John Singer Sargent: The Sensualist
One of the most beloved American painters, Sargent (1856-1925) is lately undergoing critical reevaluation. Fairbrother concentrates on the quality in his work that, more than any other, appeals most powerfully to most viewers. Sargent was, museum official Mimi Gardner Gates says in the foreword, "a reserved person who made exuberant art." Essential to that exuberance is the keen attractiveness of the figures, male and female, clothed and nude, in his work. If they aren't all necessarily sexy, those that could be--robust adults--virtually always are, and few fail to evoke the desire to touch, even to caress, them. Fairbrother presents a ravishing selection of Sargent's paintings and graphic art as he explores the personal sources of the sensuousness of Sargent's work and the techniques he used to achieve it. An album of Sargent's male figure studies, printed on cream-colored stock, fetchingly concludes the book.Ray OlsonCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved