Talk:John Singer Sargent

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Wider painting range

I'm just curious if anyone else is interested in a wider range of paintings on his wikipedia, there are only oil paintings, and 3 of them are portraits. Showing such small part of his talents isn't good! Maybe add a Scene painting in oil and another in watercolour?

John Singer Sargent, 1887

I found and scanned this nifty profile engraving of Sargent from a 1887 issue of Harper's Magazine. The article seems well filled with images for the length, so I'm addidng it here in talk for future reference. -- Infrogmation 01:47, 13 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Portrait of Madame X

Is there a reason why there is no image of Portrait of Madame X on the Sargent page? It seems odd that his favorite, most famous, and best work should be left out.

--Victoria h 20:02, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

Perhaps in part because we have a seperate Portrait of Madame X article, linked from this one? I suppose there could be good arguments made either way on including this famous work up front or other excellent though somewhat less familiar pieces here. -- Infrogmation 20:40, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

Discussing his possible sexual preference

The current section on Relationships is written with unclear language. This sentence is particularly unclear: "Some scholars have suggested that Sargent was homosexual, albeit a non-practicing one; not only because of his personal associations (such as with Prince Edmond de Polignac and Count Robert de Montesquiou), but because of the way his sensibility shaped his art."

"albeit a non-practicing one" - I don't know what a "non-practicing" homosexual is. We would not say that someone is a "non-practicing hetereosexual" simply because they did not make notorious if or with whom they were having heterosexual sex.

"not only because of his personal associations" - this phrasing does not clearly tell the reader whether his associations with these men should lead to a greater or lesser implication that he was homosexual. Without more knowledge, a reader may think these were famous heterosexual men whose association would have discouraged Sargent from revealing he was homosexual. It might be best to not mention either man if the nature of his relationship with them cannot be affirmatively stated as "homosexual" or "not homosexual."

This might be more clear (yet still unclear about his associations with the 2 specific men) and give more examples of his appreciation of male sensuality:

"Some scholars have suggested that Sargent was homosexual. He had personal associations with Prince Edmond de Polignac and Count Robert de Montesquiou. His male nudes reveal complex and well-considered artistic sensibilities about the male physique and male sensuality. This can be particularly observed in his portrait of Thomas E. McKeller, but also in Tommies Bathing, nude sketches for Hell and Judgement, and sensual portraits of young men, like Bartholomy Maganosco and Head of Olimpio Fusco. He also had an exotic 'otherness' implicit in his general work. It has been suggested that it was this quality which appealed to the sympathies of his many Jewish clients which he painted in the 1890s." Onemoreoption 05:11, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

• This rewording regarding the ambiguities of Sargent's personal life is welcome, and just makes good sense. When I see a heading for him reading 'relationships' I think also of the public Sargent, who was comfortable and friendly with painters and kings alike, and reportedly played the piano, at a professional performance level, in social gatherings. JNW 17:26, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

brooklynmuseum.org external link

This link: Brooklyn Museum Exhibition in 2005 was added to the article by the site owner. In keeping with our guidelines could regular editors of this article check out the link and add it back if you think it appropriate. Thanks. -- Siobhan Hansa 00:31, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

the Brooklyn Museum has one of the most extensive collections of Sargent watercolors in existance, so i think so :)

Marchioness Curzon

I have reverted the portrait of the Marchioness for the following reasons: 1. Of his hundreds of portraits and thousands of paintings, this is by no stretch one of Sargent's best or most important works, 2. rather, it seems to have been included in order to link with the new biography on the Marchioness, and 3. its inclusion and subsequent changes to the page's format did no service to its composition. JNW 04:16, 7 April 2007 (UTC)

• Now re-introduced as a footnote to article. JNW 05:50, 7 April 2007 (UTC)
• I judged it notable because it was his last oil, of a notable person. Article should be more history lesson than art show.It fit.-Marcus 06:04, 7 April 2007 (UTC)

See my explanation above. The inclusion of the portrait was interesting, but not important in Sargent's career, aside from the accident of it being his last portrait, which does merit a footnote.

If the bio were a history lesson, there would be many portraits of historically more important figures than the Marchioness to include. But it is a biography on the artist, and as such, is well-served to feature several of his greatest paintings. The choice of images and layout of the page (page composition is discussed in Wikipedia's suggestions to editors section) serve a greater purpose than that of an 'art show'--it is Sargent's history. As a result, aesthetic judgments, not just ours as contributors, but those of scholarly historical precedent, are relevant. JNW 12:47, 7 April 2007 (UTC)

gassed

Am I being slow or does this article fail to make any reference to gassed or Sargent's work as an official war artist? What a complete joke. Dr Spam (MD) 13:13, 21 May 2007 (UTC)

• If there's something missing, ADD IT. That's the whole point of wikipedia, friend... :) --Etacar11 14:13, 21 May 2007 (UTC)

TerminArtors external link

I have included the following external link to this page: „John Singer Sargent's paintings on TerminArtors”. The linked page displays 439 categorized paintings of the Italian master (as of Oct 10, 2007). TerminArtors is a community based paintings gallery. Abenhakan 21:29, 10 October 2007 (UTC)

Start class?

Surely I am biased for having worked on this article, but I do think it has transcended its current status as "start class". JNW (talk) 03:54, 20 November 2007 (UTC)

• I'm with you. :) Who decides when to change the status? --Etacar11 13:50, 20 November 2007 (UTC)

• Good question--I would think any interested party who has not worked much on the article. Probably we can look up the guidelines for rating articles to find out more. Thanks, JNW (talk) 15:23, 20 November 2007 (UTC)

Mystery age

If Sargent was born in 1856 and died in 1925, how can he possibly have been 74 at the time of his death? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.135.119.87 (talk) 20:07, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for pointing this out. I've corrected it. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 20:24, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

Grand Central Art Galleries

It's a well written and researched section. My question is, given the relatively small role this played in Sargent's life, does it merit such prominence here? Much of the literature on Sargent doesn't even mention it. Side note: while it was in existence I sat in on a late night poker game with the director and friends. Anyway, I think it's a case of WP:UNDUE, but I hate to remove good text without some consensus. JNW (talk) 22:56, 24 April 2010 (UTC)

Likewise, controversy over the Boston murals receives undue weight, and would be better placed as part of a section on the murals in total. JNW (talk) 13:51, 25 June 2011 (UTC)