“Sargent did not wholly achieve art, for some of it was born to him, and some of it, perhaps, was thrust upon him. Training started him right, but his great success is not wholly due to that. Genius alone can account for the remarkable content of his work.
“Sargent’s life has been the result of peculiar circumstances—fortunate circumstances some may think; unfortunate others may hold. At least they have been instrumental in bringing forth an accomplished painter whose art no one can fail to admire. That his work may be admired understandingly it is quite necessary to comprehend the personality of the artist—to understand his education, his associations, his artistic and social environments. For if the man himself is cosmopolitan his art is not less so. It is the perfection of world-style, the finality of method.
“If I apprehend Sargent rightly, such theory of art as he possesses is founded in observation. Some fifteen years ago, in Gibraltar, at the old Cecil Hotel, I was dining with him. That night, as a very unusual thing, Sargent talked about painting—talked of his own volition. He suggested his theory of art in a single sentence: ‘You see things that way’ (pointing slightly to the left) ‘and I see them this way’ (pointing slightly to the right). He seemed to think that would account for the variation or peculiarity of eye and mind, and with a manner of doing—a personal method—there was little more to art. Such a theory would place him in measured agreement with Henry James whose definition of art has been quoted many times: ‘Art is a point of view, and a genius a way of looking at things.’
“A painter who has been looking at human heads for many years sees more than the man who casually looks up to recognize an acquaintance on the street. I do not mean that he sees more ‘character’—that is more scholarship or conceit, or pride of purse or firmness of will or shrewdness of thought, but merely that he sees the physical conformation more completely than others do. Every one sooner or later moulds his own face. It becomes marked or set or shaped in response to continued methods of thinking and acting. When that face comes under the portrait painter’s eye, he does not see the scholar, the banker, the senator, the captain of industry; but he does see perhaps, certain depression of the cheek or lines about the eyes or mouth in contractions of the lips or protrusions of the brow or jaw that appeal to him strongly because they are cast in shadow or thrown up sharply in relief of light. These surface features he paints perhaps with more emphasis than they possess in the original because they appeal to him emphatically, and presently the peculiar look that indicates the character of the man appears. What the look may indicate, or what kind of phase of character may be read in or out of the look, the portrait-painter does not know or care. He paints what he sees and has as little discernment of a character as of a mind. He gives, perhaps, without knowing their meaning, certain protrusions and recessions of the surface before him and lets the result tell what it may. In the production of the portrait accurate observation is more than half the battle. If a painter sees and knows his subject thoroughly, he will have little trouble in telling what he sees and knows; and to say of Sargent that he observes rightly and records truly is to state the case in a sentence.”
32 Portrait of Mrs. Charles E. Inches
Loaned by Mrs. Inches, Boston
41 Portrait of Mrs. Henry White—neé Margaret Stuyvesant Rutherford
Loaned by Honorable Henry White
11 Portrait of Mrs. Fiske Warren and Daughter
Loaned by Fiske Warren, Esq.
31 Portrait of Mr. and Mrs. Field
Loaned by Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts
9 Portrait of Miss Mary Elizabeth Garrett
Loaned by Johns Hopkins University
7 Portrait of President Lowell
Loaned by Harvard University
6 Portrait of Ex-President Charles W. Eliot, Formerly of Harvard University
Loaned by Harvard University
58 Portrait of Mr. and Mrs. I. N. Phelps Stokes
Loaned by Mr. Phelps Stokes
2 The Lady with the Rose—My Sister (1882)
Loaned by Mrs. Hadden
5 Portrait of Major Higginson
Loaned by Harvard University
59 Portrait of Mrs. Marquand
Loaned by Mr. Alan Marquand
33 Portrait of Mrs. Adrian Iselin
Loaned by Miss Iselin
30 Portrait of Miss Ada Rehan
Loaned by Mrs. G. M. Whitin
29 Portrait of John Hay, Esq.
Loaned by Mr. Clarence L. Hay
10 Portrait of Mrs. J. William White
Loaned by Mrs. White
50 Portrait of Mrs. Thomas Lincoln Manson
Loaned by Mrs. Kiliaen Van Rensselaer
22 Sketch of Mrs. Augustus Hemenway
Loaned by Mrs. Hemenway
18 Reconnoitering
Loaned by Mr. Sargent
8 Lake O’Hara
Loaned by Fogg Art Museum
14 His Studio
Loaned by Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
51 Moorish Courtyard
Loaned by Mr. James H. Clarke
17 Head of Joseph Jefferson
Loaned by Mr. Sargent
19 Portrait of Joseph Pulitzer, Esq.
Loaned by Mrs. Pulitzer
36 Portrait of General Leonard Wood
Loaned by General Wood
1 Portrait of Mrs. H. F. Hadden (1878)
Loaned by Mrs. Hadden
34 The Honorable Mrs. Frederick Guest
Loaned by Mrs. Phipps
23 Portrait of Edward Robinson, Esq.
Loaned by Mr. Robinson
42 Sketch of Mrs. Henry White—neé Margaret Stuyvesant Rutherford
Loaned by Honorable Henry White
45 Portrait of Homer Saint-Gaudens and Mother
Loaned by Mrs. Saint-Gaudens
35 Portrait of Mrs. Phipps and Winston Loaned by Mrs. Phipps
20 Portrait of Mrs. Edward L. Davis and Her Son, Livingston Davis
Loaned by Mr. Livingston Davis, Boston
43 Portrait of Mrs. John J. Chapman
Loaned by Mrs. Richard Aldrich
37 The Sulphur Match
Loaned by Mr. Louis Curtis
In bringing together this retrospective exhibition of Mr. John Sargent’s important works in this country, we feel that we are rendering a service to the American people.
It is unquestionably the most important and most valuable collection ever assembled by a Living Artist, and it is interesting to note that the insurance policy placed on the collection amounts to nearly a million dollars.
The Grand Central Art Galleries is a no profit organization and its efforts are dedicated solely to the interests of the living American Artists.
Mr. John Singer Sargent has personally selected and approved all of the paintings in this exhibition and in choosing this Gallery he has greatly honored this organization.
An Invitation granting free admission to the exhibition to Art Students is being sent to all of the leading Art Schools; an admission charge to all others, to defray the cost of the exhibition, will be made.
Pat. 3233 Flemish Gothic 17th Century
Pat. 3215 Italian 16th Century
Pat. 3014 Flemish Gothic 16th Century
Pat. 1877 Spanish 18th Century
Pat. 3455 Spanish 16th Century
Pat. 1751 Spanish 17th Century
Pat. 3095 Spanish 16th Century
In the year 1721 in a small Flemish village lived Grieve, a famous maker of masterful picture frames; whose sole ambition was to please the tastes of the great painters of his time.
The best mid-eighteenth century frames were made by him and his disciples. Grieve was the first to conceive the possibilities in his chosen field and to realize that a painting to be rightly appreciated had to be surrounded by a frame chosen artistically and with due regard to the effect of the painting on the spectator and of the whole as a work of art.
Neither chance nor fashion entered into their construction. On the contrary, they were the result of a distinctive aesthetic sentiment for the beautiful in conjunction with an almost scientific appreciation of what would enhance the intelligent understanding of the picture.
The demand at that time was so insistent that Grieve was obliged to teach the tedious task of gilding and wood-carving to the members of his immediate family; from that moment began this great family of frame makers.
Not content with their conquest in Belgium, the Grieves moved to London, which offered them a larger opportunity, and established there a still more progressive branch of the parent institution.
As is the case with all progressives, they were constantly on the watch for new fields to conquer and as America seemed particularly inviting, M. Grieve the youngest of the family, moved to New York and established the largest hand-carved wood frame factory in the world.
The Grieve of old still lives, and the sacred flame which he kindled is still kept burning by the single American representative of this great family of frame makers.
The American Grieve has progressed with the times. He has revolutionized the ancient art of his forefathers to conform with the demands of modern times; he has perfected a method of manufacturing through quantity production the same quality of art frames which the Grieves before him carved out laboriously at considerable expense.
Painted by G. Morland FOX HUNTING Engraved by E. Bell
Large and Small Pieces cast of the finest material in the Gorham Foundries, and exhibited at the Gorham Galleries
Swelling ovoid-shaped Vase of light buff pottery, having its two loop handles at the base of the neck connected by a collar. The opalescent glaze of old turquoise-blue is minutely crackeled and encrusted with reddish earth. The lip, which has been broken, is encased in a copper band. The glaze completely covers the vase, including the base, which is slightly concave. The form of this jar is truly noble and the beauty of its glaze is impossible to describe. Persian influence on Chinese art is here especially noticeable, for this specimen might easily be taken for a fine piece of Rakka ware. Tang Dynasty: 618–906 A. D. Height: 13 inches. Greatest diameter: 10 inches.