Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Accompanying an exhibition at the Seattle Art Museum that runs from December 2000 to March 2001, this volume is lavishly illustrated with numerous examples of Sargent's oils, watercolors, and sketches, in particular his portraits and studies of models and dancers. 115 illustrations, 75 in color.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Sargent was an exuberant painter of lush color, flamboyant costume, and picturesque locales--not simply the creator of pleasing portraits for the rich and famous. Although published to accompany a Sargent show at the Seattle Art Museum, this provocative book is not formatted like the traditional exhibition catalog but rather as a narrative of how Sargent's art "appeals to the senses." Fairbrother (Seattle Art Museum), who has written on Sargent and American art, offers compelling insights into a number of key paintings, from the alluring Madame X to the exotic Fumee D'Ambre Gris. The perennial mystery of Sargent's sexuality is pondered through an examination of numerous studies of the (usually male) nude. The author's discussion of the portrait of the dandy W. Graham Robertson and the parallel with Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891) is particularly effective. Though Elaine Kilmurray and Richard Ormond's John Singer Sargent (CH, Jun'99) remains the best overview of the artist and his work, John Singer Sargent: The Sensualist can be warmly recommended for its original and well-argued approach to this popular painter. The large number of illustrations, most in color, are excellent. The thorough documentation includes detailed endnotes. No bibliography. General readers; undergraduates through faculty. W. S. Rodner; Tidewater Community College

Booklist Review

One of the most beloved American painters, Sargent (1856^-1925) is lately undergoing critical reevaluation. Fairbrother concentrates on the quality in his work that, more than any other, appeals most powerfully to most viewers. Sargent was, museum official Mimi Gardner Gates says in the foreword, "a reserved person who made exuberant art." Essential to that exuberance is the keen attractiveness of the figures, male and female, clothed and nude, in his work. If they aren't all necessarily sexy, those that could be--robust adults--virtually always are, and few fail to evoke the desire to touch, even to caress, them. Fairbrother presents a ravishing selection of Sargent's paintings and graphic art as he explores the personal sources of the sensuousness of Sargent's work and the techniques he used to achieve it. An album of Sargent's male figure studies, printed on cream-colored stock, fetchingly concludes the book. --Ray Olson