American expatriate portrait artist

John Singer Sargent

was born,

January 12, 1856

in Florence, Italy

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Sargent was the most successful portrait painter of his era, as well as a gifted landscape painter and watercolorist.
He was considered the “leading portrait painter of his generation” for his evocations of Edwardian-era luxury. He created roughly 900 oil paintings and more than 2,000 watercolors, as well as countless sketches and charcoal drawings. His oeuvre documents worldwide travel, from Venice to the Tyrol, Corfu, the Middle East, Montana, Maine, and Florida.

From the beginning, Sargent’s work is characterized by remarkable technical facility, particularly in his ability to draw with a brush, which in later years inspired admiration as well as criticism for a supposed superficiality. His commissioned works were consistent with the grand manner of portraiture, while his informal studies and landscape paintings displayed a familiarity with Impressionism. In later life Sargent expressed ambivalence about the restrictions of formal portrait work, and devoted much of his energy to mural painting and working en plein air. Art historians generally ignored artists who painted Royalty and “Society” – such as Sargent – until the late 20th century.

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So here’s a glimpse of his work & words

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“Color is an inborn gift, but appreciation of value is merely training of the eye, which everyone ought to be able to acquire.”

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“I don’t dig beneath the surface for things that don’t appear before my own eyes.”

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“If you begin with the middle-tone and work up from it toward the darks so that you deal last with your highest lights and darkest darks, you avoid false accents.”

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“I have now got a bombproof shelter [the Continent] into which I retire when I sniff the coming portrait or its trajectory.”

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“The thicker you paint, the more it flows.”

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“Cultivate an ever continuous power of observation. Wherever you are, be always ready to make slight notes of postures, groups and incidents. Store up in the mind… a continuous stream of observations from which to make selections later. Above all things get abroad, see the sunlight and everything that is to be seen.”

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“You can’t do sketches enough. Sketch everything and keep your curiosity fresh.”

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“No small dabs of colour – you want plenty of paint to paint with.”

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“Every time I paint a portrait, I lose a friend.”

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“To work is to pray.”

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Watercolors

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American composer

Morton Feldman [1926-1987]

was also born on this day,

January 12, 1926

so we listen to his

Piano and String Quartet

with Kronos Quartet

& Aki Takahashi, piano

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For more information on Sargent:

https://www.johnsingersargent.org/

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/john-singer-sargent-475

https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/sarg/hd_sarg.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Singer_Sargent

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Enjoy!

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Be Safe