An arty outing at Tate Britain
Today was very rainy, and I got very wet walking to my local station this morning, but fortunately, the journey from then on was OK and it wasn't raining as hard in central London. I was dry by the time I got to Tate Britain for their Sargent and Fashion exhibition.
The exhibition looks at John Singer Sargent's (1856-1925) method of painting his portraits and how he used clothing to emphasise the sitter's personality and status. Sitters often had to put up with him pinning up fabric (some said he wasn't very careful with the pins!), changing colours of fabrics, and elongating the proportions of the sitter to get the best out of the portrait. Many of the portraits are almost life-sized and they had added to the exhibition by including fabric, dresses and other items alongside the 60 featured paintings which I thought was really worthwhile and put the paintings in context.
Some lovely things that caught my eye under the cut (picture heavy!)
There was a section highlighting portraits of Women In Black. Black dresses were becoming fashionable in the late 19th Century after they had been associated with mourning in the years before. Most of his female sitters were shown wearing black in the 1880s.
Mrs Edward L Davis (Maria Robbins) and her Son, Livingston Davis (1890). Maria was painted in Massachusetts with her 7-year-old son.
A silk fan with a painted design.
Madame X (Madame Pierre Gautreau) (1883). This caused a sensation when it was first exhibited as Virginie Amélie Avegnol was shown with the strap of her dress falling off her right shoulder. When displayed in The Salon (in the Palais des Champs-Élysées in Paris) in 1884 it was considered indecent, and a bid for attention. Virginie's mother lamented the cost to her daughter's reputation. Sargent repainted the portrait and he left Paris shortly afterwards to avoid further damage to his reputation).
A study of the painting by Sargent - you can see he's not decided where to place the offending strap of the dress.
Jane Evans (1898). She ran a boarding house at Eton College (the names of pupils are on the wall behind her). She certainly looks formidable!
Mrs Edward Darley Boit (Mary Louisa Cushing) (1887).
A similar hair ornament - feathers were so popular at the time that a journal in 1897 said: 'There are estimated to be about ten million ladies of bird-wearing age in the United States today'. Fortunately, the practice of using bird feathers was stopped eventually to protect the exotic birds of the world.
Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose (1885-6). Painted in the Cotswolds in the UK over two years as the Sargent wanted to capture the twilight of early evening. The dresses were specially made for the painting.
A pencil sketch of Dorothy Barnard, one of the children in the painting.
Miss Elsie Palmer or A Lady in White (1889-90). Elsie is 17 years old in this painting and is wearing a white satin tea gown. Apparently, Miss Palmer found sitting for her portrait rather a tedious process.
Mrs Fisk Warren and her Daughter Rachel (1903). Gretchen Warren was a poet and scholar, and Sargent was determined that her daughter would wear pink in the portrait. She was dressed in her sister's pink gown and Sargent pinned and draped fabric around it to style is as a more fitting dress.
Photos of J S Sargent with the sitters above.
Mrs Hugh Hammersley (Mary Frances Grant) (1892) - a society hostess.
A piece of the fabric of the dress - a lovely cherry silk velvet.
An example of the gowns produced by The House Of Worth in France (around 1880). Pearl embroidered bengaline.
Exquisite pearl embroidery
There were also portraits of men. This is W Graham Robertson (1884). Sargent wanted to paint him in the slim-fitting overcoat even though it was a warm summer when he sat for the painting.
Described by Punch Magazine "'How Long! How long!" Portrait of a blasé youth. Even his cane is jade-d."
Close-up of the jade-handled cane.
Dr Pozzi At Home (1881). Usually seen in his tailored suits, Sargent chose to portray him relaxed at home in his dressing gown and Turkish slippers.
Vernon Lee (1881). Born Violet Paget, Vernon Lee chose the name because 'it has the advantage of leaving it undecided whether the writer be a man or a woman.' Sargent and Lee were childhood friends and preferred a masculine style of dress.
Lord Ribblesdale (1902) A politician and huntsman - here portrayed in the 'ratcatcher' style of hunting costume.
A sketch of a Javanese Dancer (1889) which is thought to be for a composition which was never completed. Sargent saw a troupe of dancers at the 1889 Paris Exposition and caught the movement of the dancer's left arm by sketching the arm twice.
La Carmencita (Carmen Dauset Moreno) (1890). A Spanish dancer who performed all across Europe and the United States.
Her costume!
Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth (1889)
The dress Ellen Terry was wearing - the glistening blue/green beads are actually beetle wing casings sewn onto the crocheted dress.
The Duchess of Portland (Winifred Anna Cavendish-Bentick, born Dallas-Yorke) (1902). A very elongated painting showing Sargent's skill at painting silk and velvet.
Lady Helen Vincent, Viscountess d'Abernon (Helen Venetia Duncombe) (1904). An example of Sargent completely changing what the sitter was actually wearing (a white dress) by changing the colour to black and adding a pink satin wrap.
Charles Steward, Sixth Marquess of Londonderry, Carrying the Great Sword of State at the Coronation of King Edward Viii, August 1902 and Mr W C Beaumont, his Page on that Occasion. (1904)
The actual Londonderry Garter shown in the painting above.
One of my favourite paintings in the exhibition - I love the subtle colours in Lady Agnew of Lochnaw (Gertrude Vernon) (1892). It was this painting that enabled him to be elected as a member of the Royal Academy.
A close-up showing how freely he painted the sash, dress and pendant.
The next section covered paintings created outside with natural light such as In A Garden, Corfu (1909). Sargent would often dress women in a white taffeta skirt as he liked how it caught the light (despite being quite out of fashion at the time).
Lady Fishing - Mrs Ormond (Violet Sargent) (1889). An unfinished oil sketch of Sargent's sister.
A composition made up of separate studies of women wrapped in the same shawl Cashmere (1908).
Group with Parasols (A Siesta) (1904-5). A rather scandalous group of two women and two men showed 'a magnificent disregard of the conventional proprieties' according to the Daily Telegraph newspaper at the time.
The Chess Game (1907). Dressed in garments probably acquired during his travels in West Asia, Sargent's valet (Nicola D'Inverno) and his niece are shown playing chess in a fantasy scene far removed from the original context of these garments.
The Countess of Rocksavage (Sybil Sassoon) (1922). Sargent stopped taking commissions at the beginning of World War One, and afterwards only painted friends.
The fancy dress costume owned by Sybil Sassoon was created by the House of Worth. (1922)
And finally - Sargent and friends at Port Lympne, August 1920. John Singer Sargent, Sybil Sassoon, Philip Sasson and George Horation Charles (5th Marquess of Cholmondeley) in Kent.
The exhibition looks at John Singer Sargent's (1856-1925) method of painting his portraits and how he used clothing to emphasise the sitter's personality and status. Sitters often had to put up with him pinning up fabric (some said he wasn't very careful with the pins!), changing colours of fabrics, and elongating the proportions of the sitter to get the best out of the portrait. Many of the portraits are almost life-sized and they had added to the exhibition by including fabric, dresses and other items alongside the 60 featured paintings which I thought was really worthwhile and put the paintings in context.
Some lovely things that caught my eye under the cut (picture heavy!)
There was a section highlighting portraits of Women In Black. Black dresses were becoming fashionable in the late 19th Century after they had been associated with mourning in the years before. Most of his female sitters were shown wearing black in the 1880s.
Mrs Edward L Davis (Maria Robbins) and her Son, Livingston Davis (1890). Maria was painted in Massachusetts with her 7-year-old son.
A silk fan with a painted design.
Madame X (Madame Pierre Gautreau) (1883). This caused a sensation when it was first exhibited as Virginie Amélie Avegnol was shown with the strap of her dress falling off her right shoulder. When displayed in The Salon (in the Palais des Champs-Élysées in Paris) in 1884 it was considered indecent, and a bid for attention. Virginie's mother lamented the cost to her daughter's reputation. Sargent repainted the portrait and he left Paris shortly afterwards to avoid further damage to his reputation).
A study of the painting by Sargent - you can see he's not decided where to place the offending strap of the dress.
Jane Evans (1898). She ran a boarding house at Eton College (the names of pupils are on the wall behind her). She certainly looks formidable!
Mrs Edward Darley Boit (Mary Louisa Cushing) (1887).
A similar hair ornament - feathers were so popular at the time that a journal in 1897 said: 'There are estimated to be about ten million ladies of bird-wearing age in the United States today'. Fortunately, the practice of using bird feathers was stopped eventually to protect the exotic birds of the world.
Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose (1885-6). Painted in the Cotswolds in the UK over two years as the Sargent wanted to capture the twilight of early evening. The dresses were specially made for the painting.
A pencil sketch of Dorothy Barnard, one of the children in the painting.
Miss Elsie Palmer or A Lady in White (1889-90). Elsie is 17 years old in this painting and is wearing a white satin tea gown. Apparently, Miss Palmer found sitting for her portrait rather a tedious process.
Mrs Fisk Warren and her Daughter Rachel (1903). Gretchen Warren was a poet and scholar, and Sargent was determined that her daughter would wear pink in the portrait. She was dressed in her sister's pink gown and Sargent pinned and draped fabric around it to style is as a more fitting dress.
Photos of J S Sargent with the sitters above.
Mrs Hugh Hammersley (Mary Frances Grant) (1892) - a society hostess.
A piece of the fabric of the dress - a lovely cherry silk velvet.
An example of the gowns produced by The House Of Worth in France (around 1880). Pearl embroidered bengaline.
Exquisite pearl embroidery
There were also portraits of men. This is W Graham Robertson (1884). Sargent wanted to paint him in the slim-fitting overcoat even though it was a warm summer when he sat for the painting.
Described by Punch Magazine "'How Long! How long!" Portrait of a blasé youth. Even his cane is jade-d."
Close-up of the jade-handled cane.
Dr Pozzi At Home (1881). Usually seen in his tailored suits, Sargent chose to portray him relaxed at home in his dressing gown and Turkish slippers.
Vernon Lee (1881). Born Violet Paget, Vernon Lee chose the name because 'it has the advantage of leaving it undecided whether the writer be a man or a woman.' Sargent and Lee were childhood friends and preferred a masculine style of dress.
Lord Ribblesdale (1902) A politician and huntsman - here portrayed in the 'ratcatcher' style of hunting costume.
A sketch of a Javanese Dancer (1889) which is thought to be for a composition which was never completed. Sargent saw a troupe of dancers at the 1889 Paris Exposition and caught the movement of the dancer's left arm by sketching the arm twice.
La Carmencita (Carmen Dauset Moreno) (1890). A Spanish dancer who performed all across Europe and the United States.
Her costume!
Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth (1889)
The dress Ellen Terry was wearing - the glistening blue/green beads are actually beetle wing casings sewn onto the crocheted dress.
The Duchess of Portland (Winifred Anna Cavendish-Bentick, born Dallas-Yorke) (1902). A very elongated painting showing Sargent's skill at painting silk and velvet.
Lady Helen Vincent, Viscountess d'Abernon (Helen Venetia Duncombe) (1904). An example of Sargent completely changing what the sitter was actually wearing (a white dress) by changing the colour to black and adding a pink satin wrap.
Charles Steward, Sixth Marquess of Londonderry, Carrying the Great Sword of State at the Coronation of King Edward Viii, August 1902 and Mr W C Beaumont, his Page on that Occasion. (1904)
The actual Londonderry Garter shown in the painting above.
One of my favourite paintings in the exhibition - I love the subtle colours in Lady Agnew of Lochnaw (Gertrude Vernon) (1892). It was this painting that enabled him to be elected as a member of the Royal Academy.
A close-up showing how freely he painted the sash, dress and pendant.
The next section covered paintings created outside with natural light such as In A Garden, Corfu (1909). Sargent would often dress women in a white taffeta skirt as he liked how it caught the light (despite being quite out of fashion at the time).
Lady Fishing - Mrs Ormond (Violet Sargent) (1889). An unfinished oil sketch of Sargent's sister.
A composition made up of separate studies of women wrapped in the same shawl Cashmere (1908).
Group with Parasols (A Siesta) (1904-5). A rather scandalous group of two women and two men showed 'a magnificent disregard of the conventional proprieties' according to the Daily Telegraph newspaper at the time.
The Chess Game (1907). Dressed in garments probably acquired during his travels in West Asia, Sargent's valet (Nicola D'Inverno) and his niece are shown playing chess in a fantasy scene far removed from the original context of these garments.
The Countess of Rocksavage (Sybil Sassoon) (1922). Sargent stopped taking commissions at the beginning of World War One, and afterwards only painted friends.
The fancy dress costume owned by Sybil Sassoon was created by the House of Worth. (1922)
And finally - Sargent and friends at Port Lympne, August 1920. John Singer Sargent, Sybil Sassoon, Philip Sasson and George Horation Charles (5th Marquess of Cholmondeley) in Kent.
