Sargent's Women: Four Lives Behind the Canvas
Category: Books,Biographies & Memoirs,Arts & Literature
Sargent's Women: Four Lives Behind the Canvas Details
Review “[A] lyrical meditation on life, love, and art in the Gilded Age.… Sargent’s Women abounds with dazzling characters in atmospheric settings.” - Jane Kamensky, Wall Street Journal“Straight from the pages of a novel by Edith Wharton or Henry James.” - Michael Prodger, The Times (London)“Like characters from the writings of Edith Wharton, [these women] were smart, passionate, willful, adventurous and striking-looking.… Lucey’s prose is invitingly conversational and quick-flowing. Her character sketches are colorful and she is not, thank goodness, above conveying some wonderfully catty gossip.” - Alexander C. Kafka, Washington Post“Ingenious.” - Frances Wilson, Times Literary Supplement“Lucey champion[s] unconventional women… piecing together their intricate lost stories, and the stormy brew of scandal and repression that affected these women―and Sargent himself.” - Estelle Tang, Elle“Many penetrating insights into the studiously private Sargent.” - Weekly Standard“[A] vivid adventure.” - Antiques and the Arts Weekly“Lucey upends our assumption that elite women of the Gilded Age were confined to a limited domestic sphere. The four women she profiles were rule-breakers and worldly sophisticates who powered through extreme challenges imposed by family, social norms, and illness. Each was painted by Sargent, but Lucey's narrative portraits upstage even his brilliant renderings, revealing four not-to-be-denied women of strength and determination.” - Elizabeth Broun, former director, Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Renwick Gallery“Sargent’s Women has a distinct elegance, energy, and potency―Lucey’s writing propels you forward, straight to the heart of the story, along the vibrant ties that linked this fascinating artist to the women he made infamous.” - Christene Barberich, global editor-in-chief and co-founder, Refinery29“In Donna M. Lucey’s deft hands, four John Singer Sargent portraits become portals to the Gilded Age. By delving into the lives of the heiresses he painted she brings us into their scintillating world. We watch as they travel the globe, twirl through ballrooms, make good or not-so-good marriages, embark on affairs―and pursue new careers in a time of changing roles for women.” - Laura J. Snyder, author of Eye of the Beholder: Johannes Vermeer, Antoni Van Leeuwenhoek, and the Reinvention of Seeing Read more About the Author Donna M. Lucey is the author of the New York Times best-selling Archie and Amélie and other books, the recipient of two National Endowment for the Humanities grants, and a 2017 writer-in-residence at Edith Wharton’s The Mount. The media editor at the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, she lives in Charlottesville. Read more
Reviews
Have you ever looked at a portrait and wondered who the person was and what their life was like? Had they been chosen as a subject to pose for the artist or had they chosen the artist to portray them? Was the portrait done because the subject was famous or the artist was? A portrait can bring so many questions to mind about both the subject and the artist. Portraits are - hands down - my absolute favorite art. (You can keep your French haystacks; give me an interesting face any old time!)Donna Lucey has written "Sargent's Women: Four Lives Behind the Canvas". She delves into the lives of four women - all painted first around the 1890's - who were either painted by John Singer Sargent or - in one case - had a sister who was. Lucey - who has written about the Gilded Age both in the US and the UK in previous books - chose four women out of the many painted by Sargent in his long career. My minor problem with the book is the choice of the four women she chose to write about. All four were similar - wealthy young women from prominent American families who were as at home in English high society as they were in the rarefied air of Boston and New York City. (Though Lucey does point out the amusing differences between the two American cities.)It would be helpful if the reader has some knowledge of the artist John Singer Sargent - American-born, British-bred - and the times he painted in. Photographic portraits had begun to be popular by the 1880's, but painted portraits still reigned as the popular method for preserving the subject forever in art. Sargent was hired by many prominent families at the time to paint themselves and their children. Some subjects - Isabella Stewart Gardner, for instance - were painted more than once in their lifetimes. Sargent painted other subjects but he was most famous for his portraits.Donna Lucey does a good job at looking at the lives - most led somewhat restricted lives because of their gender, their familial circumstances, or their health. Two gained fame due to artistic endeavors - one collected art and the other was a painter of miniatures - while the other two lived quieter lives. John Singer Sargent had a tenuous connection with a couple of the women; his having painted their portraits seemed to be the only link. With the two others, he was a bit more in their lives. As I was reading Lucey's book, however, I couldn't help but wish that she had maybe chosen someone other than Isabella Stewart Gardner to highlight. Her life story is pretty well known. I'd have liked to have read about a woman, who like the previous three, were not well-known. But, okay, here's the thing. The author has the right to choose who she wants to write about. Just like a portrait artist has the right to paint whoever he chooses - financial considerations aside. And Donna Lucey has written a good book about the lives behind the canvas.