Sargent "Young Boy"

From: Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Limited Edition: 18
Exhibition: Great Art at LACMA
Material: Printed 2-ply vinyl
Dimensions: 35" x 96" (88cm x 243cm)

Hanging Hardware Included

Summary

John Singer Sargent is a great portraitist who captured a certain elegance among the elite class in the late 19th century. 18 banners featuring a detail of his 1890 "Portrait of Mrs. Edward L. Davis and Her Son, Livingston Davis" are now available. The focus of the banner is the young boy, whose delicately painted features and penetrating gaze give the banner a dramatic impact.

Description

Although an American by nationality, John Singer Sargent had a close relationship with Italy where he was born. For three decades he visited Italy each year painting street scenes and landscapes that capture the essence of its places and people. However, he maintained an American identity, and also spent time in the United States, where his work focused on portraiture of the country’s elite.

Sargent is famously quoted as having once stated, “Every time I paint a portrait I lose a friend.” However, he remains most renowned for his portraiture, which captured the glamour and elegance of high society at the turn of the 19th century. His gorgeous portraits attempted to capture the essence of the sitter and explore their individual beauty. He succeed in doing just that, and his portraits are among some of the richest and most telling in the history of art.

This banner features a detail of his monumental portrait of Mrs. Edward L. Davis and her son, Livingston Davis from 1890. The painting, in the collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, is exemplary of Sargent’s portraiture. It highlights his realistic style, which captures the expressions of the sitters and the feel of their physical world. The play of light is masterful, with the figure shown bright and clear in the surrounding darkness. Sargent actually had the subjects pose in their home’s stables, so that he could accurately capture them lighted in this way, just inside the dark stables with no background to distract from their image. The work was exhibited at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1894 to positive reviews.

Only one dramatic portion of the painting is shown on the banner, a closely cropped detail of the young boy’s face. It is easy to see why Sargent is often considered an American Impressionist. His brush strokes are soft-edged and broad, his fascination with light evident, and his modern treatment of his subjects striking. The manner in which the boy is painted also captures a moment of childhood that is transient. His dewy complexion, pouting lips and boyish haircut combine with a penetrating gaze and slight air of insouciance beyond his years. Sargent has captured this moment between childhood and adolescence in a brilliant manner. His works are often placed in the company of those of his French Impressionist contemporaries like Monet, Renoir, and Degas.

Below the image is a turquoise band with white text that simply reads “Great Art”. The banner was designed to span a street lamp post, so hanging two banners side-by-side would create a large, complete image. The other side of the banner completes the image, showing a continuation of the front image. This is framed in a turquoise band with the museum’s website in white letters “www.lacma.org”.

Provenance

These banners were displayed around Los Angeles to promote “Great Art” in the collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Other banners in the series feature works by Amedeo Modigliani, Frans Hals and Hashiguchi Goyo.

About the Artist

Learn more about John Singer Sargent