Watercolors

Perhaps as an antidote to formal portraits, Sargent turned increasingly to watercolor after 1900. He produced seven hundred works in this medium between 1900 and 1914, from quick travel notes to more elaborate studies. Painted mostly outdoors, they include images of gardens, architectural fragments, exotic figure studies, boats, fruit, and foliage. In depictions of Venice, which he visited almost yearly, Sargent’s favorite perspective was from a gondola, at water level. Very fluid and painterly, Sargent’s watercolors were composed directly in color. Rarely were the forms outlined in pencil. Blue often dominates his Venetian scenes as if not only the water but also the stones and boats reflect the sky in the light of the lagoon. (continue)

International Artist | Triumph and Scandal | Impressionism
Portrait Painter | Watercolors | Late Studies | Brochure Images