Fashioned by Sargent - by Erica E Hirshler & Caroline Corbeau-Parsons & James Finch & Pamela A Parmal (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

A lavish exploration of Sargent's relationship to fashion, featuring exquisite costumes from the Gilded Age

"The coat is the picture," John Singer Sargent explained to his fellow artist Graham Robertson in the summer of 1894, tugging a heavy garment ever more tightly around his sitter's slender figure. More attentive to what he hoped to accomplish as a painter than he was to the dictates of contemporary fashion, Sargent often chose what his sitters would wear. Even when they came to him dressed in the latest mode, he frequently ignored or simplified the details, concentrating on texture, drape and the way fabrics responded to light. Exploiting dress as an integral ingredient of his own artistry, Sargent used clothes to proclaim his own aesthetic agenda while simultaneously establishing his sitters' social position, profession, gender identity and nationality.
Fashioned by Sargent explores the complicated relationship of painting and dress through lavish reproductions of Sargent's works alongside exquisite costumes of the period--including garments actually worn by his sitters. Essays by leading scholars illuminate topics such as portraits and performance, gender expression and the New Woman, and the pull of history and the excitement of new ideas, offering readers new insights into masterworks by a beloved American artist.
The international art star of the Gilded Age, John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) was born in Italy to American parents, trained in Paris and worked on both sides of the Atlantic. Sargent is best known for his dramatic and stylish portraits, but he was equally active as a landscapist, muralist and watercolor painter.

Review Quotes

Delves into sartorial signifiers of ancestral and national power, as well as Sargent's subtle allusions to past masters including Rembrandt and Velázquez.--Stephanie Sporn "Vogue"

Sargent, while swathing his striving subjects in luxurious-looking layers of satin, velvet, and organza, never failed to reveal their essential humanity.--Karen Rosenberg "The New York Times: Arts"

Adjustments were subtle but often added to the complexity of the portraits, bucking convention or imbuing the sitters with deeper intrigue, intelligence, or emotion.--Sara James Mnookin "WWD"

Working at a time when the placement of a single shoulder strap could create a scandal, John Singer Sargent was conscious about the way fashion factored into his portraits and, in the case of "Madame X," how it reflected the personality and respectability of his high-society subjects.--Lauren Messman "The New York Times: Arts"