John Singer Sargent
John Singer Sargent was an American artist, considered to be the "leading portrait
painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian Era luxury. During his career, he created roughly 900 oil paintings and more than 2,000 watercolors as well as countless sketches and charcoal drawings. His exhibits travel worldwide, from Venice to Tyrol, Corfu, the Middle East, Montana, Maine, and Florida, for example. His parents were American, but he was trained in Paris prior to moving to London.
Sargent enjoyed international acclaim as a portrait painter, although not without controversy and some critical reservation; an early submission to the Paris Salon of his Portrait of Madame X was intended to consolidate his position as a society painter, but it resulted in a scandal instead. From the beginning, his work was characterized by remarkable technical facility, particularly in his ability to draw with a brush, which in later years, inspired admiration as well as criticism for a supposed superficiality. His commissioned works were consistent with the grand manner of portraiture while his informal studies and landscape paintings displayed a familiarity with Impressionism. In later life, Sargent expressed ambivalence about the restrictions of formal portrait work and devoted much of his energy to mural painting and working en plein air. He lived most of his life in Europe.