and friendships, the deep impression the city made on the artist.