John Singer Sargent: Portraits in Charcoal

This is the first major exhibition since 1925 to explore Sargent’s expressive drawings in charcoal, illuminating the magnitude of his abilities as a portrait draftsman. The drawings in the <a href="https://www.artgeek.io/exhibitions/5ccf5b99e52986fa2f45d51a/5ccf5b99e52986fa2f45d519" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">John Singer Sargent: Portraits in Charcoal </a>exhibition at the <a href="https://www.artgeek.io/museums/569e6f67a8f28f9622b89020" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Morgan Library and Museum </a>represent an important yet often overlooked part of Sargent’s practice. John Singer Sargent (1856–1925) is widely known for his powerful figural paintings, especially his majestic portraits of society ladies. But the arduous sittings — a dozen or more — that were required to complete a single portrait took a toll on both sitter and artist. For the most part, in 1907 he stopped painting portraits (or “paughtraits,” as he called them). “I abhor and abjure them and hope never to do another especially of the Upper Classe,” he wrote in a letter to a friend. From then on, if he could satisfy a portrait commission with a charcoal drawing, he was game. He could complete a portrait in a single sitting of two or three hours, in which time he produced pictures projecting a sense of immediacy and psychological insight — the essence of his subject captured. <a href="https://artgeek.medium.com/john-singer-sargent-portraits-in-charcoal-af44104c3a56">Learn More</a>