Fig. 1. Barbedo-Gilbert 1

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1 Fig. 1 Madame X (Madame Pierre Gautreau), John Singer Sargent (American, ) Oil on canvas 82 1/8 x 43 1/4 in. (208.6 x cm) Arthur Hoppock Hearn Fund, 1916 (16.53) The Metropolitan Museum of Art Barbedo-Gilbert 1

2 John Singer Sargent: Famous Portraits in the 1880s The Enigmatic Madame X John Singer Sargent was an expatriate artist, who considered himself in essence an American. He was born in Florence, Italy, from American parents and spent the rest of his life living in Europe, only coming to America to visit. In 1874, he went to Paris to study painting and had as his mentor the painter Carolus-Duran 1, who opposed the perfectly smooth and linear painting style taught in the École Des Beaux-arts, and who encouraged Sargent to develop a sensuous and precise painting technique. He was also influenced by the innovative and radical positions taken by Courbet and Manet, in which a realistic approach to painting became a more loose and painterly technique. Sargent remained in Paris for almost two decades, and became the portrait artist of the French aristocracy of the late nineteenth century. The portraits made in the 1880s are innovative in style, and depict the modern values of society 2. One of the most outstanding and significant portraits of this period is titled Madame X (Fig. 1). This painting sparks a curiosity, which leads one to discover what attributes the artist presents in this work that ultimately make this striking woman so enigmatic. Sargent s painting innovations and his fascination to portray a celebrity of society with sensuality and precision, produced a scandal that caused a turning point in the artist s career. Madame X was painted between 1883 and It depicts Madame Pierre Gautreau, a French socialite, standing upright and elegant carrying a black fan. The figure s pale skin, satin 1 Richard Ormond and Elaine Kilmurray, ed., John Singer Sargent (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1998), Trevor Fairbrother, John Singer Sargent (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1994), 35. Barbedo-Gilbert 2

3 black dress, and the sparkles on the dress and on the top of her head evoke the sophistication and ostentation of some bourgeoisie of the late nineteenth century. She has a glamourous and pompous attitude that resembles a classical sculpture. One of the appealing aspects in the painting is the grand manner style that has the figure filling most of the canvas. There is a pronounced outline that contours her skin, creating depth and bringing the figure to the foreground. The texture of the brushstrokes on the surface of the painting is smooth, but the lines of the brushstrokes are painterly on the dress and hair, and the skin is rendered with a smooth blend of white. There is a little touch of white on the top of her head, representing a tiara, and it is marked with a quick brushstroke, like an impressionist gesture. In fact, the painting can be described as realistic with an influence from the impressionists. Sargent keeps the dark and dull colors and realistic details that were expected from the Academy experts, but also expresses the innovative painterly style that was introduced in the late nineteenth century. In 1916, Sargent offered Madame X to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He wrote a letter to his friend and the museum s director, Edward Robinson, saying that this painting was the best thing I have done 3 and he wished for this important work to be part of the permanent collection of the museum. His only request was for the painting to remain anonymous, due to the disagreement he had with the sitter. Originally, when the painting was exhibited for the first time at the Paris Salon in 1884, it was titled Portrait of Madame****. Robinson and Sargent decided to rename the work as Madame X. 4 3 Dorathy Mahon and Silvia Centeno, A Technical Study of John Singer Sargent's Portrait of Madame Pierre Gautreau, Metropolitan Museum Journal, Vol. 40, Essays in Memory of John M. Brealey (2005): Mahon and Centeno, 121. Barbedo-Gilbert 3

4 Who was Madame X? She was born Virginie Avegno in 1859, Louisiana, in the United States of America. After her father s death during the American Civil War, she moved with her French mother, and sister to Paris. Virginie married a wealthy Parisian businessman, Pierre Gautreau, and became a member of the French aristocracy. Her extravagant personality and eccentric beauty sparked curiosity and criticism among the socialites. 5 In 1884, with the exhibition of the portrait of Mme Gautreau for the first time at the Salon, one of the criticisms was on the disturbing bluish purple tone of her skin. 6 Sargent demonstrated his extraordinary skills as a painter, because in actuality his sitter had the tendency to apply a chalky lavender powder to her skin, which had a pearl-blue tint. This was an element of Mme Gautreau highly aestheticized self-fashioning. 7 In fact, Sargent was attracted to the eccentricity and sensuality in the appearance of his sitter. She always intensified her beauty at fashionable occasions by dressing her hair in a chignon (an arranged knot), exposing her shoulders, and painting her skin with cosmetics. 8 Sargent was twenty-eight years old when he painted Madame X. At this point he had previously exhibited at the Paris Salon and mastered a style in portraiture that challenged the tradition of the genre. He understood the essence of his sitters, thus creating a fitting space that was highly sophisticated for the figures on his canvases. 9 In the case of Mme Gautreau s portrait, Sargent thought that her professional beauty and her image of a social stereotype were 5 Richard Ormond and Elaine Kilmurray, John Singer Sargent: The Early Portraits, Complete Paintings - Volume I (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998), Ormond and Kilmurray, Susan Sidlauskas, Painting Skin: John Singer Sargent s Madame X, American Art, Vol. 15, No. 3 (autumn, 2001): Trevor Fairbrother, John Singer Sargent, Dorothy Moss, John Singer Sargent, 'Madame X' and 'Baby Millbank', The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 143, No (May, 2001), 268. Barbedo-Gilbert 4

5 essential elements for an attractive portrait painting. He hoped that once exhibited at the Salon, it would secure his reputation and bring more commission by the French socialites. Virginie Gautreau was a contrasting figure in comparison to the conservative portrayal of the French females presented in most of his works. 10 Actually, in 1882, he requested through someone close to Mme Gautreau to ask for permission to paint her portrait, as an expression of his desire to pay homage to her beauty. By 1883, he started the painting, but it was not finished on time to be exhibited at the Paris Salon in that year. Sargent wrote to his friend Vernon Lee that he was struggling with the unpaintable beauty and hopeless laziness of Madame Gautreau. 11 Indeed, his struggles are apparent in his many attempts to start the portrait in order to capture the distinct profile and essence of the exuberant beauty. He had produced many sketches and even an oil painting study in 1883 titled Madame Gautreau Drinking a Toast (Fig. 2), in which the brushstrokes are highly painterly, showing thick marks of the brush, which contributes in creating a movement that complements the gesture of her arm raised toasting with a glass of champagne. This painting shows Sargent s exercise in defining the profile of his sitter, and the effects of light from artificial sources; we also see these elements applied to Madame X. 12 One interesting aspect of the studies Fig. 2 of the famous Madame X was the 10 Mahon and Centeno, A Technical Study of John Singer Sargent's Portrait of Madame Pierre Gautreau, Ormond and Kilmurray, John Singer Sargent, Ormond and Kilmurray, 100. Barbedo-Gilbert 5

6 provocative statement by Elaine Kilmurray and Richard Ormond, in 1998, who argue that a sketch done in 1883 titled Head in Profile (Fig. 3) is not of Virginie Gautreau as primarily identified as a study for Madame Gautreau Drinking a Toast by Trevor Fairbrother, in the 1980s. They say that the model for this drawing was Sargent s close friend Albert de Belleroche, who was Fig. 3 described as having similar angular features to Mme Gautreau. From 1882 until the final render of Madame X, Sargent was making portraits of both de Belleroche and Gautreau. 13 During this time, he was also painting a grand manner portrait (unfinished) of Belleroche s mother, Mrs. Harry Vane Millbank (Fig. 4), which might have served as another study for the final ideas on Madame X. The portrait of Mrs. Millbank has a sketchy and unfinished appearance. The similarities between both paintings are in the black evening dress, the décolleté (having a low-cut neckline) of the gown, the strap worn off the shoulder, and the tilted posture. The portrait of Mrs. Millbank also shows Sargent s exploration with light and shadow on the lines of the face. 14 Madame X was exhibited at the Paris Salon in May of Fig in its original state with the strap of her dress worn off her shoulder (Fig. 5). It shows Mme 13 Moss, John Singer Sargent, 'Madame X' and 'Baby Millbank', Moss, John Singer Sargent, 'Madame X' and 'Baby Millbank', 272. Barbedo-Gilbert 6

7 Virginie Gautreau leaning with one hand against a Louis Seize style circular mahogany gueridon table 15 and in the other hand she holds a black fan. Her pallid skin, the contrapposto pose, the tiara on her head, and the table are classical features that are associated with Mannerist art, which Sargent had grown up studying when living in Italy. 16 The painting has a distinct contrast of pale skin against the satin black of her dress, which is emphasized by the neutral background color. In fact, the L Art Moderne, a progressive Brussels journal, claimed that Sargent, after seeing a Manet exhibition in Paris, repainted the canvas Fig. 5 with more clear tones, fluidity with the brushstrokes, and more effects in the contrasts of light and shade and the opposition of value. 17 Madame X s provocative dress, aloofness, and stark presence were not well received by the audience. Many critics called it bizarre, criticizing the rendering of the face as an experimental approach that could be compared to stylized Japanese silhouette, a cameo and heraldic 15 Ormond and Kilmurray, John Singer Sargent: The Early Portraits, Complete Paintings - Volume I, Ormond and Kilmurray, John Singer Sargent, Ormond and Kilmurray, John Singer Sargent: The Early Portraits, Complete Paintings - Volume I, 115. Barbedo-Gilbert 7

8 figure. 18 The painting was a scandal. After the Paris Salon, Sargent altered the painting for the last time by placing the offending strap to its present position. The overall humiliation made him move to England to escape from the turmoil in his career. Sargent s classical academic style, combined with the innovative influence from the impressionists, can be considered eclectic and well suited to his sensible way of depicting his sitters. All the portraits of the 1880s were eclectic in style with a contemporary attitude. They were grand manner paintings, yet depicted the modern style of John Singer Sargent at his studio in Paris in society. He was able to combine his skills with a psychological understanding of the figure in his painting. He lived among the French society in order to understand their behavior and essential features. It was these essences that he captured so well from his sitters that inspired him to illustrate their lives with such realism and in many cases, romance. He claimed that he depicted Virginie Gautreau exactly the way she looked. Madame X is a masterpiece; a splendid grand manner portrait painting that expresses Sargents s accomplishment as an outstanding artist of his time. 18 Ormond and Kilmurray, John Singer Sargent: The Early Portraits, Complete Paintings - Volume I, 114. Barbedo-Gilbert 8

9 Bibliography Fairbrother, Trevor. John Singer Sargent. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Mahon, Dorothy and Silvia Centeno. A Technical Study of John Singer Sargent's Portrait of Madame Pierre Gautreau. Metropolitan Museum Journal, Vol. 40, Essays in Memory of John M. Brealey (2005): , Moss, Dorothy. John Singer Sargent, 'Madame X' and 'Baby Millbank. The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 143, No (May, 2001): Ormond, Richard and Elaine Kilmurray. John Singer Sargent: The Early Portraits, Complete Paintings - Volume I. New Haven: Yale University Press, Ormond, Richard and Elaine Kilmurray. ed. John Singer Sargent. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, Sidlauskas, Susan. Painting Skin: John Singer Sargent s Madame X. American Art, Vol. 15, No. 3 (autumn, 2001): 8-33 Barbedo-Gilbert 9