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John Singer Sargent And His Controversial Painting ‘Madame X’
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| John Singer Sargent's famous painting of Madame Gautier caused a sensation when it debuted in the Paris Salon of 1884. |
Smart About Art
By CHERYL VAN-BUSKIRK, For The Bulletin
John Singer Sargent; the very name whispers of the gilt frames, plush draperies and fringed bellpulls, spats, bowler hats and potted palms of the Victorian era and Edwardian age. Yet Sargent was far more interested in people than trappings. Born abroad, he was the son of a Philadelphia doctor who had retired to Europe. The family traipsed from spa to spa living in a marvelously complacent world where he developed just one passion-painting. He studied portraits painted by the master painters to develop his brilliant style.
“Madame X” was the painting that created John Singer Sargent’s reputation as a portraitist when he exhibited it at the Salon of 1884 in Paris. It is now considered one of his best works and was the artist’s personal favorite. However, the painting aroused such a negative reaction when it was unveiled that he realized his self-confidence had allowed him to risk an experiment in portraiture that back-fired.
Prior to “Madame X”, Sargent had painted several other full-length portrayals of women which revealed the individuality and personality of the sitters. He tried different approaches to composition and lighting in each painting which received positive critical reviews. But writing about the reaction of visitors to the Salon of 1884, Judith Gautier observed, “Is it a woman? a chimera, the figure of a unicorn rearing as on a heraldic coat of arms or perhaps the work of some oriental decorative artist to whom the human form is forbidden and who, wishing to be reminded of woman, had drawn the delicious arabesque? No, it is none of these things, but rather the precise image of a modern woman scrupulously drawn by a painter who is a master of his art.”
He excelled at the portrayal of women. “Women don’t ask me to make them beautiful,” said Sargent, “but you can feel them wanting me to do so all the time.” His ability to depict fine bone structure, porcelain skin, a sensuous arm with tapering fingers and cascades of velvet, embroidery and silk fabrics was convincing and consistent. He brought such excitement and drama to his scrutiny of light and dark on fabrics, of delicate creamy flesh so subtly modeled as to convince the viewer that nothing else could be worth looking at. The decorous profile posture and the heart shaped bodice of the gown focus attention on Madame Xs shoulders, graceful neck and face. The lavender powder she used gave her the air of a femme fatale and Sargent played this up. Her air may be that of an affected, slightly poisonous lily set off further by the elegant darks of her gown and the table.
It took well over a year to complete the painting. His first version of Madame Pierre Gautreau, a social climbing southern belle, featured an off-the-shoulder strap which made the overall effect even more daring and sensual. Sargent soon changed the strap to dampen the furor but the damage had been done. The painting was branded detestable, monstrous, boring, and curious. But this was more than a sexual scandal for it had an undercurrent of French anti-Americanism. His French commissions dried up and he admitted to a friend in 1885 that he was contemplating giving up painting for music or business.
Urged to do so by his good friend, the novelist Henry James, Sargent left Paris for London, where he soon gained the admiration of English patrons and critics. The painting itself had not been commissioned by Madame Gautreau; Sargent had pursued her. She refused the canvas so the painting remained on display in his studio until he sold it to the Metropolitan Museum in New York in 1916, a year after Madame Gautreau’s death.
Sargent took an ornate studio in London and concentrated on entering English society to become its top social portraitist. The English ruling class had not had a great portraitist since Gainsborough so Sargent moved into this gap with great elan. Utterly cosmopolitan, he produced elegant, masterful characterizations with consummate virtuosity. To be “done” by his fashionable brush for $5000 and up was a distinction and a privilege. Celebrities flocked to his studio but not all were delighted with the results for Sargent painted what he saw, “Sometimes it makes for a good portrait; so much the better for the sitter. Sometimes it does not; so much the worse for both of us. But I don’t dig beneath the surface for things that don’t appear before my eyes.” He was a painter of appearances.
This article draws on factual information from Three Hundred Years of American Painting published by TIME, INC., Discovering Art History by Davis Publications, The Artist’s America by American Heritage Publishing Company and American Visions by Alfred A. Knopf.
“Madame X” was the painting that created John Singer Sargent’s reputation as a portraitist when he exhibited it at the Salon of 1884 in Paris. It is now considered one of his best works and was the artist’s personal favorite. However, the painting aroused such a negative reaction when it was unveiled that he realized his self-confidence had allowed him to risk an experiment in portraiture that back-fired.
Prior to “Madame X”, Sargent had painted several other full-length portrayals of women which revealed the individuality and personality of the sitters. He tried different approaches to composition and lighting in each painting which received positive critical reviews. But writing about the reaction of visitors to the Salon of 1884, Judith Gautier observed, “Is it a woman? a chimera, the figure of a unicorn rearing as on a heraldic coat of arms or perhaps the work of some oriental decorative artist to whom the human form is forbidden and who, wishing to be reminded of woman, had drawn the delicious arabesque? No, it is none of these things, but rather the precise image of a modern woman scrupulously drawn by a painter who is a master of his art.”
He excelled at the portrayal of women. “Women don’t ask me to make them beautiful,” said Sargent, “but you can feel them wanting me to do so all the time.” His ability to depict fine bone structure, porcelain skin, a sensuous arm with tapering fingers and cascades of velvet, embroidery and silk fabrics was convincing and consistent. He brought such excitement and drama to his scrutiny of light and dark on fabrics, of delicate creamy flesh so subtly modeled as to convince the viewer that nothing else could be worth looking at. The decorous profile posture and the heart shaped bodice of the gown focus attention on Madame Xs shoulders, graceful neck and face. The lavender powder she used gave her the air of a femme fatale and Sargent played this up. Her air may be that of an affected, slightly poisonous lily set off further by the elegant darks of her gown and the table.
It took well over a year to complete the painting. His first version of Madame Pierre Gautreau, a social climbing southern belle, featured an off-the-shoulder strap which made the overall effect even more daring and sensual. Sargent soon changed the strap to dampen the furor but the damage had been done. The painting was branded detestable, monstrous, boring, and curious. But this was more than a sexual scandal for it had an undercurrent of French anti-Americanism. His French commissions dried up and he admitted to a friend in 1885 that he was contemplating giving up painting for music or business.
Urged to do so by his good friend, the novelist Henry James, Sargent left Paris for London, where he soon gained the admiration of English patrons and critics. The painting itself had not been commissioned by Madame Gautreau; Sargent had pursued her. She refused the canvas so the painting remained on display in his studio until he sold it to the Metropolitan Museum in New York in 1916, a year after Madame Gautreau’s death.
Sargent took an ornate studio in London and concentrated on entering English society to become its top social portraitist. The English ruling class had not had a great portraitist since Gainsborough so Sargent moved into this gap with great elan. Utterly cosmopolitan, he produced elegant, masterful characterizations with consummate virtuosity. To be “done” by his fashionable brush for $5000 and up was a distinction and a privilege. Celebrities flocked to his studio but not all were delighted with the results for Sargent painted what he saw, “Sometimes it makes for a good portrait; so much the better for the sitter. Sometimes it does not; so much the worse for both of us. But I don’t dig beneath the surface for things that don’t appear before my eyes.” He was a painter of appearances.
This article draws on factual information from Three Hundred Years of American Painting published by TIME, INC., Discovering Art History by Davis Publications, The Artist’s America by American Heritage Publishing Company and American Visions by Alfred A. Knopf.
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