Fenimore Art Museum

The Fenimore Art Museum exhibition "John Singer Sargent: Portraits in Praise of Women" is presenting thirty of Sargent's portraits of American women, and will connect the artist's stylistic choices with the character traits of his female portrait subjects. Specifically, the exhibition illustrates the manner in which Sargent created a range of images that effectively communicated the complex changes and paradoxes in femininity in late nineteenth century America. Divided into three thematic sections—Women of Fashion, Women of Mystery, and Women of Substance—the exhibition showcases images of women who exerted leadership in the arts and society as well as in their careers and in the intellectual community. It also demonstrates Sargent's keen interest in exotic women little known or understood by an American audience, and his visual assertion of the importance of mystery in the definition of femininity.
Women of Fashion includes portraits of women who exemplified sophisticated taste and extravagance, many of whom made their homes centers of social interaction and artistic exchange. Sargent tended to paint these women with a lighter palette and an emphasis on surface textures and light, along with costume details that spoke to the sitters' wealth and taste.
Women of Mystery features exotic beauties, mainly (but not exclusively) women from cultures little known to fashionable society. These include Sargent's famous Capriote model Rosina Ferrara and perhaps his most famous (or infamous) subject of all, Virginie Avegno Gautreau, or Madame X, represented in the exhibition by two preparatory drawings for her 1883-4 portrait. In these likenesses Sargent entices the viewer with sensuous poses and emphasizes the "strange and unusual" physiognomies, costumes, and settings of his subjects. Unlike Sargent's commissioned portraits, these subjects engage the viewer in oblique ways that enhance their allure.
Women of Substance includes portrait subjects known for their contributions to higher education, professional life, or the intellectual community. Many of these women were pioneers in their fields and leaders in society. In these portraits Sargent often employs a darker palette along with restrained compositions and cerebral poses that emphasize the formidable intelligence of the sitters.
http://www.fenimoreartmuseum .org

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Travel & Events

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• Cooperstown
• American portrait art
• portraiture
• John Singer Sargent