ARTH 555
John Singer Sargent Fall 2009
Division I
This is not the current course catalog

In this seminar we will consider the life and art of John Singer Sargent (1856-1925). Paintings in the collection of the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute will focus our discussions and provide the basis for exploring his art-making and his place within the art-culture of his day. Sargent–born in Italy, trained in France, active in England–epitomized the cosmopolitanism of American artists in the late 19th century. Consideration of his career will encourage us to think about questions of nationality; the mechanisms of fame in the modern art world; the tension between the lures of artistic tradition and innovation; and the fluctuating taste for his art among critics, collectors, and historians of the past century.