Docent’s Corner | John Singer Sargent
Image Credit: John Singer Sargent (American, 1856-1925). Portrait of Mrs. Reginald Grenville Eves, 1912. Charcoal on paper. The Alexander Collection, BRAHM Permanent Collection.
Charcoal Portrait of Mrs. Reginald Grenville Eves
John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) was the brilliant master of portraiture on both sides of the Atlantic. He divided his time between studios in London, New York, and Boston when he wasn’t traveling all over Europe. Commissions poured in for oil portraits, up to 22 per year, from leading members of society and the arts. He also painted water colors, landscapes en plain air, figurative studies, foreign scenes, and had major commissions for murals. In order to make more time for these subjects, in 1907 he decided to retire from oil portraiture. He did however continue to make charcoal studies, or “mugs” as he jokingly called the portraits, for the rest of his life. Some were paid commissions, but many he simply gave to the sitters. With his superbly honed skills as a draftsman, he could capture the essence of an individual with quick, sure strokes in around two and a half hours. (As opposed to the minimum of six sittings for an oil portrait.) He completed over 750 charcoal portraits—two thirds were of women, and the same proportion were of British subjects.
Most of the charcoal portraits were made in his London studio, where Sargent worked standing up at his easel, or holding a pad. Staring intensely at his seated subject, he would dart back and forth, muttering to himself, and sometimes rush to the piano to furiously play for a few moments. Most of his sitters found him fascinating, some were intimidated. Our Mrs. Grenville Eves shows a woman who seems to be enjoying herself, clearly not intimidated, just about to smile. What intelligence Sargent has caught in her eyes— one wonders what she is thinking. The husband of Mrs. Grenville Eves was also an artist, and presumably a social friend of Sargent’s.
For this portrait, like many, Sargent sketched a black background with broad strokes in order to model the sitter with dramatic contrast of light against dark, the technique known as chiaroscuro. Women’s hairstyles could enliven the portrait, as is the case Mrs. Grenville’s heavily swept up, glossy hair.
Though Sargent is not classified as an American Impressionist, it is a great credit to Patty and Welborn Alexander as collectors to have added a work by the extraordinary John Singer Sargent. I hope you will study and enjoy it.
This Docent’s Corner is brought to you by Judy Morris