Local recanteur and Harmony Hall Curator Geoff Welch returns to the South Salon at the old Jacob Sloats House Friday, May 11, to shed new light on the works of American master painter John Singer Sargent. Renowned as one of the most brilliant portrait painters of his time, his images of water are too often overlooked. History shows that Sargent could hold a brush with most any painter, past or present.
Welch will revisit Sargent’s water images by taking a whirlwind tour around the world, focusing on these more intimate Sargent travel paintings and covering some 100 slides.
As Andy Warhol once said, Sargent “made everybody look glamorous. Taller. Thinner. But they all have mood, every one of them has a different mood.”
The same can be said of his watercolors.
John Singer Sargent was born in 1856 in Florence, Italy of American expatriate parents, and studied art in Paris. A near virtuoso, he enjoyed early success. And critics pummeled for it. His European “foreigness” is what often detracted from Sargent’s reputation in the U.S. Controversy drove him to London and success where he became famous and wealthy for his striking portraits that today epitomize Edwardian era society. Power and beauty became the essential subjects of his portraits.
Remembered by most art lovers as a master of portraiture, Sargent also produced any number of more personal works during his wide travels, including marvelously rendered oils and watercolors. A world-class traveler, Sargent painted water everywhere he saw it, from seas to brooks, from Brittany, Normandy and Capri, to Venetian fountains, the Mediterranian and roiling streams in the Canadian Rockies.
Welch will explore all things Sargent, as well as play some music.
Presented by the Town of Ramapo and the Friends of Harmony Hall – The Jacob Sloat House, Sargent’s Images of Water takes place at Harmony Hall in sloatsburg, Friday, May 11, at 7:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. For additional information, call (845) 712-5220.
Source: Geoff Welch. Image: John Singer Sargent, On His Holidays, Oil on Canvas, 1901.
