John Singer Sargent

Description

The name of John Singer Sargent evokes paintings of marvelously gowned Edwardian belles, of brooding aristocrats and princes of industry--insightful portraits executed with dazzling virtuosity.

Sargent's enduring popularity has prompted a thoughtful reappraisal by prominent art critic Carter Ratcliff, who shows us the surprising breadth of the artist's work. Never before has a book so thoroughly represented that variety: 110 lavish color plates and more than 200 halftones convey the brilliance of his portraits, the exuberance of his watercolors, the stately pomp of his murals. It is perhaps the watercolors that are most exciting to contemporary eyes--bold, spontaneous, and vividly hued, they have a breathtaking immediacy.

Born in Florence in 1856 to American parents, Sargent spent a nomadic childhood before going to Paris to study painting. He learned quickly and by the 1880s had begun the steady climb to fame that ultimately placed him at the center of his world, with a circle of friends and rivals that included Henry James, Claude Monet, and James McNeill Whistler. When Sargent died in 1925, a childhood companion wrote in her memorial that "the summing up of a would-be biographer must, I think be: He painted." It is the strikingly beautiful results of that lifelong devotion to his art that glow throughout the pages of this incomparable book.

Other Details:
338 illustrations, 110 in full color. 256 pages. 11 x 13" trim size. Published in 2001.

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Customer Reviews

Disappointed - more than one third is black and white
I am getting to the point I buy art books with extreme caution. If you are like me, and would like to look at the paintings in some detail, this book may be a disappointment to you. I paged through it in growing irritation - like many other art books, this seems to have way too many black and white images, and these will take up a whole page, while the color pictures are the size of a quarter of the page or less. The few that are full page size are somewhat blurry. Why would the publisher do this in this day and age? If they were trying to keep the cost down, well . . . sort of. It is still pretty expensive unless you get it at some kind of discount.
In my humble opinion, black and white should only be used in cases where the original is destroyed. I mean, come on. If you have paid for the rights and sent out a crew to 'private collections' to get the images, you know they have color versions. They do. They just don't seem to want to print them that way. Many of Sargent's works only come across in their full power in color. They seem bland and washed out in black and white.

This is not the stone age, so for this book which has almost 400 paintings, some of which are crammed 3 to a page - to have more than 100 of those in black and white is not only disappointing, it's inexcusable in this day and age. By contrast, the book 'The Society Portrait' by Gabriel Badea-Päun and Richard Ormond is roughly the same size, but it is 100% color and is actually LESS expensive. So the argument that black and white saves money is pretty flimsy. I think it must come down to laziness or just not caring. An even worse offender is the typical 'Catalogue Raisonne' - those have just about broken my heart and my wallet - as I learned very quickly, more expensive doesn't necessarily mean more color and larger pictures. That kind of art book is typically $300-$400 and 99% black and white. For academics only. So in light of that, I guess this book does ok. I am still disappointed, like another reviewer. Any books published after 1980 should have mostly if not all color images. Buy with caution.

2009-10-18 (U.S.) | Helpful Votes: 5 | Rating: 3

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great buy
The book was a bargain for what I payed. I wish I could find more at the price I paid fof it

2009-05-14 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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sargentolatry
This book is a good career overview of Sargent. It has an abundance of full page reproductions of his works, and shows many which I haven't seen in as much detail elsewhere such as his Boston murals. If you are picky, the reproductions are not the best quality but they are big. (most of them in my copy are good, but there are a few dull / blurry ones.) The text is unusually insightful and engaging.

2009-04-23 (antarctica) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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John Singer Sargeant
Unfortunately you did ship me the wrong book. My order is the book showen above and you did ship me the John Singer Sargeant - The early portraits.
Now I'm in a big trouble, as yopu did refuse my previous order to ship to Brazil , I did it this one to ship to my sister's home in Coral Springs, FL. My mother was visiting her and hand carrie it to me. Question: how can I fix this now??? Appreciatte your return.

2009-02-10 (Brazil) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 1

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I don't understand the other reviews....
On the outside the book is large and gorgeous with a glossy dust jacket. Open the cover and the the inside color matches Lady Agnew's sash! Turn another page and -inferior quality paper. The colors of the reproductions are dull. TONS of black and white photographs. In some sections, pages and pages of just black and white photographs. By the large size of the book, I thought I would get to see large pictures. Not so, except for Chapter introductions where a close up of a detail might be featured, elsewhere there are sometimes 3-4 tiny pictures squeezed onto the same page. Too small (and some in black and white) to appreciate any of them. I was VERY disappointed and am going to return it. I have three other books on Sargent and the quality is just so much better than this one.

2007-06-21 | Helpful Votes: 30 | Rating: 2

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Sargent Portrait Drawings: 42 Works by John Singer Sargent (Dover Art Library)

Product Details

• Circumstances: New
• ISBN13: 9780486245249
• Notes: BUY WITH Conviction, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and mending to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

Description

Collection of portraits, selected from public and private holdings by art historian Trevor J. Fairbrother, reveal the technical skill and intuitive eye for which American portrait painter John Singer Sargent is renowned. Drawings in pencil, pastels and charcoal—a lesser-known aspect of Sargent’s oeuvre—are shown. List of Plates. Introduction. Captions.

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Customer Reviews

Sargeant Portrait Drawings
A bit disappointing as there are few guidelines or words of instruction.

Therese

2010-02-02 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 3

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Beautiful book
It's remarkable how these quick, seemingly simple drawings contain so much knowledge. Sargent's drawings have as much artistic merit as his paintings. It's sad that the drawings are more obscure.

Although you have never met any of the people in this book, when you see their faces you will understand that this person really existed. No photograph is capable of having such a powerful presence. Some of these drawings look like they convey several facial expressions at once. In one single drawing the person might be smiling, might be starting to frown, they are looking over here but in a second they might look over there. Many great portraits created by other artists use this same illusion, most famously the Mona Lisa. Sargent was equally proficient at drawing all types of people, it made no difference if the subject was young or old, rich or poor, male or female, friendly or distant.

Maybe I'm just imagining it, but it seems like not only was Sargent capable of capturing the model's individual personality, he was also able to capture the personality of the models occupation. Artists are portrayed as reserved but watchful, dancers are proud and drawn as if they are actually in motion, writers are serious and always drawn with dark shadows obscuring half of their faces.

Like many Dover books, this is a beautiful book for little money. The Amazon preview doesn't do it justice, because it only shows the artist's earliest work. (And, as always, the resolution of the screen is worse than the resolution of print.) The book is in roughly chronological order, starting from Sargent's days as an art student. I love seeing how he improves over time.

2009-09-05 (Boston) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 5

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Learn from a master
It is good to study the master artists and for beginners learning to draw is required. I love having 42 drawings to examine, glad this collection was put in a small book, it's wonderful.

2009-03-08 (Colorado) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Humble Publishing But worthwhile as a buy.
Sargent's work herein is far more informative, and a revealation
than many a contemporary artist. Even at his most humble of efforts
his rendings and drawings offer wisdom and insight in terms of approach. method and Attitude without wordiness or hype. This humble offering is well worth its price. It puts more pricey books to shame by delivering
simply proof positive of the heights of genius that can be reached through persistent ongoing effort.

2008-12-21 | Humble Artist , Inspired CEO (Boston,Ma, , Matt., USA) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 3

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St. Sargent charcoal drawings
This book is worth much more than what you'll pay for it! These masterful portraits are beautiful, simple, personal. Executed with fluidity and rapidity, the people captured here practically breathe within the pages of this book. Every artist can learn something about Sargent's quiet intimacy here.

2008-11-16 (CT) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 5

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John Singer Sargent: The Life of an Artist (Artist Biographies)

Description

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Customer Reviews

Not for adults
This book is for children, not adults. I had to return it to bookseller.

2010-06-10 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 2

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Something about Sargent for children
A nicely made, 46 page, hardbound book of the life of Sargent. About eight inches by nine inches. Roughly the size of the Golden Books of your childhood only better and certainly sturdier. Aimed at children. Surprisingly pleasing color reproductions, although several images are inexplicably only in B&W, including the watercolor "Bedouins", the original being a masterpiece in blues, blues, and blues.
Besides the nice images, there's an entertaining and informative text. One learns that Madame Gautreau's mom was not happy with the reception of her daughter's portrait and why she was not happy, if only roughly. After all, this is a book aimed at children. So there's also no speculation about Sargent's putative orientations nor any mention of "Dr Pozzi at Home" (image in the book) as the inventor of the bimanual pelvic exam for women. In that bright red dressing gown, I would surely hope that he is at home and not at work. Nor is it revealed that later Dr. Pozzi was shot in his medical office by an irate husband. Nope, this is a book absolutely safe for children, yet still a good children's introduction to Sargent and his work. After all, in fact very little of Sargent's is remotely racy, or as the book puts it, risque.
I think it should be paired with something about how paintings are made. Maybe one of those inexpensive instruction kits / book about using watercolors. This would give a child a feel for creating images a well as admiring the great ones.
Worthwhile for children.

2007-10-16 (California U S) | Helpful Votes: 3 | Rating: 4

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The Watercolors of John Singer Sargent

Product Details

• ISBN13: 9780520219700
• Proviso: New
• Notes: BUY WITH Assurance, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and help to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

Description

John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) stands among the greatest of watercolor painters, along with J.M.W. Turner, Winslow Homer, and other masters of this difficult medium. Watercolor was more than a distraction from the portrait and mural commissions Sargent labored over; after 1900, watercolor became central to his artistic vision. His aquarelles are, simply stated, masterworks. Portraits, interiors, landscapes, architectural studies--Sargent's work in watercolor offers great variety of subject matter, ranging from Arab gypsies to World War I soldiers, to masterful depictions of Venetian churches, to Florida swamp alligators.

Sargent carried his watercolors on his travels; they were ideally suited to capturing the scene, the light, the air, wherever he found himself. This book serves as a record of his travels, featuring the paintings he produced in Palestine, Northern Africa, the Canadian Rockies, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, and Greece. Among specific locales were the islands of Majorca and Corfu; Florence, Venice, Carrara, Lake Garda, and Rome; the Alps; Lake O'Hara; the coast of Maine and the Miami River.

Sargent's bold and often experimental use of the medium, which sometimes led to semi- abstract images, compels admiration among contemporary painters as well as museum goers today. In addition to placing Sargent's accomplishments in the context of his life and time, Carl Little discusses the artist's extraordinary watercolor technique.

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Customer Reviews

Excellent as both a collection or your painting reference
Compare to John Singer Sargent's oil painting, his watercolor master pieces shows other side of this Master's talent full with free spirit. The book contains many high quality pieces that are excellent for someone who wants to learn the watercolor painting from a super master. There are pieces in this book that representing an old technique of combining watercolor with gouache, which is seldom used today and considered out of trend because gouache is opaque. However, the way he used in his paintings showed his truly masterful control of transparency with both materials, and extended both of their advantages to the best.
It is also a great piece to add to your art book collections, especially if you love his oil paintings, too.

2009-12-04 | Shuang Li, Paintbrush Lady (San Diego, CA United States) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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The Watercolors of John Singer Sargent
I got this book used from Amazon and it's in excellent shape. It's amazing to see what he painted in water color. The only thing missing is a "how to" chapter.

2009-06-13 (Boston, MA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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just a comment I read
I was flipping through a How to ... Watercolor book the other day. The author said to look at Sargent's watercolors every night before you go to sleep. There. Now I've justified you buying the book.

2008-08-27 | Helpful Votes: 3 | Rating: 5

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Good review of a master watercolorist
My copy is an oversize paperback of about 160 pages. Reproductions of paintings inside are typically page-size and out weigh the text content almost ten to one. It is very much a visual document. The reproductions are, if not excellent, at least decent / good. (Nothing can match viewing a Sargent painting in person. The real colors are still subtle yet just magnificent.)
By chapters, if you will, the book is organized into about ten short ones. Hard to say more precisely. The first is biographical. A few are housekeeping: bibliography and the like. The rest, some nine units are by topic painted, mostly by region, e.g. "in the Mountains" or "Florida". The former unit contains "Mountain Stream", perhaps my most favorite watercolor of all.
Why did I buy this book? (Actually, two copies?) I think I have all of the images in at least one other book. There are other essays published about Sargent and about his watercolors, some of them quite brilliant. I've seen better reproductions. It is not a "how-to-paint" book and one couldn't learn to paint out of a book anyway. (Although to new watercolorists that idea seems quite tempting. "If only I knew just what exact brushes Sargent used...")
Two reasons for buying come to mind: because I can afford the reasonable price and because the book simply is there. The book is there and it is another perspective / angle on Sargent and his watercolors. The scholars of Greek drama tell us that there are only ten (or pick your number) plots, yet still we watch television, read new books and attend movies. A thousand times more than ten. Likewise for me, a Sargent enthusiast, one all-definitive book on Sargent would still not suffice. I have to see each viewpoint / perspective myself. Insatiably. I read them all. Carl Little's book is a good one. And I surely know good from bad; I've bought and read many quickie Sargent books with lousy reproductions trotted out just before the holiday season. This in not one of those; this is the real, quality thing. A very nice book with good if very limited text and plenty of decent reproductions. I'm glad I bought it. That is, bought them. :)

2007-10-08 (California U S) | Helpful Votes: 12 | Rating: 5

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Excellent!
I was looking for a Sargent book exclusively dedicated to his watercolours. I think the Carl Little book is the best one. The book is very manageable (I prefer the paperback as I use it a lot around the house as well as for reference). The size makes it also very usable, rather than having the large, heavy, coffee table editions which I find difficult to hold. The content is spot on for me; I'm after the images with a little written background to Sargent's life; this is very well presented in Little's book. The quality of the spine lacks a bit, but then again, I make sure I get out as much juice out of this book as possible!

2007-01-11 | www.andrewborg.com (www.andrewborg.com) | Helpful Votes: 5 | Rating: 5

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John Singer Sargent: Venetian Figures and Landscapes 1898-1913: Complete Paintings: Volume VI

Description

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Customer Reviews

J S Sargent: Venetian Figures & Landscapes
Beautifully done. Not quite sure why "Figures" comes first. "Landscapes" make up the bulk of the book.

2010-03-12 | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 4

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Disappointing
I was disappointed in this book. The images are nearly all watercolors and certainly not among Sargent's best. Way overpriced for the content. I would really only rate this 3.5 stars.

2009-11-14 (Midwest) | Helpful Votes: 2 | Rating: 4

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Excellent watercolor reference of J.S> Sargent's work.
This book is a must for any watercolorist or John Singer Sargent fan. It is well written and organized. I have thoroughly enjoyed this reference.
Cheryl Lankhaar

2009-07-14 (Nashville,TN) | Helpful Votes: 4 | Rating: 5

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Those amazing watercolors
Still three more volumes to go...
This volume of Singer-Sargents complete paintings presents his wonderful venetian watercolor-paintings (and most of his oil-paintings of Venice) , and like all the other volumes in this series (eight volumes are planned, as far as I know) it gets my highest possible recommendation.
The accompanying text is astonishingly well researched and the reproduction of the images leaves nothing to complain about.
If you are seriously interested in collecting Singer-Sargent, then you don't need to look no further than this wonderful series of books, edited and written by Richard Ormond & Elaine Kilmurray.
Can we now get Volume V and the rest, please...?

2009-07-13 (Bochum, Germany) | Helpful Votes: 6 | Rating: 5

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Sargent: Vol. VI
I am very pleased with the team that put together this magnificent series, they've done a very thorough job. Sargent has been my idol for many years, the reproductions are inspiring, what a productive life he had! So many hits, so very few flops.

2009-06-20 | Chasm (Bisbee, AZ, USA) | Helpful Votes: 4 | Rating: 5

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John Singer Sargent: Figures and Landscapes, 1883-1899: The Complete Paintings Volume 5 (Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art)

Description

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