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Sargent Abhorred Making His Lavish Portraits, So He Took Up Charcoal (2020)
- tlarkworthy 6y agoSymptoms of burnout, cannot face "your" medium.
- fatbird 6y agoHe also took up watercolour and did a lot of studies and plein air painting that shows an incredible spontaneity and energy that's very different than his oils, while still retaining his basically perfect draughtsmanship.
- QuesnayJr 6y agoI like Sargent, but I didn't know about these charcoals. They're terrific.
- jack_riminton 6y ago“I abhor and abjure them and hope to never do another, especially of the Upper Classes.” - is a particularly wonderful quote A nice article here of artists who also hated their clients: https://www.thecollector.com/artists-who-hated-their-clients/ https://www.thecollector.com/artists-who-hated-their-clients...
- chris_st 6y agoReally enjoyed learning charcoal when I was learning to draw and paint -- particularly sanding vine charcoal, and rubbing the dust produced into paper to produce a mid-gray, then drawing, for darker bits, and erasing for lighter areas. It's where I learned to draw with shapes, not lines.
- asmithmd1 6y agoHe made an exception during that time period for one model that was his inspiration for many figures of gods in his epic Boston Public Library murals: https://www.apollo-magazine.com/thomas-mckeller-john-singer-sargent-isabella-stewart-gardner-review/ https://www.apollo-magazine.com/thomas-mckeller-john-singer-...
- __jf__ 6y agoAs mr. Money Mustache would say: work gets better when you don’t need the money.
- davesque 6y agoSargent also did amazing watercolors of landscapes and various non-portrait scenes. Some examples: https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/sargent_watercolors/ https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/sargent_watercolo... I think his skill really comes through in that work. It shows the economy of his brush strokes.