Existing comment:
Double Self-Portrait
Notoriously reticent, Sargent disliked shining the spotlight on himself. Out of the 1,300 or more portraits in various media that he produced in his lifetime, he portrayed himself in only a half dozen or so. His claim that the process of making self-portraits "bored" him is symptomatic of his growing aversion to portraiture in general. After painting his last self-portrait in 1906 at the request of the Uffizi Museum in Florence, Sargent declared, "I have long been
sick and tired of portrait painting, and while I was painting my own ‘mug' I firmly resolved to devote myself to other branches of art as soon as possible."
Sargent's ongoing work in charcoal portraits proved to be the exception to that rule. In this drawing, Sargent experimented with two angles of representation, as if hinting at the impossibility of capturing the essence of a person in a single image.
Graphite on paper, 1902
Private collection, Columbus, Georgia
This is the National Portrait Gallery sign in the exhibit. |