John Singer Sargent: Teaching at the Royal Academy, Pt. 3

Study of Madame Gautreau by J.S. Sargent

Composition - "When we were gathered in front of our display of sketches for composition awaiting some criticism, John Singer Sargent would walk along the whole collection, rapidly looking at each one, and without singling out any in particular for comment, he would merely say, 'Get in your mind the sculptor's view of things, arrange a composition, decoratively, easy, and accidental.' This would be said in a hesitating manner and then he would quietly retire. On one occasion, when the subject set for a composition was a portrait the criticism was 'not one of them seriously considered.' Many we had thought quite good, as an indication of what might be tried while a portrait was in progress. That would not do for Sargent. A sketch must be seriously planned, tried and tried again, turned about until it satisfies every requirement, and a perfect visualization attained. A sketch must not be merely a pattern of pleasant shapes, just pleasing to the eye, just merely a fancy. It must be a very possible thing, a definite arrangement - everything fitting in a plan and in true relationship frankly standing upon a horizontal plane coinciding in their place with a prearranged line. As a plan is to a building, so must the sketch be to the picture.

Observations - His general remarks were: 'Cultivate an ever continuous power of observation. Wherever you are be always ready to make slight notes of postures, groups and incidents. Store up in the mind without ceasing a continuous stream of observations from which to make selections later. Above all things get abroad, see the sunlight, and everything that is to be seen, the power of selection will follow. Be continually making mental notes, make them again and again, test what you remember by sketches till you have got them fixed. Do not be backward at using every device and making every experiment that ingenuity can devise, in order to attain that sense of completeness which nature so beautifully provides, always bearing in mind the limitations of the materials in which you work.'"

To be continued

(Excerpts from "John Sargent" by Evan Charteris.)