[HN Gopher] Sargent Abhorred Making His Lavish Portraits, So He ...
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Sargent Abhorred Making His Lavish Portraits, So He Took Up
       Charcoal (2020)
        
       Author : smitty1e
       Score  : 34 points
       Date   : 2021-02-12 12:32 UTC (10 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.smithsonianmag.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.smithsonianmag.com)
        
       | QuesnayJr wrote:
       | I like Sargent, but I didn't know about these charcoals. They're
       | terrific.
        
       | chris_st wrote:
       | Really enjoyed learning charcoal when I was learning to draw and
       | paint -- particularly sanding vine charcoal, and rubbing the dust
       | produced into paper to produce a mid-gray, then drawing, for
       | darker bits, and erasing for lighter areas.
       | 
       | It's where I learned to draw with shapes, not lines.
        
       | davesque wrote:
       | Sargent also did amazing watercolors of landscapes and various
       | non-portrait scenes.
       | 
       | Some examples:
       | https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/sargent_watercolo...
       | 
       | I think his skill really comes through in that work. It shows the
       | economy of his brush strokes.
        
       | tlarkworthy wrote:
       | Symptoms of burnout, cannot face "your" medium.
        
       | asmithmd1 wrote:
       | He made an exception during that time period for one model that
       | was his inspiration for many figures of gods in his epic Boston
       | Public Library murals:
       | 
       | https://www.apollo-magazine.com/thomas-mckeller-john-singer-...
        
       | __jf__ wrote:
       | As mr. Money Mustache would say: work gets better when you don't
       | need the money.
        
       | fatbird wrote:
       | He also took up watercolour and did a lot of studies and plein
       | air painting that shows an incredible spontaneity and energy
       | that's very different than his oils, while still retaining his
       | basically perfect draughtsmanship.
        
       | jack_riminton wrote:
       | "I abhor and abjure them and hope to never do another, especially
       | of the Upper Classes." - is a particularly wonderful quote
       | 
       | A nice article here of artists who also hated their clients:
       | https://www.thecollector.com/artists-who-hated-their-clients...
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2021-02-12 23:02 UTC)