Fumée d'Ambre Gris
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| Fumée d'Ambre Gris |
|---|
| John Singer Sargent , 1880 |
| Oil on canvas |
| 138.1 x 90.6 cm |
| Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute , Williamstown |
Fumée d'Ambre Gris ( The Smoke of Ambergris ) is an oil painting by the American painter John Singer Sargent from 1880. It was created after Sargent returnedto Parisin February 1880 from a trip to Tangier . It is one of the early works in his oeuvre, which is dominated by portraits, and includes works such as Madame X , Lady with Rose , Mrs. Henry White , The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit and Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose .
The paintings
Fumée d'Ambre Gris shows a richly dressed Arab woman standing over a censer with a veil spread out. What is burned in the censer is only hinted at by the title: The woman, almost hidden under the veil, smells herself with the burning ambergris and at the same time inhales ambergris. Ambergris, a gray, waxy substance found in the digestive tract of sperm whales that was also previously used in perfume making , had a reputation for being an aphrodisiac .
The painting, which is predominantly in white tones, is exemplary of Sargent's fascination for exotic subjects. Sargent's biographer Stanley Olson points out that with this painting, Sargent puzzles art historians because the subject cannot be determined with precision or historical accuracy. Similar to the El Jaleo painting, created two years later , Sargent only concentrates on the details that he wanted to capture. The painting by no means shows a profound ceremony - it may be nothing more than a carefully elaborated depiction of inhalation for a cold.
Classification in the Sargent plant
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Sargent was one of the most important portraitists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Fumée d'Ambre Gris, however, is one of his early works, in which, in addition to portraits, there are also a number of landscapes and exotic street scenes. At the time Fumée d'Ambre Gris was created, he was 24 years old and tried to establish himself on the French art market.
Sargent had never had formal schooling because of his parents' inconsistent lifestyle. At the age of 13 he received his first painting lessons from Charles Feodor Welsch . In 1874 the Sargent family moved to Paris, where John Singer Sargent continued his training with Carolus-Duran , who was one of the most sought-after portraitists at the time. In 1877 Sargent showed a painting for the first time in the Salon de Paris with the portrait of Frances Watts . The Salon de Paris was both the most important French art exhibition and a key event on the Paris social calendar. Hundreds of thousands of spectators crowded the exhibition halls during the six to eight week long exhibitions. A success during the salon guaranteed an artist long-lasting commercial success. Sargent was aware of the crucial role a successful participation in this art exhibition played if one wanted to establish oneself as a painter.
For the young Sargent, the acceptance of his portrait for the Salon of 1877 was a great success - he was also noticed by critics at this point and received positive mentions in reviews of the exhibition. The critic Henri Houssaye, for example, called the painting “un charming portrait” in the Revue des Deux Mondes . In 1878 Sargent was no less successful - he deliberately did not show another portrait at the salon of that year, but a landscape painting with oystercatchers in Cancale , because he would have committed himself too much as a portraitist with another portrait. In 1879, Sargent exhibited the portrait of his teacher Carolus-Duran and attracted a lot of attention during the installation. In 1880, Sargent presented Fumée d'Ambre Gris together with the portrait of Madame Edouard Pailleron . Sargent's biographer Olson calls this a step that has been well survived: With the portrait, Sargent solicited further commissions, with Fumée d'Ambre Gris he proved that he could also correspond to the current fashion of Orientalism . This approach proved successful. The Chilean diplomat commissioned Sargent to do the portrait of his wife after the couple saw his paintings during the Paris Salon. His wife noted in her private notes that she was particularly enthusiastic about Fumée d'Ambre Gris .
Provenance
Sargent sold Fumée d'Ambre Gris immediately after the Salon de Paris for 3,000 francs, which at the time was equivalent to USD 600 and was already a high price for the time. The American collector Sterling Clark acquired the painting in 1914 . It is now in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown , Massachusetts .
See also
literature
- Stanley Olson: John Singer Sargent - His Portrait . MacMillan, London 1986, ISBN 0-333-29167-0 .
- Deborah Davis: Strapless - John Singer Sargent and the Fall of Madame X . Jeremy P. Tarcher / Penguin, New York 2003, ISBN 1-58542-221-5 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Stanley Olson: John Singer Sargent - His Portrait . MacMillan, London 1986, ISBN 0-333-29167-0 . P. 74
- ↑ Deborah Davis: Strapless - John Singer Sargent and the Fall of Madame X . Jeremy P. Tarcher / Penguin, New York 2003, p. 89.
- ↑ Deborah Davis: Strapless - John Singer Sargent and the Fall of Madame X . Jeremy P. Tarcher / Penguin, New York 2003, p. 90.
- ^ Stanley Olson: John Singer Sargent - His Portrait . MacMillan, London 1986. pp. 74 and 75.
- ↑ Deborah Davis: Strapless - John Singer Sargent and the Fall of Madame X . Jeremy P. Tarcher / Penguin, New York 2003. p. 81.
- ^ Stanley Olson: John Singer Sargent - His Portrait . MacMillan, London 1986. p. 67.
- ^ Stanley Olson: John Singer Sargent - His Portrait . MacMillan, London 1986. p. 80.
- ↑ Background information on the portrait of Madame Ramona Subercaseaux ( Memento of the original of May 7, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed on August 20, 2014
- ^ Stanley Olson: John Singer Sargent - His Portrait . MacMillan, London 1986. p. 78.
