Sargent & Paris: The Early Days of a Painter

Shining a light on Sargent’s time in Paris, the museum revels in his youthful desire for success and visual curiosity to portray people and places. The earliest work in the show is a black chalk drawing of a free-standing figurative sculpture in contrapposto, titled The Dancing Faun, after the Antique (1873-74). It was made when the artist was just 18 years old and is a life-like grisaille representation of the mythical satyr. 

It’s not until 1878, with an oil painting titled Head of a Male Model, that we start to see the familiar brushstrokes that set Sargent apart from his peers. A handsome, mustachioed male stares out of the surface of the canvas, a tuft of black hair, black shirt, and swath of fabric placed over his shoulders. 

The same model was used in a work titled Man Wearing Laurels (1874-1880) and yet again (the same or very similar) in Young Man in Reverie (1876). Due to the way some of the dates are written, either they are not fully known or they’re paintings that Sargent went back to over time. Walking through the exhibition, the curators make us privy to the artist’s inquiry into developing a style that eventually included lush brushstrokes, deep contrasting colors (light and shadow), and evidence of a deep appreciation and understanding of paint as a medium.

Even though Sargent & Paris focuses on Sargent’s residency in France, the works on view span several countries of the artist’s travels. The title largely references his participation (and annual anticipation) in the most important exhibition of the time held in Paris, the Paris Salon. Sargent always returned to the City of Lights after his sojourns to various locales throughout Italy, Morocco, and the countryside of France. 

The work is a plethora of landscapes made during these travels and portraits of those he met. Originally moving to Paris to study with Carolus-Duran and attend the Ecole des Beaux-Arts (1874-1877), Sargent received formal training and knew all the most influential people, from other artists to collectors.This was just as the Impressionists were starting to gain momentum, and artists such as Diego Velázquez and Gustav Corbet had long set a precedent for large-scale figurative work—personal and commission-based. 

By the time he became lured into the world of Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau, who we know as Madame X (1883-84), Sargent had already won the respect of those in Paris he wished to impress. He had painted Dr. Pozzi at Home (1881), a larger-than-life figure steeped in red, and his well-known sibling portrait, The Daughters of Edward Darley Bolt (1882), that is compositionally inspired by Las Meninas by Velásquez (1656). Both were well-received and also solidified his status as a society painter in Paris who often made nods towards art history.

The exhibition contains several versions of Madame X, including drawings with a focus on her distinct profile. While part of the Met’s permanent collection, it’s a delight to see this piece contextualized around Sargent’s life.

The controversy surrounding Madame X is that we know Sargent originally made the portrait capturing the sitter’s shoulder strap as it had fallen and grazed the area just below her shoulder. The scandal and eventual “correction" made to the work, at the bequest of the sitter’s mother, is what led Sargent to seek out a new environment and new subjects in London. He was able to reclaim his reputation at the Paris Salon in 1885, but by then had decided to settle in London. The exhibition, through the extensive work on view and thorough wall texts, paints a vibrant picture of an artist in the early, yet pivotal, stages of his life.