Sargent: The Watercolours

When my wife and I were last at the Clark Art Museum I purchased this book. It is titled Sargent: The Watercolours, by Richard Ormond and Elaine Kilmurray. I have not read this in it's entirety but it already makes me look at John Singer Sargent's watercolors in a different light. 

The low angle which Sargent preferred to view or portray his subject is clear as day. In the photography of Sargent's watercolors, or at least those selected for this book, one can feel the brushstrokes made across the paper with either dry or wet edges. Most of all, perhaps, is Sargent's direct approach to painting with minimal fussing around. As a result of his mastery of drawing, or sureness of line, his economy of colors radiate from the paper. This moved me in ways no other watercolor paintings have, period.

John Singer Sargent not unlike his sister Emily, never married and shared a mutual interest in the arts. I have read in previous books on Sargent, Emily's understated interest in watercolor. However, on page 142 I was thrown when the authors state that a 'recent discovery of more than five hundred of her watercolours in a family trunk has confirmed her talent and revealed her as a serious and dedicated painter.'

While writing this piece I find it ironic because it is hard to find watercolors on exhibit when I attend most major art museums. I have asked countless museum employees if there are any watercolors on exhibit. They either do not know or seldom exhibit works on paper. Now I understand watercolor paintings are sensitive to light and the paper can and will deteriorate. 

However, we live in a time when the technology for art preservation and the evolution of materials are greater than perhaps, any point in history. Watercolor has become a unique American medium due to it's portability and low cost. We owe Winslow Homer some credit for this as most of his art materials were not available at the time in America. As a result, plein air painting has grown in popularity ever since.