John Singer Sargent Beyond the Portrait Studio: Paintings, Drawings, and Watercolors from the Collection.

From the very start of his career, American artist John Sargent was attracted to subjects from everyday life. This painter of society portraits, born in 1856, became internationally known was one of the most acclaimed American artists of his generation by the mid-1880s. Some 100 of his drawings, oils and watercolors are on display June 6 - September 24 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in this amazing exhibition  John Singer Sargent Beyond the Portrait Studio: Paintings, Drawings, and Watercolors from the Collection.

These works illuminate episodes in Sargent's career, as he studied and sought inspiration outside the confines of the portrait studio. The exhibition is organized to commemorate the 75^th anniversary of Sargent’s death and the 50^th anniversary of the gift of numerous works by his sister, Mrs. Francis Ormond It also celebrates and also to celebrate the publication of American Drawings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: John Singer Sargent.

The exhibition is grouped chronologically and thematically. Early drawings include the contents of three remarkable sketchbooks from 1869 and 1870 that document Sargent’s travels in Switzerland with his family and manifest his precocious talent. Several of Sargent’s youthful copies after antiquities, and after old and modern masters such as Michelangelo and Jean-Francoise Millet, will also be included.

Sargent’s student years in Paris are represented by numerous sketches that document his curiosity and his eclectic interests. In 1879 he began a period of extensive travel to study the Old Masters and to gather ideas for pictures. His early professional career is represented by Impressionist canvasses painted in the English countryside, such as Reapers Resting in a Wheatfield and Two Girls with Parasols at Fladbury; precise studies of flowers for his great painting Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose (1887; Tate Gallery, London); and spontaneous sketches of friends, family, and acquaintances. Also, his enduring fascination with the exotic is suggested by his sketchbook of the Javanese dancers he saw performing at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1889. 

The exhibition will culminate with Saregent’s dazzling watercolors purchased by the Metropolitan in 1915. These sheets record his enduring fascination with Venice (Giudecca) and his summer holidays in the Italian lake district (Sirmione), the Alps (Mountain Stream), and other destinations. Two publications will be published in conjunction with the exhibition, John Singer Sargent in The Metropolitan Museum of Art and American Drawings and Watercolors in The Metropolitan Museum of Art: John Singer Sargent, a catalogue of all of the Museum’s drawings and watercolors by the artist.

Do not miss this fantastic exhibition of one of America’s most prominent artists! Museum hours are Fridays & Saturdays 9:30am—9pm; Sundays, Tuesdays—Thursdays 9:30am—5:30pm; Mondays Closed. Suggested Admission: $10 adults, $5 students and seniors. For more information call (212) 535-7710 or visit www.metmuseum.org.