Sargent Portrait Drawings: 42 Works
by John Singer Sargent (Dover Art
Library) by John Singer Sargent
Beautiful Book
Collection of portraits, selected from public and private holdings by art
historian Trevor J. Fairbrother, reveal the technical skill and intuitive eye
for which American portrait painter John Singer Sargent is renowned.
Drawings in pencil, pastels and charcoal—a lesser-known aspect of
Sargent’s oeuvre—are shown. List of Plates. Introduction. Captions.
Personal Review: Sargent Portrait Drawings: 42 Works by John
Singer Sargent (Dover Art Library) by John Singer Sargent
It's remarkable how these quick, seemingly simple drawings contain so
much knowledge. Sargent's drawings have as much artistic merit as his
paintings. It's sad that the drawings are more obscure.

Although you have never met any of the people in this book, when you see
their faces you will understand that this person really existed. No
photograph is capable of having such a powerful presence. Some of these
drawings look like they convey several facial expressions at once. In one
single drawing the person might be smiling, might be starting to frown, they
are looking over here but in a second they might look over there. Many
great portraits created by other artists use this same illusion, most
famously the Mona Lisa. Sargent was equally proficient at drawing all
types of people, it made no difference if the subject was young or old, rich
or poor, male or female, friendly or distant.
Maybe I'm just imagining it, but it seems like not only was Sargent capable
of capturing the model's individual personality, he was also able to capture
the personality of the models occupation. Artists are portrayed as reserved
but watchful, dancers are proud and drawn as if they are actually in
motion, writers are serious and always drawn with dark shadows obscuring
half of their faces.
Like many Dover books, this is a beautiful book for little money. The
Amazon preview doesn't do it justice, because it only shows the artist's
earliest work. (And, as always, the resolution of the screen is worse than
the resolution of print.) The book is in roughly chronological order, starting
from Sargent's days as an art student. I love seeing how he improves over
time.
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