1889, John Singer Sargent, An Out-of-Doors Study (Paul Helleu Sketching with his Wife) -- Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) (special exhibition)
From the museum label: Sargent remained close friends with artist Paul Helleu (1859-1957) since their student days in Paris. In summer 1889, Helleu and his wife, Alice Guérin (1870-1933), visited Sargent in the English countryside at Fladbury, Worcestershire, where this outdoor portrait was painted. The portrait reveals the ongoing importance of Sargent's Parisian friendships to his work. It pays tribute to his dear friend's art, recording the precise moment he places his brush on canvas. Sargent adapted the plein-air lessons he had learned while painting alongside Claude Monet at Giverny. While the portraits are carefully observed, he adopted a distinctive spiky brushstroke to render the tall grass in a lively pattern. The high vantage point and strong diagonal of the canoe create a dynamic and modern composition.
1889, John Singer Sargent, An Out-of-Doors Study (Paul Helleu Sketching with his Wife) -- Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) (special exhibition)
From the museum label: Sargent remained close friends with artist Paul Helleu (1859-1957) since their student days in Paris. In summer 1889, Helleu and his wife, Alice Guérin (1870-1933), visited Sargent in the English countryside at Fladbury, Worcestershire, where this outdoor portrait was painted. The portrait reveals the ongoing importance of Sargent's Parisian friendships to his work. It pays tribute to his dear friend's art, recording the precise moment he places his brush on canvas. Sargent adapted the plein-air lessons he had learned while painting alongside Claude Monet at Giverny. While the portraits are carefully observed, he adopted a distinctive spiky brushstroke to render the tall grass in a lively pattern. The high vantage point and strong diagonal of the canoe create a dynamic and modern composition.