JOHN SINGER SARGENT

Sargent was an American Renaissance artist who was notable for his paintings of upper class Edwardian's. While his profession mainly surrounded portraits, he was also an incredibley gifted landscape and watercolour artist. However, it is his numerous simple graphite sketches that i enjoy out of all of his work. They show his ideas developing and where he wants the focus to be, quite often only detailing main areas of the face and leaving surrounding areas with just a quick outline, John Sargent was a confident painter, and in 1884 he unveiled the most controversial piece he would ever create. Portrait Of Madame X shows an image of Madame Pierre Gautreau in a low cut, baring black sequin dress, which in 1884 would have provoked outrage. The portrait actually caused the funds he was receiving from the government to create his art to be stopped. However this didn't knock his popularity with the public and he quickly regained his social status. I think what this shows is just how revolutionary he and his work was. His talent was powerful enough to over come any backlash his work created. His work has continued to influence artists today, such as Andy Warhol who said Sargent's work makes 'everybody look glamorous, taller, thinner.' His sketches have influenced me in the way i have experimented with light and dark and pencil strokes.

+6uite similar to that of Alvin Chong's.