Product Description

This magnificent book is the first volume of the definitive catalogue raisonn_ of the works in oil, watercolor, and pastel of the beloved painter John Singer Sargent. This volume catalogues portraits by Sargent from 1874, when he began his training in Paris, and covers pictures painted while he was establishing his reputation in Paris, during his early years in England, and on his first professional visit to America in 1887.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #218340 in Books
• Published on: 1998-04-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 304 pages

From Library Journal
This work, published for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art and the result of 16 years of research, is the first volume of the definitive catalogue raisonne of Sargent's works in oil, watercolor, and pastel. This volume covers Sargent's formative years in France and England and his first professional trip to America in 1887. His subjects range from family and friends to writers and other artists, as well as the famous Robert Louis Stevenson looking gaunt and the actress Ellen Terry in her role as Lady MacBeth. It was also during this creative period that Sargent painted the well-known group portrait "The Daughters of Edward D. Boit" and the portrait of Madame Gautreau, the controversial and exotic "Madame X." The planned Volume 2 will cover Sargent from 1890 to the end of his career, bringing together nearly 600 portraits, 1600 landscapes, and three murals, many reproduced for the first time. Volume 1 is illustrated with 80 black-and-white and 180 color reproductions. Each sitter is identified, with discussion on the context of the painting, along with provenance and exhibition history. A good companion to Trevor Fairbrother's more text-driven John Singer Sargent (LJ 7/94). Highly recommended for all collections.?Joseph C. Hewgley, Nashville P.L., TN
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Just Amazing........
This book is for Sargent lovers. His incredible talent oozes in these pages. I can't wait for Vol 2 of this beautiful production of Yale University Press. I got me a magnifying glass and have spent hours looking at the unbelievably grand flesh tones that Sargent commanded. You'll love reading the background data of these portrait commissions during Sargent's career. I would give it six stars if I could. See it to believe it.....if I could only paint like he did or anything barely close. One of my best of collection. Hurry up Yale and give us Vol 2.

Excellect reproductions!
This was the finest quality art book we have seen in a long time! The reproductions are excellent. It is obvious that much care and consideration went into the production of this book. The 'stories' that caption each image are in depth and enthralling, pulling information from obscure resources and contemporary letters and diary entries. The sitters' personalities are really brought to life.

We would have been willing to pay much more for a book of this quality and scope. This has been our best art purchase in years! We are eagerly awaiting the publication of volume two.

Sargent's sitters leap into life
For the most part, this is a magnificent compilation of all the portraits Sargent did until 1889. The faces leap off the page, sometimes "more alive than the sitters themselves." The short essays about the creation of each work, the life of the sitter, etc., are interesting and though repetitive (there is a similarity among his subjects--rich, pampered, often without much upstairs) never get dull. My only complaint with the book is the way the side-bar notes are handled. Often a work not detailed in this book (the first of a four-volume catalogue raisonnee) is referred to for comparison, but is not illustrated, or is shown in a postage-stamp size picture (example: a lot is told about the models for Carnation Lily Lily Rose, but the repro itself is about 1" square, and impossible to see in detail. But for the most part this is a gorgeous book, indispensible for those of us still caught up in Sargentolatry, and just whets the appetite for the next volume.