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Title: Strapless: John Singer Sargent and the Fall of Madame X by Deborah Davis, John Singer Sargent ISBN: 1-58542-221-5 Publisher: J. P. Tarcher Pub. Date: 24 July, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.23 (13 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Madame X lives again in "Strapless"
Comment: Absolutely captivating! "Strapless" drew me in from Chapter 1, and I remained glued to its pages until the last one turned. This book is one of those rare gems that you're sad to finish. Davis' chronicle of life in Belle Epoque Paris, the art world, and the culture of the day is simply fascinating. She bestows a vivid account of the people behind the portrait in such grand detail that it felt like I was right there peaking out from behind a canvas. Her wit and insight were wonderfully entertaining. I'm so looking forward to reading more from this new author! If you're looking for a must read -- here it is!
Rating: 5
Summary: "The unpaintable beauty and hopeless laziness..."
Comment: The title of this review refers to something John Singer Sargent wrote in a letter when he was attempting to complete the "Madame X," painting. He was having a great deal of difficulty in deciding what pose Madame Gautreau should adopt for the painting. It didn't help that the 24 year old woman appeared to suffer from Attention Deficit Disorder: she hated to hold a pose. She was rich, she was young, and, well, she had other things to do! I have to admit that when I read on the book jacket that "Deborah Davis is a writer and veteran film executive...",I was a bit put off. I thought, "Oh, this is going to be presented in a 'Hollywood' way, with a lot of style but no substance." Well, shame on me. Ms. Davis (who admits she is not an art "expert") has written a very good book. Although the book is relatively brief, the author covers a lot of ground. Even though the book is not meant to be a biography of Sargent, we still get a pretty good feel for what the man was like: sensitive, intelligent, ambitious, lonely and sexually conflicted. Sargent had already made a pretty good name for himself before he painted Amelie Gautreau. By painting a celebrated beauty, however, he was going for the brass ring - he was hoping to become even more well known and to generate more commissions for portraits of the rich and famous. When Ms. Davis talks about the actual public display of the painting at the 1884 Paris Salon, she also is quite good. We learn about the quirks of a culture where it was perfectly fine to have acres of naked flesh cavorting in a historical painting, but it was scandalous to have a fallen shoulder strap if you were painting a real, contemporary woman. Although this is not an academic work, it is still fascinating from a psychological/sociological standpoint. While Sargent was working on the portrait, Amelie (and her mother) thought it was wonderful. However, after the critics trashed it (and the public found it immoral), mother and daughter wanted nothing more to do with it. Sargent kept the painting because Amelie Gautreau wouldn't buy it. She had wanted fame, but not of this sort. Sargent had to "re-group" and for later Salons came up with paintings that were non-controversial but still showed off his virtuosity. After awhile the scandal was forgotten and Sargent was back in vogue. (In a classic case of "Be careful what you wish for, you might get it," in later years Sargent was so much in demand for portraits that he no longer wanted to do them. As Ms. Davis writes, "Sargent derisively spelled the word 'paughtrait,' and declared 'No more mugs!' to whoever would listen.) As Amelie Gautreau got older, and as the public forgot about her, she, sadly, began longing for any kind of fame. She commissioned other portraits, none of which could measure up to Sargent's. In 1891, in a pictorial shout for attention, she had Gustave Courtois do a portrait of her: she posed in a white gown (rather than the black gown she had worn for Sargent), with, yes, a fallen shoulder strap. If this book has any fault, it is that Amelie Gautreau comes across as a bit of a cipher. All we see are her vanity and attempts to bring attention to herself. It's a bit of a caricature, really. I'm not sure if that's because there's a paucity of information about her (especially when compared to Sargent) or if it's because it bolsters Ms. Davis's argument that with "Madame X," Sargent was trying to portray an exemplar of a shallow segment of society. Still, as a study of Sargent, of ambition - both professional and social, and of the late 19th century Paris art world (and of how artistic reputations rise and fall like the tides), this is a very rewarding read.
Rating: 1
Summary: Sargent
Comment: I thought this book was very well researched, however, I was disappointed to see that 30 pages are notes and bibliography in a book that is 310 pages in length. This book could also use another good edit for several 'snags' that I encountered. Otherwise it is a good read.
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Title: I Am Madame X : A Novel by Gioia Diliberto ISBN: B0000CAR5D Publisher: Scribner Pub. Date: 18 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
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Title: Whistler, Women & Fashion by Margaret F. MacDonald, Susan Grace Galassi, Aileen Ribeiro, Patricia De Monfort, Frick Collection ISBN: 0300099061 Publisher: Yale Univ Pr Pub. Date: June, 2003 List Price(USD): $50.00 |
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Title: A Venetian Affair by ANDREA DI ROBILANT ISBN: 037541181X Publisher: Knopf Pub. Date: 23 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
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Title: Disarmed : The Story of the Venus de Milo by GREGORY CURTIS ISBN: 0375415238 Publisher: Knopf Pub. Date: 30 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
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Title: Grandes Horizontales by Virginia Rounding ISBN: 1582342601 Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Pub. Date: 07 July, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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