When I first visited the museum's exhibit of John Singer Sargent's (1856-1925) works, I anticipated the works would be excellent Edwardian-era portraits of the pretty (and rich) people. What really happened bowled me over so completely I had to come back for a second tour of the exhibit. I couldn't get enough of Sargent's body of work.Sargent had mastery of all the paint media of his time - oil, watercolor, pencil and charcoal. He was also the master of any subject - people, architecture, animals, seascapes and landscapes. His best known art showed only a little of what he accomplished in his life: 900 oil paintings and over 2000 water colors, a countless number of charcoals and many murals.
Art was such a compulsion for him that while he was visiting and camping in America he painted finished water color paintings of the camp and surroundings!
Here are a few of his watercolor paintings:(click images to enlarge)
Sargent's reputation as a formal portraitist doesn't consider works such as these:
Sargent grew tired of the time it took to complete a formal oil portrait and chose to work in charcoal.
So, what do you think? Did you already know about Sargent's vast talent?
