capsule reviews
jean strouse on sargent, the velvet touch, nixon agonistes
Family Romance: John Singer Sargent and the Wertheimers (Jean Strouse, 2024)1
Once again, I am surprised to discover how snide people were about Sargent when he was alive. In this book, Jean Strouse frequently quotes one critic, Roger Fry, who apparently never tired of dissing Sargent as (for instance) “striking and undistinguished as an illustrator and non-existent as an artist.”2 (A quote that is apparently from the same piece of Fry’s: “Wonderful indeed, but most wonderful that this wonderful performance should ever have been confused with that of an artist.”3)
However, there are lots of charming details present here to make up for this fact—like the part where Sargent had a stamp that just said “DAMN” that he apparently used often to mark (for instance) reviews he didn’t care for.
Or this excerpt from one of his letters:
How can one explain to yo…