Simplon Pass: Reading by John Singer Sargent - about 1911 - 35.7 x h51 cm Museum of Fine Arts Boston Simplon Pass: Reading by John Singer Sargent - about 1911 - 35.7 x h51 cm Museum of Fine Arts Boston

Simplon Pass: Reading

Translucent and opaque watercolor, with wax resist, over graphite on paper • 35.7 x h51 cm
  • John Singer Sargent - January 12, 1856 - April 14, 1925 John Singer Sargent about 1911

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John Singer Sargent was an American expatriate artist, considered the leading portrait painter of his generation for his evocations of Edwardian-era luxury. He created roughly 900 oil paintings and more than 2,000 watercolors, as well as countless sketches and charcoal drawings. His oeuvre documents worldwide travel, from Venice to the Tyrol, Corfu, the Middle East, Montana, Maine, and Florida.

From the beginning, Sargent's 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. Art historians generally ignored "society" artists such as Sargent until the late 20th century.

P.S. You can see another of these lovely watercolors of Sargent here. It's Simplon Pass: The Lesson, from the same series. <3