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John Singer Sargent's Cosmopolitan Aesthetics PDF

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! ! ! ‘Curiouser  and  Curiouser':  John  Singer  Sargent’s   Cosmopolitan  Aesthetics   ! ! 2  Volumes   ! Volume  I  of  II   ! ! ! Elizabeth  Susannah  Renes   ! ! ! Ph.D.   ! ! ! UNIVERSITY  OF  YORK   ! ! ! HISTORY  OF  ART   ! ! ! January  2015 Abstract     ! In  the  introduction  to  her  For  Maurice:  Five  Unlikely  Stories  (1927),  Vernon   Lee  recounts  her  childhood  wonderings  in  Italy  with  a  young  John  Singer  Sargent,   remarking:  ‘…mysterious,  uncanny,  a  wizard,  serpent,  sphinx;  strange,  weird,  curious.   Such,  at  all  events,  were  the  adjectives,  the  comparisons,  with  which  we  capped   each  other,  my  friend  John  and  I…  .’1  Curious  is,  indeed,  a  curious  term.  This  word     and  its  associates  -­‐  bizarre,  strange,  and  exotic  -­‐  appear  habitually  in  the  literature   surrounding  Sargent,  including  in  critical  reviews  and  personal  letters.  In  the  wider   scope  of  the  late  nineteenth  century,  the  term  has  an  undeniable  Aesthetic   connotation,  being  used  widely  by  Pater  and  Lee  herself,  most  notably  in  Pater’s   discussion  of  the  Mona  Lisa  from  his  Leonardo  essay  of  1869.  A  previously   unexplored  letter  from  Sargent  to  Lee  from  20  July  1881  includes  a  fascinating  and   little  discussed  reference  to  Pater,  with  Sargent  stating,  ‘Tell  me  what  you  think  of   Pater’s  essays,  I  like  one  or  two  of  them  very  much’2  which,  in  combination  with  a     letter  from  Lee  to  her  mother  in  June  of  the  same  year,  stating  that,  ‘he  [Sargent]   goes  in  for  art  for  art’s  sake’3  implies  a  tantalizing  thread  of  association.  Did  Sargent     consider  himself  a  member  of  the  Aesthetic  cult?    If  so,  is  it  possible  to  read  the   often  eccentric  and  enigmatic  body  of  works  produced  in  his  early  career,  between   1878  and  1886,  as  being  inYluenced  by  and  acting  as  a  response  to  Aesthetic  texts?   The  aim  of  this  dissertation  is  ultimately  to  answer  with  a  resounding  ‘yes’  by   examining  closely  Sargent’s  earliest  works  in  order  to  assert  that  they  were  created,   and  performed  in  participation  with  many  of  the  dialogues  surrounding  beauty  and   sensation  in  the  last  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century.     �1  Vernon  Lee,  For  Maurice:  Five  Unlikely  Stories,  (London:  Jay  Lane,  1927),  xxx-­‐xxxi.  I   would  like  to  thank  Catherine  Maxwell  for  bringing  this  text  to  my  attention. �2  Richard  Ormond,  “John  Singer  Sargent  and  Vernon  Lee,”  The  Colby  Quarterly,  v.  9,   no.  3  (September  1970),  17. �3  Irene  Cooper  Willis,  Vernon  Lee’s  Letters,  (London:  Privately  Printed,  1937),  63.   �ii Table  of  Contents     Abstract  ____________________________________________________________________________________ii   Table  of  Contents        _______________________________________________________________________iii   List  of  Illustrations  ________________________________________________________________________v   Acknowledgements        ___________________________________________________________________xix   Author’s  Declaration    __________________________________________________________________      xx   Introduction  _______________________________________________________________________________1   I:  Curious  Impressions  and  Critical  Codes:    A  Philological  Approach  to  Sargent’s   Critical  Reviews  __________________________________________________________________________35   I/impression(ist)/m  ____________________________________________________________37   The  ‘Impression’  in  Contemporary  Movements  _______________________________51   Symbols,  Ciphers  and  Codes      ___________________________________________________55   Sargent  and  the  ‘Curious,  Strange  and  Bizarre’  _______________________________62   Literary  Sources  and  Referents  _________________________________________________65   II:  The  Aesthetic  Mentorship  of  Vernon  Lee,  Carolus-­‐Duran,  Henry  James  and  J.  M.   Whistler      _________________________________________________________________________________76   Vernon  Lee  _______________________________________________________________________79   Charles  Auguste  Émile  Durand  or  Carolus-­‐Duran  _____________________________88   Henry  James  _____________________________________________________________________93   James  McNeill  Whistler  ________________________________________________________106   III:  ‘The  Dirty  Picturesque’:  Sargent’s  Orientalism  and  Exoticism  __________________117   The  Textual  Orient:  Fromentin,  Ruskin,  Pater  and  Wilde  ___________________125   Rooftop  Rosina:  Capri  and  Naples  ____________________________________________133   ‘Strange  Fiorituras  and  Guttural  Roulades’:  Spain  and  El  Jaleo  _____________138   Atmospheric  Contrasts:  Morocco  and  Venice    _______________________________153   IV:  Portraits  d’Enfants:  The  Aesthetic  Child    __________________________________________160   The  Pailleron  Children  and  the  ‘Frankly  Individual  Being’  __________________164   �iii The  Daughters  of  Edward  Darley  Boit:  The  Cosmopolitan  Child    ___________169   Visual  Analysis:  Sargent,  Millais,  and  Renoir  _________________________________178   ‘A  Signieicant  Vulgarity’:  The  Looking,  Watchful  Child      _____________________186   Pure  Aesthetics:  Ornament  and  Pattern    _____________________________________191   In  Pastoral  Array:  Carnation,  Lily,  Lily,  Rose    _________________________________193   V:  ‘The  Mystery  of  White  Things’:  Sargent’s  Colour  Studies  ________________________200   The  Complexity  of  Colour:  Tradition,  Symbolism  and  Science    _____________202   A  Timeline  of  ‘White  Studies’:  Rossetti  and  Whistler  _______________________207   Sargent,  Whiteness  and  the  Sculptural  Body  ________________________________212   From  Dazzling  Whites  to  Half  Real  Reds:  Visual  and  Symbolic  Shifts  ______218   Sargent’s  ‘White  Girls’:  Mrs.  Henry  White  and  Madame  X  ___________________224   ‘A  Return  to  Fifteenth  Century  Ideals’  ________________________________________236   ‘There  is  an  end  on’t’:  Conclusion    ____________________________________________________243   Appendix  A    _____________________________________________________________________________251   Appendix  B    _____________________________________________________________________________256   Bibliography    ___________________________________________________________________________288   Part  I:  Primary  Sources  (before  1925)  _____________________________________________288   Part  II:  Critical  Reviews                                A:  Exhibition  Monographs  (France)  _______________________________________297                                B:  Serial  Publications  with  Authors  _______________________________________298                                C:  Serial  Publications  without  Authors  ____________________________________306                                D:  Newspapers    ______________________________________________________________308   Part  III:  Archival  Material    ___________________________________________________________310   Part  IV:  Secondary  Sources    _________________________________________________________311   Volume  II   Illustrations      ___________________________________________________________________________338   �iv Illustrations     ! Introduction   ! 1. Sir  John  Lavery,  The  Opening  of  the  Modern  Foreign  and  Sargent  Galleries  at  the   Tate  Gallery,  26  June  1926,  1929.  Oil  on  Canvas,  85.7  x  116.8  cm.  Tate,  London.   Reproduced  from  Tate  Collections  Database,  http://www.tate.org.uk  (accessed   March  2,  2014).     ! 2. John  Singer  Sargent,  Carnation,  Lily,  Lily,  Rose,  1885-­‐86.  Oil  on  Canvas,  174  x   153.7  cm.  Tate,  London.  Reproduced  from  Tate  Collections  Database,  http:// www.tate.org.uk  (accessed  March  2,  2014).     ! 3. John  Singer  Sargent,  Claude  Monet  Painting  By  the  Edge  of  the  Wood,  1885.  Oil   on  Canvas,  54  x.  64.8  cm  Tate,  London.  Reproduced  from  Tate  Collections   Database,  http://www.tate.org.uk  (accessed  March  2,  2014).     ! 4. John  Singer  Sargent,  A  Morning  Walk,  1888.  Oil  on  Canvas,  67.3  x  50.2  cm.     Private  Collection.  Reproduced  from  Ormond  and  Kilmurray,  Figures  and   Landscapes,  1883-­‐1899,  159.     ! 5. Claude  Monet,  Woman  with  a  Parasol  –  Madame  Monet  and  Her  Son,  1875.  Oil   on  Canvas,  119.4  x  99.7  cm.  National  Gallery  of  Art,  Washington,  D.C.   Reproduced  from  National  Gallery  Collections  Database,  http://www.nga.gov   (accessed  November  18,  2014).     ! 6. John  Singer  Sargent,  Madame  X,  1883-­‐84.  Oil  on  Canvas,  208.6  x  109.9  cm.     Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art,  New  York.  Reproduced  from  Met  Collections   Database,  http://www.metmuseum.org/collection  (accessed  March  2,  2014).       ! 7. Edouard  Manet,  Study  for  Le  Balcon:  Portrait  of  Mademoiselle  Claus,  1868.    Oil   on  Canvas,  111  x  70cm.  Ashmolean  Museum,  Oxford.  Reproduced  from   Ashmolean  Collections  Database,  http://www.ashmolean.org  (accessed  March   7,  2014).     ! 8. Edouard  Manet,  Irises,  1880.  Watercolour  on  Paper,  35.5  x  25.4  cm.  Private   Collection.  Reproduced  from  Ormond  and  Kilmurray,  The  Early  Portraits,  16.     ! �v 9. John  Singer  Sargent,  Fumée  D’Ambregris,  1880.  Oil  on  Canvas,  139.1  x  90.6cm.   Sterling  and  Francine  Clark  Art  Institute,  Williamstown,  Mass.  Reproduced   from  Clark  Art  Collections  Database,  http://www.clarkart.edu  (accessed   November  18,  2014).   ! 10. John  Singer  Sargent,  Portrait  D’Enfants  or  The  Daughters  of  Edward  Darley  Boit,   1882.  Oil  on  Canvas,  221.9  x  222.5  cm.  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston.  Museum   of  Fine  Arts  Collections  Database,  http://www.mfa.org  (accessed  March  3,   2014).   ! 11. John  Everett  Millais,  Autumn  Leaves,  1856.  Oil  on  Canvas,  104.3  x  74  cm.   Manchester  City  Art  Galleries,  Manchester.  Reproduced  from  ArtStor,  http:// www.artstor.org  (accessed  March  3,  2014).   ! 12. Pierre  Auguste  Renoir,  Children’s  Afternoon  at  the  Wargemont,  1884.  Oil  on   Canvas,  173  x  127  cm.  Alte  Nationalgalerie,  Staatliche  Museen  Ze  Berlin,  Berlin.   Reproduced  from  ArtStor,  http://www.artstor.org  (accessed  March  3,  2014).   ! 13. John  Singer  Sargent,  Margaret  Stuyvescent  Rutherfurd  White,  or  Mrs.  Henry   White,  1883.  Oil  on  Canvas,  225.1  x  143.8  cm.  Corcoran  Gallery  of  Art,   Washington,  D.C.  Reproduced  from  Corcoran  Collections  Database,  http:// collection.corcoran.org  (accessed  March  3,  2014).       ! 14. John  Singer  Sargent,  En  Route  Pour  la  Pêche  or  Oyster  Gatherers  at  Cancale,   1878.  Oil  on  Canvas,  78.8  x  122.8  cm.  Corcoran  Gallery  of  Art,  Washington,  D.C.   Reproduced  from  Corcoran  Collections  Database,  http:// collection.corcoran.org  (accessed  March  3,  2014).       ! 15. James  McNeill  Whistler,  Symphony  in  White  No.  1:  The  White  Girl,  1862.  Oil  on   Canvas,  213  x  107.9  cm.  National  Gallery  of  Art,  Washington,  D.C.  Reproduced   from  National  Gallery  Collections  Database,  http://www.nga.gov  (accessed   November  18,  2014).   ! 16. James  McNeill  Whistler,  Symphony  in  White  No.  2:  The  Little  White  Girl,  1864,   Tate,  London.  Oil  on  Canvas,  76.5  x  51.1  cm.  Reproduced  from  Tate  Collections   Database,  http://www.tate.org.uk    (accessed  November  18,  2014).     ! �vi 17. Dante  Gabriel  Rossetti,  Ecce  Ancilla  Domini!  Or  The  Annunciation,  1849-­‐50,  Oil   on  Canvas,  72.4  x  41.9  cm.  Tate,  London.  Reproduced  from  Tate  Collections   Database,  http://www.tate.org.uk    (accessed  November  30,  2014).     ! Chapter  One   ! 18. John  Singer  Sargent,  El  Jaleo,  1882,  Oil  on  Canvas,  232  x  348  cm.  Isabella   Stewart  Gardner  Museum,  Boston.  Reproduced  from  Wikimedia  Commons,   http://commons.wikimedia.org  (accessed  November  18,  2014).   ! 19. John  Singer  Sargent,  Madame  Ramón  Subercaseaux,  1880-­‐81,  Oil  on  Canvas,   165.1  x  109.9  cm.  Private  Collection.  Reproduced  from  Wikimedia  Commons,   http://commons.wikimedia.org  (accessed  November  18,  2014).     ! 20. John  Singer  Sargent,  Madame  Edouard  Pailleron,  1879.  Oil  on  Canvas,  208.3  x   100.3  cm.  Corcoran  Gallery  of  Art,  Washington,  D.C.  Reproduced  from  Corcoran   Collections  Database,  http://collection.corcoran.org  (accessed  January  5,   2015).     ! 21. John  Singer  Sargent,  Neapolitan  Children  Bathing,  1879.  Oil  on  Canvas,  267  x   413  cm.  Francine  and  Sterling  Clark  Art  Institute,  Williamstown,  Mass.   Reproduced  from  Clark  Art  Collections  Database,  http://www.clarkart.edu   (accessed  November  18,  2014).   ! 22. John  Singer  Sargent,  Carolus-­‐Duran,  1879.  Oil  on  Canvas,  116.8  x  95.9  cm.   Sterling  and  Francine  Clark  Art  Institute,  Williamstown,  Mass.  Reproduced   from  Clark  Art  Collections  Database,  http://www.clarkart.edu  (accessed   November  18,  2014).     ! 23. John  Singer  Sargent,  The  Pailleron  Children,  1881.  Oil  on  Canvas,  152.4  x  175.3   cm.  Des  Moines  Art  Center,  Des  Moines,  Iowa.  Reproduced  from  Wikimedia   Commons,  http://commons.wikimedia.org  (accessed  November  18,  2014).   ! 24. Claude  Monet,  Impression,  Soleil  Levant,  1872.  Oil  on  Canvas,  48  x  63  cm.  Musée   Marmottan  Monet,  Paris.  Reproduced  from  ArtStor,  http://www.artstor.org   (accessed  March  3,  2014).   ! �vii 25. John  Singer  Sargent,  Dans  les  Oliviers  à  Capri,  1878.  Oil  on  Canvas,  76.2  x  63.5   cm.  Private  Collection.  Reproduced  from  Ormond  and  Kilmurray,  Figures  and   Landscapes,  1874-­‐1882,  162.     ! 26. John  Singer  Sargent,  Mrs.  Thomas  Wodehouse  Legh,  1884.  Oil  on  Canvas,  119.4  x   94  cm.  Private  Collection.  Reproduced  from  The  Athenaeum  Image  Database,   http://www.the-­‐athenaeum.org/  (accessed  April  14,  2014).     ! Chapter  Two     ! 27. John  Singer  Sargent,  Paul  Helleu,  1882-­‐85.  Watercolour  on  Paper,  23.5  x  37.3   cm.  Private  Collection.  Reproduced  from  Ormond  and  Kilmurray,  The  Early   Portraits,  95.       ! 28. Giovanni  Boldini,  Portrait  of  James  McNeill  Whistler,  1897.  Oil  on  Canvas,  170.8   x  94.6  cm.  Brooklyn  Museum  of  Art,  New  York  City.  Reproduced  from  the   Brooklyn  Museum  of  Art  Online  Collections  Database,  http:// www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/collections/  (accessed  December   1,  2014).     ! 29. Violet  Paget  (Vernon  Lee)  as  a  child,  c.  1870.  Black  and  white  photographic   print.  Colby  College,  Vernon  Lee  Papers,  Waterville,  Maine.  Reproduced  from   Colby,  Vernon  Lee:  A  Literary  Biography,  no  page  number  given.     ! 30. John  Singer  Sargent,  Vernon  Lee,  1881.  Oil  on  Canvas,  53.7  x  43.2cm.  Tate,   London.  Tate  Collections  Database,  http://www.tate.org.uk  (accessed  March  7,   2014).     ! 31. John  Singer  Sargent,  Portrait  of  Vernon  Lee,  1889.  Graphite  pencil  on  Paper,   33.7  x  22.9  cm.  Ashmolean  Museum,  Oxford.  Reproduced  from  Ashmolean   Collections  Database,  http://www.ashmolean.org  (accessed  March  7,  2014).   ! 32. Charles  Auguste-­‐Émile  Durand,  or  Carolus-­‐Duran,  La  Dame  Au  Gant,  1869.  Oil   on  Canvas,  228  x  164  cm.  Musée  D’Orsay,  Paris.  Reproduced  from  ArtStor,   http://www.artstor.org  (accessed  March  7,  2014).   ! 33. Diego  Velázquez,  Las  Meninas  (detail),  1656.  Oil  on  Canvas,  318  x  276  cm.   Museo  del  Prado,  Madrid.  Reproduced  from  ArtStor,  http://www.artstor.org   (accessed  March  7,  2014).   �viii ! 34. Léon  Bonnat,  Jules  Grévy,  1880.  Oil  on  Canvas,  111  x  147  cm.  Musée  D’Orsay,   Paris.  Reproduced  from  Wikimedia  Commons,  http://commons.wikimedia.org   (accessed  November  18,  2014).   ! 35. Charles  Auguste-­‐Émile  Durand,  or  Carolus-­‐Duran,  The  Convalescent,  1860.  Oil   on  Canvas,  99  x  126  cm.  Musée  D’Orsay,  Paris.  Reproduced  from  ArtStor,   http://www.artstor.org  (accessed  March  7,  2014).   ! 36. Charles  Auguste-­‐Émile  Durand,  or  Carolus-­‐Duran,  Murdered,  or  The   Assassination,  1866.  Oil  on  Canvas,  280  x  420  cm.  Palais  des  Beaux-­‐Arts,  Lille.   Reproduced  from  ArtStor,  http://www.artstor.org  (accessed  March  7,  2014).   ! 37. John  Singer  Sargent,  Sketch  for  Carolus-­‐Duran,  1878.  Oil  on  panel,  34.3  x  26.7   cm.  Estate  of  Mrs.  Norman  B.  Woolworth.  Ormond  and  Kilmurray,  The  Early   Portraits,  45.     ! 38. John  Singer  Sargent,  George  Hitchcock,  1880.  Watercolour  on  paper,  22.7  x  29   cm.  Private  Collection.  Ormond  and  Kilmurray,  The  Early  Portraits,  88-­‐89.     ! 39. John  Singer  Sargent,  Judith  Gautier  or  A  Gust  of  Wind,  c.  1883-­‐85.  Oil  on  canvas,   61.3  x  38.1  cm.  Private  Collection.  Ormond  and  Kilmurray,  The  Early  Portraits,   83.     ! 40. John  Singer  Sargent,  Lady  with  a  Rose  (Charlotte  Louise  Burckhardt),  1882.  Oil   on  Canvas,  213.4  x  113.7cm.  Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art,  New  York.   Reproduced  from  Met  Collections  Database,  http://www.metmuseum.org/ collection  (accessed  March  7,  2014).   ! 41. John  Singer  Sargent,  Portrait  of  Henry  James,  Lost.  Dimensions  Unknown.     Reproduced  from  The  Yellow  Book,  v.  2  (July  1894),  193.     ! 42. Giovanni  Boldini,  A  Portrait  of  John  Singer  Sargent  (Standing),  c.  1890.  Oil  on   Panel,  32.6  x  28  cm.  Private  Collection.  Reproduced  from  Wikimedia  Commons,   http://commons.wikimedia.org  (accessed  December  1,  2014).   ! �ix 43. Giovanni  Boldini,  Uneinished  Portrait  of  John  Singer  Sargent,  c.  1890.  Oil  on   Panel,  27  x  22  cm.  Private  Collection.  Reproduced  from  Wikimedia  Commons,   http://commons.wikimedia.org  (accessed  December  1,  2014).   ! 44. John  Singer  Sargent,  Portrait  of  Henry  James,  1912.  Charcoal  on  Paper,  61.8  x  41   cm.  The  Royal  Collection,  Windsor  Castle.  Reproduced  from  The  Royal   Collection  Trust  Database,  http://www.royalcollection.org.uk  (accessed   November  18,  2014).     ! 45. John  Singer  Sargent,  Henry  James,  1913.  Oil  on  Canvas,  85.1  x  67.3  cm.  National   Portrait  Gallery,  London.  Reproduced  from  National  Portrait  Gallery  Collections   Database,  http://www.npg.org.uk  (accessed  March  2,  2014).   ! 46. Henri  Fantin-­‐Latour,  Hommage  à  Delacroix,  1864.  Oil  on  Canvas,  160  x  250  cm.   Musée  D’Orsay,  Paris.  Reproduced  from  Wikimedia  Commons,  http:// commons.wikimedia.org  (accessed  November  18,  2014).   ! 47. Henri  Fantin-­‐Latour,  study  for  Le  Toast!  Hommage  à  Verité,  n.d.  (probably  May   1865).  Graphite  and  Pierre  Noire  on  Paper,  14.3  x  23.1  cm.  Département  des   Arts  Graphiques,  Musée  du  Louvre,  Paris.  Reproduced  from  Alsdorf,  “Fantin’s   Failed  Toast  to  Truth”,  57.     ! 48. John  Singer  Sargent,  Venetian  Women  in  the  Palazzo  Rezzonico,  1880-­‐81.  Oil  on   Canvas,  45.1  x  63.5  cm.  Private  Collection.  Reproduced  from  The  Athenaeum   Image  Database,  http://www.the-­‐athenaeum.org/  (accessed  March  7,  2014).     ! 49. Ralph  Curtis,  James  McNeill  Whistler  at  a  Party,  1879-­‐80.  Oil  on  Canvas,  116.8  x   80  cm.  Private  Collection.  Reproduced  from  Wikimedia  Commons,  http:// commons.wikimedia.org  (accessed  November  18,  2014).   ! 50. John  Singer  Sargent,  Dr.  Pozzi  at  Home,  1881.  Oil  on  Canvas,  204.5  x  111.4  cm.   UCLA  at  the  Armand  Hammer  Museum  of  Art  and  Cultural  Center,  Los  Angeles.   Reproduced  from  ArtStor,  http://www.artstor.org  (accessed  March  3,  2014).     ! 51. James  McNeill  Whistler,  Harmony  in  Red:  Lamplight,  1886.  Oil  on  Canvas,  190.5   x  89.5  cm.  Hunterian  Museum  and  Art  Gallery,  Glasgow.  Reproduced  from  the   Hunterian  Museum  Collections  Database,  http://www.huntsearch.gla.ac.uk   (accessed  November  18,  2014).     ! �x

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The 'Impression' in Contemporary Movements. 51 Sir John Lavery, The Opening of the Modern Foreign and Sargent Galleries at the .. John Singer Sargent, Alhambra, Patio de los Leones or Architectural Sketch,. 1879 .. That 'art for art's sake' as a phrase in itself had a dual, international basis of.
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