Sargent
was off to a brilliant start in Paris, when, in 1884, his defiance of
the conventions of style and taste damaged his standing. At the Salon
of that year he entered Madame X -- perhaps his most famous picture
today -- and it provoked a public outcry. The sitter, Madame Gautreau,
the American-born wife of a French businessman, was celebrated in society.
She cultivated her sharp beauty by setting off her bluish complexion with
white powder. In Sargent’s portrait, her proud stance and provocative
dress (even more so in the original version, in which she was depicted
with the right strap slipped off of her shoulder) were judged outlandish
and shocking -- to the point that Madame Gautreau’s mother begged
the artist to remove the painting from exhibition. The scandal prompted
Sargent to leave Paris. He spent several months of the following years
in England, where he eventually settled in 1886, at the urging of his
friend Henry James. (continue)
Sargent
was off to a brilliant start in Paris, when, in 1884, his defiance of
the conventions of style and taste damaged his standing. At the Salon
of that year he entered Madame X -- perhaps his most famous picture
today -- and it provoked a public outcry. The sitter, Madame Gautreau,
the American-born wife of a French businessman, was celebrated in society.
She cultivated her sharp beauty by setting off her bluish complexion with
white powder. In Sargent’s portrait, her proud stance and provocative
dress (even more so in the original version, in which she was depicted
with the right strap slipped off of her shoulder) were judged outlandish
and shocking -- to the point that Madame Gautreau’s mother begged
the artist to remove the painting from exhibition. The scandal prompted
Sargent to leave Paris. He spent several months of the following years
in England, where he eventually settled in 1886, at the urging of his
friend Henry James. (
