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Lot Essay
Executed in 1924 while John Singer Sargent was visiting with family and friends near Cape Cod Massachusetts, Constellation: Rainy Day on the Yacht is a brilliant expression of form, color and light. Sargent has taken the subject of two women sitting on the afterdeck of a yacht--in this case his cousins Mary and Henrietta Sargent--and created a virtuoso watercolor, exploiting the medium's luminosity and vivid color.
The importance of watercolor in Sargent's career has long been acknowledged. Annette Blaugrund writes, "In the twentieth century, watercolor began to play a more dominant role in Sargent's oeuvre. The marked rise in his production has often been explained as a release from the burden of portraiture and as a private endeavor indulged in during vacations. Some even have said that his sister Emily's interest in watercolor led to his predilection for the medium. More important, as Hardie observed, was the fact that in watercolor he found endless scope for his driving need of 'unhampered personal expression.' Watercolors of this period no longer are preparatory studies linked to oil paintings nor slight works to be distributed as gifts. By the early 1900s, the watercolor medium, familiar to him from childhood, best suited his artistic needs as well as his way of life." (John Singer Sargent, New York, 1986, p. 219)
Throughout his career Sargent traveled frequently, and later in his career his watercolor case and sketching pads were nearly always with him. During his travels after 1900 however, he particularly enjoyed the companionship of close friends and extended family. Constellation: Rainy Day on the Yacht reflects the genteel company in which Sargent felt most at ease: the artist has painted his two cousins during an excursion on a rainy day aboard the yacht Constellation. (figure a) This spectacular vessel belonged to Herbert Sears, another prominent Bostonian and avid yachtsman.
Sargent's close relationship with his two Boston cousins is well documented. The woman seated at left is Mrs. Nathaniel Bowditch Potter, ne Mary Sargent. To the right is Mary Sargent's sister Henrietta Sargent Lowell. Henrietta's husband was the architect Guy Lowell who designed the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, where Sargent painted his great cycle of murals beginning in 1916. Both women were daughters of Charles Sprague Sargent, the renowned Harvard botanist, who among other achievements, created the Arnold Arboretum in Brookline, Massachusetts. The artist was a frequent guest at 'Holm Lea,' Charles Sprague Sargent's home in Brookline, while visiting the Boston area.
Sargent was particularly close to his cousin Mary Sargent. His correspondence from these years is filled with cordial words of news from friends in common or interesting bits of observations about their travels. Sargent often kept Mary updated about the progress of his murals for the Museum of Fine Arts. As the artist's cousin and sister-in-law of the museum's architect, Mary Sargent Potter had particularly close connections to this great project undertaken at the end of the artist's career.
In Constellation: Rainy Day on the Yacht Sargent has depicted a relaxing and informal moment aboard the yacht. His two cousins smile as they sit on deck, wrapped in shawls or blankets against the damp air. A tarpaulin has been draped overhead and lends the scene a vivid, diffuse light. Details in the watercolor, such as the yacht's rigging reflected on the watery deck, are executed in Sargent's most fluid and virtuoso style--the hallmarks of his finest work in the medium.
This work will be inlcuded in the forthcoming John Singer Sargent catalogue raisonn by Richard Ormond and Elaine Kilmurray, in collaboration with Warren Adelson and Elizabeth Oustinoff.
The importance of watercolor in Sargent's career has long been acknowledged. Annette Blaugrund writes, "In the twentieth century, watercolor began to play a more dominant role in Sargent's oeuvre. The marked rise in his production has often been explained as a release from the burden of portraiture and as a private endeavor indulged in during vacations. Some even have said that his sister Emily's interest in watercolor led to his predilection for the medium. More important, as Hardie observed, was the fact that in watercolor he found endless scope for his driving need of 'unhampered personal expression.' Watercolors of this period no longer are preparatory studies linked to oil paintings nor slight works to be distributed as gifts. By the early 1900s, the watercolor medium, familiar to him from childhood, best suited his artistic needs as well as his way of life." (John Singer Sargent, New York, 1986, p. 219)
Throughout his career Sargent traveled frequently, and later in his career his watercolor case and sketching pads were nearly always with him. During his travels after 1900 however, he particularly enjoyed the companionship of close friends and extended family. Constellation: Rainy Day on the Yacht reflects the genteel company in which Sargent felt most at ease: the artist has painted his two cousins during an excursion on a rainy day aboard the yacht Constellation. (figure a) This spectacular vessel belonged to Herbert Sears, another prominent Bostonian and avid yachtsman.
Sargent's close relationship with his two Boston cousins is well documented. The woman seated at left is Mrs. Nathaniel Bowditch Potter, ne Mary Sargent. To the right is Mary Sargent's sister Henrietta Sargent Lowell. Henrietta's husband was the architect Guy Lowell who designed the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, where Sargent painted his great cycle of murals beginning in 1916. Both women were daughters of Charles Sprague Sargent, the renowned Harvard botanist, who among other achievements, created the Arnold Arboretum in Brookline, Massachusetts. The artist was a frequent guest at 'Holm Lea,' Charles Sprague Sargent's home in Brookline, while visiting the Boston area.
Sargent was particularly close to his cousin Mary Sargent. His correspondence from these years is filled with cordial words of news from friends in common or interesting bits of observations about their travels. Sargent often kept Mary updated about the progress of his murals for the Museum of Fine Arts. As the artist's cousin and sister-in-law of the museum's architect, Mary Sargent Potter had particularly close connections to this great project undertaken at the end of the artist's career.
In Constellation: Rainy Day on the Yacht Sargent has depicted a relaxing and informal moment aboard the yacht. His two cousins smile as they sit on deck, wrapped in shawls or blankets against the damp air. A tarpaulin has been draped overhead and lends the scene a vivid, diffuse light. Details in the watercolor, such as the yacht's rigging reflected on the watery deck, are executed in Sargent's most fluid and virtuoso style--the hallmarks of his finest work in the medium.
This work will be inlcuded in the forthcoming John Singer Sargent catalogue raisonn by Richard Ormond and Elaine Kilmurray, in collaboration with Warren Adelson and Elizabeth Oustinoff.