Sargent and the Sea
February 14 - May 23, 2010
Art object labels from the exhibition
- Ramparts at Saint-Malo-Yacht Race
- 1875
- Graphite on paper
- Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
- Gift of Emily Sargent and Violet Ormond, sisters of the
artist, 49.148c
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- This sheet is one of a distinct group of 13 from a dismantled
sketchbook that illuminates Sargent's marine interest during the summer
of 1875; he affixed the other 12 into a large scrapbook, on view directly
across this gallery. Here, sailors watch a yacht race at Saint-Malo, Brittany,
some using telescopes and others gesturing excitedly.
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- Seascape with Rocks
- c. 1875-77
- Oil on canvas
- Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
- Joseph F. McCrindle Collection, 2009.004
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- In this view of an unidentified site, gently rippling
water gives way to a luminous sense of distance under an opalescent sky.
The subtle adjustments of tone within a restricted color range demonstrate
a new sensitivity and sophistication in the artist's treatment of light
and the evocation of mood.
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- Sketch of boats in a stormy sea
- c. 1876
- Graphite with pen and ink on paper
- Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Sargent Collection
- Gift of Miss Emily Sargent and Mrs. Violet Ormond, in
memory of their brother, John Singer Sargent, 28.923
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- In this sketch, Sargent copied J. M. W. Turner's famous
painting The Shipwreck, probably from a reproduction. Sargent maintained
a lifelong admiration for the British marine painter's work, which Sargent
saw on his visits to London. Standing in front of a Turner (possibly The
Shipwreck) in the Tate Gallery, he reportedly remarked to a friend,
"... when I'm in the mood... Turner seems to me the greatest of all
the landscape masters."
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- Atlantic Storm
- 1876
- Oil on canvas
- Curtis Galleries, Minneapolis
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- This vigorously painted scene documents a storm Sargent
experienced on his October 1876 return from America. Although likely made
in his Paris studio, it presents an awe-inspiring spectacle of the sea
witnessed from the plunging aft deck of the ship. Several figures struggle
against the elements; the wake streams out behind in a glistening web of
white froth; and the huge, foam-crested waves seem likely at any moment
to overwhelm the fragile craft.
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- Seascape
- c. 1876
- Oil on canvas
- Frank M. Gren "Annapolis Collection"
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- This oil painting and the sketch Wave nearby convey
a limitless expanse of water in all directions. In neither work is there
a deck or rigging, strand or shore; nor is there any evidence of solid
footing for the viewer, who seems to be suspended above the waves.
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- The Artist's Mother Aboard Ship
- 1876
- Oil on canvas
- Fayez Sarofim Collection
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- Here, Sargent shows his mother resting in a deck chair,
the boom of a sail above her and foam-capped waves behind. Her face is
invisible under the shadow of her parasol, and her blanket and layers of
costume create flat, semi-abstract blocks of color. The way that the artist
crops and compresses the image creates the effect of a snapshot, an intimate
view of someone being observed.
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- Atlantic Sunset
- c. 1876
- Oil on canvas
- Private collection
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- Along with The Derelict and Seascape, both
displayed nearby, Atlantic Sunset is a hitherto unknown seascape
that radically altered perceptions of the artist's role as a marine painter.
While this painting conveys the immensity of the ocean, it is the fleeting
effects of fading sunlight that have captured Sargent's attention. His
approach to painting the sea was to some degree unusual among his contemporaries;
in this marine and the ones nearby, the sea shifts without boundaries,
with no land in sight to anchor the viewer. The inscribed date of 1878
probably records the year he presented the seascape to his landlord, not
its date of execution.
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- Woman Looking Out to Sea
- 1876
- Graphite on paper
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Gift of Mrs. Francis Ormond, 50.130.140c
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- In unsettled weather conditions, the artist studied the
windswept dress and scarf of the subject -- possibly his sister Emily --
against the churning waves beyond, while barely rendering the ship's deck.
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- On the Sands
- c. 1877
- Watercolor on paper
- Private collection
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- Depicting an unidentified beach resort in Brittany, this
watercolor appears altogether different from Sargent's Cancale pictures.
Its refined subject and bright, delicate style recall the work of some
of his contemporaries, such as French painter Eugène Boudin.
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- En Route pour la pêche (Setting Out to Fish)
- 1878
- Oil on canvas
- Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
- Museum Purchase, Gallery Fund, 17.2
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- Frame, French, c. 1880
- Gilded wood and composition ornament
- Gift of the Women's Committee of the Corcoran Gallery
of Art, 2009.013
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- Despite the informality of the preparatory oil and pencil
sketches on view nearby, in this studio painting (and its smaller companion)
there is nothing casual in the way the figures stand, the intervals between
them, nor the way in which their heads and upper bodies break the line
of the horizon. The well-scrubbed peasants -- meandering as a congenial
group against a wide expanse of beach and a glistening backdrop of summer
weather -- are deliberately posed to give them a monumental presence. Sargent
is presenting us with a seductive vision of the fishing industry.
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- Sketch after En Route pour la pêche (Setting
Out to Fish)
- 1878
- Pen and ink and graphite on paper
- Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
- Gift of Irving Moskovitz, 1976.57
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- Portrait of Neville Cain and Study of Mother and Child
- 1877
- Graphite on paper
- Harvard Art Museum, Fogg Art Museum
- Gift of Miss Emily Sargent and Mrs. Francis Ormond, in
memory of their brother, John Singer Sargent, 1931.97
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- These vignettes of a mother and child undoubtedly reveal
Sargent working out the contrapposto pose of a woman holding a weight on
her hip -- a challenge he would take up repeatedly when sketching and painting
Cancale fisherwomen carrying their baskets.
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- Fishing for Oysters at Cancale
- 1877-78
- Oil on canvas
- Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
- Gift of Miss Mary Appleton, 35.708
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- Though nearly identical to En Route pour la pêche
(Setting Out to Fish) in composition and appearance, numerous details
-- such as the hair color and the hat style of the boy on the left -- distinguish
this painting from its larger counterpart. Also, Fishing for Oysters
at Cancale is more loosely painted and of a more somber tone. These
differences were not accidental; Sargent created the more tightly handled,
larger painting according to the staid Paris Salon's standards of "finish,"
whereas the brushwork of this one conformed to the more progressive tenets
of the Society of American Artists.
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- The artist's plan succeeded brilliantly. The exhibition
of Fishing for Oysters at Cancale in New York in the spring of 1878
captured headlines and made a lasting impression on critics and the public
alike. From then onward, the United States would form an integral part
of Sargent's exhibition strategy, establishing him over time as a preeminent
international painter.
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- Fisherwomen Returning
- 1877
- Oil on canvas
- The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri
- Gift of Mrs. Louis Sosland, F7736/1
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- Using a somber palette, the artist depicts a mass of
huddled figures. Returning to Cancale at dusk after a long day's work,
the women slog along at low tide, straining against the weight of their
laden baskets. The naturalistic appearance of the figures, topographical
features, and sky -- along with Sargent's free brushwork -- suggest that
he painted the work largely, if not wholly, on site.
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- Sketch for En Route pour la pêche and Fishing
for Oysters at Cancale
- 1877
- Oil on canvas
- Private collection
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- In the summer of 1877, Sargent stayed in the fishing
village of Cancale, where he made paintings and drawings in preparation
for his exhibition pictures Fishing for Oysters at Cancale (1877-78)
and En Route pour la pêche (1878), as well as this sketch.
The small, quickly painted oil sketch captured on the beach at Cancale
represents the fleeting scene that sparked Sargent's imagination and led
him to develop the two completed fishing canvases. It shows the same site
as the exhibition pictures, but its composition is more naturalistic. Unlike
the static and formalized processions in the large paintings, the colorful,
relaxed figures moving along the beach -- fishing equipment in hand --
are quickly blocked in and show no facial detail.
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- Breton Girl with a Basket
- Study for En Route pour la pêche and
Fishing for Oysters at Cancale
- 1877
- Oil on canvas
- Terra Foundation for American Art
- Daniel J. Terra Collection, Chicago, 1999.129
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- Sargent likely executed this figure study, and the three
others nearby, on the beach in Cancale. The woman here relates to the leftmost
figure in both En Route pour la pêche and Fishing for Oysters
at Cancale and has origins in two drawings hanging opposite: a sheet
of lightly sketched vignettes of a woman balancing a child on her hip;
and a more emphatic and freely handled drawing of a figure, whose back
is to the viewer, holding a large basket.
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- Young Boy on the Beach
- Study for En Route pour la pêche and
Fishing for Oysters at Cancale
- 1877
- Oil on canvas
- Terra Foundation for American Art
- Daniel J. Terra Collection, Chicago, 1999.132
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- The young boy paired with the lead figure in the two
completed Cancale paintings appears to be based on this oil sketch. It,
in turn, likely followed a graphite study of a boy in a striped jersey
and beret, displayed in the case below.
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- Girl on the Beach
- Study for En Route pour la pêche and Fishing
for Oysters at Cancale
- 1877
- Oil on canvas
- Terra Foundation for American Art
- Daniel J. Terra Collection, Chicago, 1999.131
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- The third figure from the left in the finished paintings
-- a woman with a dark headscarf and a basket on her right hip -- has her
origins in this oil sketch. Although details of her costume and pose vary
from study to completed paintings, the figure's legs and feet are similarly
positioned in all three canvases.
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- Breton Woman with a Basket
- Study for En Route pour la pêche and Fishing
for Oysters at Cancale
- 1877
- Oil on canvas
- Terra Foundation for American Art
- Daniel J. Terra Collection, Chicago, 1996.53
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- There are no known preliminary works for the central,
redheaded woman in the two completed works, nor for the young boy at the
far right. However, the woman between them appears to derive from this
oil sketch. Wearing a dark shawl crossed over the torso in each work, the
figure leans slightly to her right at the waist while resting a basket
on her left hip.
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- Nude Boy on Sands
- 1878
- Oil on panel
- Private collection
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- This work depicts the cool shade of Capri's Marina Piccola,
with the sunstruck Faraglioni rocks in the background.
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- A Boat in the Waters off Capri
- 1878
- Oil on canvas
- Private collection
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- It is possible that Sargent's manner of working -- methodically
gathering materials for a painting to be brought to fruition later, once
back in Paris -- is what prompted him to make this otherwise uncharacteristic
picture. The view of the waterfront, its water shading from sapphire to
emerald and juxtaposed with opalescent sand, would be useful as he worked
in the gray light of a Parisian winter.
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- Neapolitan Children Bathing
- 1878-79
- Oil on canvas
- Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown,
Massachusetts, 1955.852
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- Sargent spent the summer of 1878 in Capri, painting oil
sketches in preparation this work. Commissioned by a Brooklyn collector,
the painting, in contrast to the Cancale exhibition pictures of the previous
year, is small in scale, informal in composition, and hot in color. The
younger of the two standing boys gazes out at us. The other -- sporting
water wings (made of animal bladders) -- turns seaward toward a swimmer
in the distance. The older boys lie sensuously on the sand; the legs of
the foremost one are interrupted by the edge of the canvas to suggest the
casualness of the artist's viewpoint.
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- Filet et Barque
- c. 1879
- Watercolor and graphite on paper
- Private collection
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- This luminous watercolor depicts the use of a drag net,
employed to encircle a school of fish. The French title Filet et Barque
translates loosely as "Net and Small Boat."
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- Moroccan Beach Scene
- c. 1880
- Oil on panel
- Private collection
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- This loosely painted panel, executed during a visit to
North Africa in 1880, is a vibrant sketch rendered in the same highly keyed
color range as Neapolitan Children Bathing. Sargent shows a gaggle
of local women laying out fishing nets to dry. The white sand and dense
blue sky evoke the brilliance and saturating heat of a sunlit day on the
Mediterranean coast.
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- Boats in Harbor II
- c. 1879
- Watercolor and graphite on paper
- Private collection
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- Several of Sargent's port scenes follow the format seen
here. The dockside from which the artist painted occupies a significant
slice of the picture space, and there are buildings and fortifications
to the side. Ships and boats are seen close-up, either bow or stern view,
and the complicated pattern of masts and riggings forms an integral part
of the design.
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- Figure Studies, Nice
- 1875
- Graphite with watercolor and black chalk on paper
- William Kelly Simpson, New York
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- This two-sided drawing illustrates the shift in Sargent's
drafting skills that occurred over the winter of 1874 and 1875. In it,
the artist apparently pays tribute to his teacher, painter Carolus-Duran,
by labeling one of the sailors with his name. The woman with a basket foretells
Sargent's studies of Breton fisherwomen from two years later.
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- Sailboat
- 1872
- Graphite on paper
- Harvard Art Museum, Fogg Art Museum
- Gift of Miss Emily Sargent and Mrs. Francis Ormond, in
memory of their brother, John Singer Sargent, 1937.7.9.10
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- Men Hauling Lifeboat Ashore
- 1876
- Watercolor and graphite on paper, from the John Singer
Sargent Scrapbook (50.130.154)
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Gift of Mrs. Francis Ormond, 50.130.154n recto
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- Sailor
- 1876
- Watercolor and graphite on paper, from the John Singer
Sargent Scrapbook (50.130.154)
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Gift of Mrs. Francis Ormond, 50.130.154n verso
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- On this side of his sketchbook page, the artist quickly
drew the form of the drinking sailor in graphite twice before working up
a third, more complete version in watercolor.
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