Singer Sargent and Impressionism

"Can a bold dash of blue, amid a fog of greys and a few delicate flecks of black really justify itself as a portrait ? Isn’t an impressionist portrait then an oxymoron in itself ? On the other hand, our memories of people aren’t crisp black and white either. People are a mere sum of impressions in the memories of other people."

- Anonymous Author of 'Dotted Frontiers'

Portraits painted in the Impressionist style - a fine example of which is the above work by John Singer Sargent entitled 'Ena Wertheimer With Antonio Mancini' - aimed to capture not a likeness of the image of a person, but the emotion impression that they created. The above work is marvellous for its economy of technique, the seemingly spontaneous and lazy brushstrokes are in fact meticulously considered, with every blob and dash of colour serving a definite purpose to create the overall image. The bright explosion of colour behind the two figures represent the vibrant, brilliant impression Wertheimer and Mancini left on Sargent and his high esteem for them - both practising artists themselves.



The above work 'The Green Dress' by Sargent shows how with just a very limited number of brushstrokes, a remarkable likeness can be achieved. The success of this portrait as a likeness lies in Sargent's choice of features to pick out: the angle of the brows, the closed eyelids, the firm set lips and sharply angle nose and cheekbones all create the strong emotional impression that Wertheimer is, in this portrait, attempting to read peacefully but is restless and frustrated at being trapped inside (these studies were painted when Sargent, Wertheimer and Mancini were holidaying together in Venice, and this particular painting on a day when the party were forced to remain indoors due to poor weather).



Peter Harrison - John Singer Sargent

I absolutely love these portraits, they are in my opinion the perfect way to capture a personality and an amalgamation of memories, and are truly beautiful as pieces of art. I think that the bold, spontaneous yet considered use of watercolours is something that I will include in my exploration of the title 'Aging, Youth, Beauty and Vanity'. Impressionist portraits are often of friends or family of the artists as mainstream commissions for this avante-garde and rebellious style were few. This gives the portraits a personal, emotive character which suits my plan to use friends and family as subjects, as it was a primary concern of mine that by using people close to me as subjects I would somehow have to disguise this relationship to express more clearly the overarching themes of death/narcissism that will undoubtedly stem from my title. However this technique gives me a way of incorporating personal relationships into the very fabric of the paintings, something which I feel when explored in conjunction with the greater themes of the project will produce some highly interesting results.

In short, it seems that this style of painting suits well the ideas I wish to explore, my own tendencies and intentions as an artist, and the kind of subjects I will be working with. Rather than declaring 'I will now produce some work in the Impressionist style' I am saying instead that this seems to be the legitimate art movement closest to the ideas I wish to express and my own idea of how art should look.

http://dottedfrontiers.com/art/2010/09/impressionist-portraits-oxymorons-by-john-singer-sargent/