Annotated Mona Lisa, The - Strickland, Carol [67]
Whistler’s most famous work, “Arrangement in Gray and Black No. 1, is universally and incorrectly known as “Whistler’s Mother.” The artist believed the identity of the sitter was irrelevant to the painting, calling it an “arrangement” of forms. Whistler seemed to be heeding the advice of his friend French poet Mallarmé to “paint not the thing, but the effect that it produces.”
SARGENT: PORTRAITS OF HIGH SOCIETY. The last great literal portrait painter (before the camera made such art less in demand) was John Singer Sargent (1856-1925). Truly an international artist, he was described as “an American born in Italy, educated in France, who looks like a German, speaks like an Englishman, and paints like a Spaniard.” Although he painted with Monet at Giverny, Sargent modeled himself after the Spanish painter Velázquez, the acknowledged master of visual realism.
Sargent’s childhood was rootless, as his American parents flitted from one hotel to another all over the Continent. By 19 Sargent had begun formal art training in Paris and by the age of 25 he was already a sensation — though not the kind he had hoped for. The work which was to have cemented his reputation created a scandal instead. Sargent painted a bold, full-length portrait of a famous Parisian beauty, posed in a deeply cut gown, her strap dangling immodestly off her shoulder (he later painted over the strap, restoring it to propriety). Although he called the painting “Madame X,” everyone recognized the subject, and, with her shocking lavender makeup, she became the laughing stock of Paris. Her mother demanded that he withdraw the work from view. Shocked by the response, Sargent left Paris for London, where he vowed to abandon frankness for flattery in all future portraits.
Sargent, “Mr. and Mrs. I. N. Phelps Stokes,” 1897, MMA, NY. Sargent painted portraits of high society in an elegant, elongated style.
EARLY PHOTO-REALISM
Harnett, “Still Life - Violin and Music,” 1888, MMA, NY.
William Michael Harnett (1848-92) was the most emulated American still life painter of his generation. His microscopically accurate paintings of ordinary objects (called “deceptions”) were so convincing, they literally “fooled the eye” (the meaning of the term “trompe l‘oeil”). Spectators had to be fenced off to keep them from wearing away the paint by touching. While academic painters exhibited their prettified nudes in the Paris Salon, Harnett’s work hung in saloons. In fact, a Harnett trompe l’oeil made one pub so famous, people lined up to gape at the painting. Regulars routinely won bets with customers who insisted the painted objects were real. Harnett was nearly arrested by Treasury agents who considered his pictures of currency to be counterfeiting.
“Still Life — Violin and Music, ” is a tour de force of realism. Through the use of shadows (the sheet music and calling card are shown with edges bent, the door stands ajar), Harnett simulates a wide range of depth. The objects are arranged with geometrical precision. Vertical axes (the bow, wood slats, and metal latch) intersect horizontal lines defined by hinges and wood frame. The slightest rearranging of any object would upset the composition’s careful balance.
Sargent had a gift for posing his prosperous subjects naturally to bring them to life. When asked if he sought to represent the inner person behind the veil, Sargent replied, “If there was a veil, I should paint the veil. I can only paint what I see.”
THE SOCIAL REGISTER.