Sargent: Portraits of artists and friends

Fabulous exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery of portraits by John Singer Sargent of artists, writers, actors, musicians and friends.

This was a really nicely presented show. It uses the space in the gallery in a slightly different way which makes the modern space into a more traditional gallery and it’s quite fun to work out where you are! Also huge thanks for the small booklets with the picture commentaries in them. It makes them much easier to read and keeps people flowing. I also loved the last two rooms which looked at the same period of time but in three difference places.

I was most struck by how he used white. There were some dresses which were mostly white and just glowed. In other small splashes of thick white just lit the pictures up. I was fascinated to look closely at the brush stokes which were bold and almost Velazquez like.

It’s really hard to pick out the pictures I liked best as they were all so lovely! I loved the bringing together of the pictures of the Pailleron family. I hoped they were pleased to see each other. In particular the girl was the most amazing piece of painting. I have to mention the wonderful drawing of William Butler Yeats. And for character rather than picture you have to love “Mrs George Batten Singing” as she was not only a mistress of Edward VII but also set up house with Radclyffe Hall!

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