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John Singer Sargent was born in Florence, the son of a retired
American Doctor who decided to spend that retirement in Europe.
Sargent was of English descent, held a United States passport,
& spent the greater part of his life in London. He also
spent a considerable time in France, where he trained with
Carolus-Duran, whose portrait he painted. He did not visit
the United States until later. I have heard Americans claim
Sargent to be American and British claim him to be British
but in truth he was totally cosmopolitan, & did not belong
to any nation. He would not have been such a totally individual
artist had he done so.
Sargent’s childhood was spent throughout
Europe, including regular spells in Italy, & Switzerland.
The family also spent time in Austria, Paris, Spain, &
Southern France. In 1874 Sargent started to train at the art
school run by Carolus-Duran, whose portrait he painted. In
1876 he made his first visit to the United States. In 1884
his portrait of Madame Gautreau
created both a sensation &
a scandal, when exhibited at the Salon in Paris. In January
1886 Sargent moved to London. He exhibited at the Grosvenor
Gallery, & the Royal Academy. This was really the start
of the great series of society portraits which made his name.
In the next few years, though based in London, Sargent made
visits to Paris, & the United States.
There was an exhibition of Sargent
Portraits at the Tate Gallery in 1998. The impact of them
on the writer, made my visit one of the great days of my life.
In the flesh, they exceeded all my considerable expectations.
In 1907, Sargent announced that
he was giving up society portraiture. His success meant that
he no longer needed to be beholden to wealthy patrons. From
that time on he tended to paint watercolours, many of them
leaning towards Impressionism. Sargent spent much of the summer
times up to The First World War travelling throughout Europe.
In 1916 he made his first visit to the United States for many
years. He stayed for two years. During this visit he painted
a portrait of the President of the United States Woodrow Wilson
1856-1924.
He painted a number of pictures
due to the impact the war made on him. The most famous of
these is ‘Gassed,’ of 1918.
Following the war Sargent worked on his murals at the
Boston Public Library. He died at his home in London during
the night of 15th April 1925, on the eve of another
visit to the United States, and was buried in Brookwood Cemetery,
Woking, Surrey.
Obituary
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