John Singer Sargent’s Travel Pictures

The monthly ArtSmart Roundtable brings together some of the best art-focused travel blogs to post on a common theme.  This month we are discussing Travel Art!  You can find links below for the rest of the group’s posts this month.  I take a lots of photos when I travel but I really admire those who can sketch cities, landscapes and people when they travel.  An incredibly talented artist (although I am biased), John Singer Sargent is the epitome of the artist-traveler in that he captured his destinations in rich and brilliant but ephemeral scenes.

“Grand Canal, Venice”, 1904-1907, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

I’ve been reading a lot this summer about the Gilded Age with its fantastic palaces, fashion and carefully orchestrated social life.  Whether to shop or escape the stress (and occasionally scandal) of New York City, the elite of the Gilded Age departed for months of travel through Europe and the Middle East.  The greatest artist of this era, John Singer Sargent also adopted a somewhat nomadic lifestyle traveling extensively.  Famous for his portraits done in oil, Sargent created quick watercolor paintings while traveling – mostly as an amusement for himself.  Masterfully executed, well composed and evocative, it is John Singer Sargent’s watercolor paintings that transport me to an age of luxurious travel, European charm and exotic destinations.

“On the Canal” 1903, Musée du Petit Palais, Paris, France

Born in Florence, Italy to American parents, John Singer Sargent grew up on two continents.  He continued to travel throughout his adult life temporarily living in or at least visiting England, Italy, Tangiers, Syria, Palestine, Spain, Portugal, Greece, the Alps, Norway and the US (including Niagara Falls, Maine and Florida).  Sargent’s watercolors were born from his natural talent for observation and seeing as much beauty in alleys and in city commotion as there was in gardens and palaces.  In his travels, he produced a number of preliminary oil paintings and studies which supported future pieces, but the watercolors were always something personal for Sargent.  He gave them to friends and family but otherwise held on to them.  Late in life, recognizing the value of these images, he sold many of them in two large lots to The Brooklyn Museum and The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.  These institutions put together an exhibit, John Singer Sargent’s Watercolors, which opens in Boston on October 13th after having spent the summer in New York City.  In the event that you can’t see this exhibit in person, let’s take a tour through Europe and the Middle East via the incredible watercolor images of John Singer Sargent!

“Venetian Passageway”, 1905, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City

Sargent painted many scenes of Venice.  Already a romantic and uniquely beautiful city, the airy watercolors seem like charmed memories of transient moments observed from a moving gondola.  In some of the images, you can even see that Sargent was painting from a gondola!  It was a city he loved and returned to many times leaving us an impressive catalog of its canals, architecture and people.

“The Façade of La Salute” 1903, Private Collection

“Café on the Riva degli Schiavoni, Venice” 1880-1882, Private Collection

“The Piazzetta, Venice” 1904, Tate Gallery, London

As I mentioned, Sargent loved to travel and clearly loved to paint.  Here are images from his other trips.

Switzerland and the Austrian Alps

“Simplon Pass: Chalets” 1911, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

“Graveyard in the Tyrol” 1914, British Museum, London, UK

Morocco

“Bedouin Camp” 1906, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York

“Mending a Sail” 1905, Brooklyn Museum, New York City

Corfu, Greece

“Olive Trees, Corfu” 1909, Fogg Museum of Art, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

“Corfu: The Terrace” 1909, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA

Genoa, Italy

“Genoa, the University” 1911, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Sicily

“Angels, Mosaic, Palatine Chapel, Palermo,” 1897, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City

Rome

“Piazza Navona, Roma” 1906, Private Collection

Florence

“Perseus by Night” 1907, Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid, Spain

Spain

“Tarragona” 1908, New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, CT

“Alhambra, Patio de los Leones” 1879, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City

“Spanish Courtyard” 1903, Private Collection

Palestine

“Temple of Bacchus, Baalbek” 1905-1906, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City

“Mar Saba” 1905-1906, Private Collection

Cairo

“Cairo” 1891, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

“Egyptian Water Jars” 1905, Private Collection

That’s quite a lot of traveling!  What destination do you think makes for the most beautiful watercolor paintings?  Where should Sargent have gone and painted?

For the rest of the September ArtSmart Roundtable, see:

• Erin of A Sense of Place – The Pantheon in Western Art
• Lesley of CultureTripper – Marianne North, Victorian Adventurer and Botanical Artist
• Ashley of NOnionsXPickles – Travel and the Nomadic Happening
• Jeff of EuroTravelogue – Norway: Then and Now

And don’t forget to “like” our group on Facebook for art & travel news!