John Singer Sargent is considered by many to be art history’s most skillful and successful portraitist. He was born in Florence to American expatriates in 1856. As a young man, his fame and reputation quickly grew upon his extraordinary skill as a portraitist, but he was also supremely talented as a landscape painter, a watercolorist, and a muralist. Some say that his best portrait is the one he did of Amelie Gautreau (Madame X), which he painted when he was only 27. It was a succès de scandale in the 1884 Paris Salon because it was so daring in its décolletage, its unusual profile, and one other feature you will have to join us to discover.
Artist and architect Jim Caldwell will speak about John Singer Sargent’s brilliant career, and his infamous portrait of Madame X. This 45-minute presentation includes over 50 breathtaking images of his portraits, watercolors, drawings and murals.
About the Lecturer
Born in New York in 1942, Jim Caldwell has spent most of his life in the San Francisco Bay Area. He graduated from Williams College in 1964 as an art major and spent the next year in Paris studying printing and etching at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. In 1969 he received his Master of Architecture degree from the Yale School of Architecture. Jim has had over 45 one-man shows and his paintings are represented in more than 450 collections world-wide.
This lecture takes place in-person Tue, Jan 25, from 5:30–6:30pm.
