DOCSLIB.ORG

Strapless DISCUSSION GUIDE

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Strapless DISCUSSION GUIDE DISCUSSION GUIDE Strapless: John Singer Sargent and the Fall of Madame X by Deborah Davis 1. As a warm up, how do you think these two works of art relate to Strapless? Portrait of Mrs. Colin Hunter John Singer Sargent, American (1896) Oil Painting Purchased with funds from the Marriner S. Eccles Foundation for the for the Marriner S. Eccles Collection of Masterworks, assisted by Mrs. Nathan (Jane) Porter, Emma Eccles Jones, the estate of Dolores Dore (Mrs. George S.) Eccles, and Friends of the Art Museum A Room a No. 11 Rue de L'universite Walter Gay, American (1900-1937) Oil painting Gift of Richard Lawson Currently not on exhibition 2. Both John Singer Sargent and Virginie Amelie Avegnon Gautreau were American-born expats who were at first fully embraced and then ultimately rejected by Parisian society. Discuss some of the reasons this happened. To what extent might anti-American feelings have contributed to the attitudes of the French people toward Madame X? 3. Why do you think this time period is often called the “Gilded Age” particularly in Paris as described by this book? 4. Shopping as a hobby or conspicuous consumption as a social ill is often seen as a phenomena of modern society. Do you see any parallels between Paris of the 1880s and America 2011? 5. In what ways was Paris in the 1880s a more open society for women? In what ways was the identity of a woman tied to that of her husband? Has this changed today? 6. Beauty was and still is big business. How is the elusive pursuit of beauty a central theme of this book? Do you think the pursuit of physical beauty is still as important today? To what extent is aging a factor in the beauty equation? In what ways have our ideas of beauty and glamour changed? What price do you put on beauty? 7. What factors contributed to the intensity of the scandal that revolved around Madame Gautreau’s fallen strap? Do you think if Amelie Gautreau - the subject of Madame X – had been an “unknown” there would have been a scandal? 8. Compare the aftermath effects of Madame X on the ensuing lives of the two principle characters. 9. Why were portraits so important during this time period? Why did Sargent elect to become primarily a painter of portraits? Are portraits still an important art form today? How have they changed? 10. Compare Amelie to Lilly Millet. Why did Sargent spend so much time in the Millet household in the summers following the Madame X scandal? Who do you think was more “successful” - Amelie or Lilly? 11. How did changes in society as well as in art affect Sargent’s success as an artist and family breadwinner? 12. Why do you suppose the portrait of Madame X continues to be one of the most popular works at the Metropolitan Museum of Art even today? Additional Reading: Bulfinch, Thomas. Greek and Roman Mythology: The Age of Fable, “Narcissus and Echo.” Dover Thrift edition, 2000. Diliberto, Gioia. I am Madame X. Scribner, 2004 McCulloch, David. The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris. Simon and Schuster, 2011 Olson, Stanley. John Singer Sargent: His Portrait. St. Martin’s Griffin, 2001 Ratcliff, Carter. John Singer Sargent. Abbeyville Press, 2001 Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray. Ward, Locke, and Company, 1891 Related Websites: “John Singer Sargent, the Complete Works.” http://www.johnsingersargent.org/ “John Singer Sargent Virtual Gallery.” http://jssgallery.org/ “Madame X,” in the Works of Art Collection Database of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. http://www.metmuseum.org/ Other Books by Deborah Davis: Gilded: How Newport Became America’s Richest Resort (April 12, 2011) Party of the Century: The Fabulous Story of Truman Capote and His Black and White Ball (Feb 2, 2007) The Oprah Winfrey Show: Reflections on an American Legacy (Nov. 1, 2011) The Secret Lives of Frames: One Hundred Years of Art and Artistry (December 1, 2006) Guest of Honor: Booker T. Washington. Theodore Roosevelt, and the White House Dinner that Shocked a Nation (December 6, 2011) Availability: Three copies available through the Salt Lake County Library system Two copies available through the Salt Lake City Library system Available through area bookstores and online book companies Amazon Kindle and Barnes and Noble Nook version are available Utah Museum of Fine Arts • Marcia & John Price Museum Building 410 Campus Center Drive, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112 • 801-581-7332 • www.umfa.utah.edu .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • 2010-2011 Newsletter
    Newsletter WILLIAMS G RADUATE PROGRAM IN THE HISTORY OF A RT OFFERED IN COLLABORATION WITH THE CLARK ACADEMIC YEAR 2010–11 Newsletter ••••• 1 1 CLASS OF 1955 MEMORIAL PROFESSOR OF ART MARC GOTLIEB Letter from the Director Greetings from Williamstown! Our New features of the program this past year include an alumni now number well over 400 internship for a Williams graduate student at the High Mu- going back nearly 40 years, and we seum of Art. Many thanks to Michael Shapiro, Philip Verre, hope this newsletter both brings and all the High staff for partnering with us in what promises back memories and informs you to serve as a key plank in our effort to expand opportuni- of our recent efforts to keep the ties for our graduate students in the years to come. We had a thrilling study-trip to Greece last January with the kind program academically healthy and participation of Elizabeth McGowan; coming up we will be indeed second to none. To our substantial community of alumni heading to Paris, Rome, and Naples. An ambitious trajectory we must add the astonishingly rich constellation of art histori- to be sure, and in Rome and Naples in particular we will be ans, conservators, and professionals in related fields that, for a exploring 16th- and 17th-century art—and perhaps some brief period, a summer, or on a permanent basis, make William- sense of Rome from a 19th-century point of view, if I am al- stown and its vicinity their home. The atmosphere we cultivate is lowed to have my way.
    [Show full text]
  • The Drawings of Cornelis Visscher (1628/9-1658) John Charleton
    The Drawings of Cornelis Visscher (1628/9-1658) John Charleton Hawley III Jamaica Plain, MA M.A., History of Art, Institute of Fine Arts – New York University, 2010 B.A., Art History and History, College of William and Mary, 2008 A Dissertation presented to the Graduate Faculty of the University of Virginia in Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Art and Architectural History University of Virginia May, 2015 _______________________________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________ Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................................. i Acknowledgements.......................................................................................................................... ii Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1: The Life of Cornelis Visscher .......................................................................................... 3 Early Life and Family .................................................................................................................... 4 Artistic Training and Guild Membership ...................................................................................... 9 Move to Amsterdam .................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Jan | Feb | March | 2020
    jan | feb | march | 2020 SANTA BARBARA MUSEUM OF ART from the director Dear Members, Happy New Year! The year 2020 is truly one for celebrating! The Museum continues to present groundbreaking exhibitions, including that of Tatsuo Miyajima. On view through April 19, this exciting installation represents the artist’s first solo U.S. museum exhibition in over two decades and the rare opportunity to experience the captivating and immersive light-based work that embodies his Buddhist practice. In addition, a selection of small-format American paintings will grace a section of Ridley-Tree Gallery in later March, highlighting the important Preston Morton Collection of American art. This installation is an impressive reminder of the breadth of the Museum’s holdings in that area and includes beautiful works by Frederic Edwin Church, Thomas Eakins, Walter Gay, and William Merritt Chase, just to name a few. The ever-popular Parallel Stories Lecture Series returns with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jane Smiley in February and former California and U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera in March. In addition, Art Matters makes a comeback this winter season with engaging lectures by eminent scholars on the artists Michelangelo and Frederick Hammersley. Finally, this year marks the beginning of the countdown to the October 11 re-opening of SBMA’s galleries, which have been closed due to the current renovation project. This will be the first time that Members and visitors will have the opportunity to experience the extraordinary transformation of the Museum, including new dedicated exhibition spaces for contemporary art, photography, and new media; a breathtaking re- installation of Ludington Court; a new grand staircase; and refined finishes and state-of-the-art lighting.
    [Show full text]
  • Courier Gazette 74*76 Newbert
    Issued, Tuesday Thursday Saturday The Courier-Gazette 6 Entered as Second Class Mall Mattes THREE CENTS A COPY V olum e 94 Number 76. Established January, 1846. By The Courier-Gazette, 465 Main St, Rockland, Maine, Tuesday, June 27, 1939 The Courier-Gazette [EDITORIAL] THREE-TIMES-A-WEEK NOT ALL PAPER TALK UNDER A RIVER AND OVER IT Thomaston Church Wedding 'B B B B B B » Editor • The crisis in China is not to be disposed of in the careless WM. O FULLER Jk remark "all paper talk.” Existing there is a very serious situ­ Associate Editor With “The Sleepy City” On One Side and Wide PRANK A. WINSLOW ation, and which, through the presence of the destroyer Pillsbury might very easily involve the United States, as well Subscriptions »3.(i0 oer year payable Awake World’s Fair On the Other |o advance, single copies three cents. as Great Britain. The cockiness of Japan's attitude looks Advertising rates baaed u|>on clrcula-1 not unlike somebody ready to start a quarrel not necessarily lion and very reasonable NEWSPAPER HISTORY with Uncle Sam, but with Uncle Sam displaying a firmness (By The Roving Reporter Fourth Installment) The Rockland Qazette was estab-' which somebody else should have used long ago In the melee llshcd in 1846 In 1874 the Courier was started the day right. established and consolidated with the suppose the Pillsbury should be attacked! Suppose there 1'aaet.te In 1882 The Free Press was, should be a repetition of the Battleship Maine tragedy in Watermelons are plenty cheap ea'abllahed lh 1855 and lh 1891 changed Its name to the Tr'hune These papers i Havana harbor.
    [Show full text]
  • The American Art Fair Thomas Colville Fine Art
    The American Art Fair Thomas Colville Fine Art November 12-15, 2017 Te Bohemian National Hall 321 East 73rd Street New York City GEORGE BELLOWS (American 1882-1925) The Watermelon Man, 1906 Crayon, charcoal, pen & ink on paper 14 x 17 inches Signed Geo. Bellows lower left Provenance: Weyhe Gallery, New York Literature: “The Craftsman” Vol. 17, February 1910, p. 596; Marianne Doezema, George Bellows and Urban America, Yale University, 1992, pp. iii, 134, no. 56, frontispiece Marianne Doezema, Tenement Life: Clif Dwellers, 1906-1913, in the exhibition catalog for “George Bellows,” National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., 2012, p. 50, fg. 4 Exhibited: New York, Independent Artists’ Exhibition, organized by Robert Henri in the exhibition catalog for “George Bellows,” National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., 2012, p. 50, fg. 4 FRANK W. BENSON (American 1862-1951) Ipswich Marshes Watercolor 18 x 24 inches Signed F W Benson lower right Provenance: From a Massachusetts Estate DAVID GILMOUR BLYTHE (American 1815-1865) January Bills Oil on canvas 20 x 24 inches Signed Blythe lower right Provenance: The artist George L. Hailman George W. Hailman Francis P. Garvan, 1939 Macbeth Gallery, New York Millicent Rogers, circa 1939 Arturo Peralta Ramos, by descent Gifted to Jacqueline Peralta Ramos, until 2017 Literature: Oliver W. Larkin, Art and Life in America, New York, Rinehart & Company, Inc., 1949, pg. 216 Dorothy Miller, The Life and Work of David G. Blythe, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. University of Pittsburgh Press, 1950, pg. 75-76, 129 Bruce W. Chambers, The World of David G. Blythe (1815-1865), Washington DC, Smithsonian Institution Press, 1980, pg.
    [Show full text]
  • The Museum of Modern
    38418 - 17 THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART F0R 14 WEST 49TH STREET, NEW YORK IMMEDIATE RELEASE TELEPHONE: CIRCLE 7-MKE TO EDITORS OUTSIDE NEW YORK CITY: Artists and lenders of paintings and sculptures here listed are natives or residents in various cities and towns throughout the country. Localities are given in every instance. Today, April 20, the large Exhibition of American Art 1609-1938, which the Museum of Modern Art has assembled for Paris,, will leave New York for France on the S.S. Lafayette. More than one thousand items are included in the exhibition which will be held at the Jeu de Paume, Paris, from May 24 to July 13. For more than a year, at the invitation of the French Government, the Museum has been assembling the exhibition. The largest section includes approximately 200 oils and watercolors, 40 sculptures, and 80 prints, the work of artists in all parts of the United States during the past three centuries. The exhibits shown in this section have been selected by Mr. A. Conger Goodyear, President of the Museum, assisted by Mr. Alfred H. Barr, Jr., Director, and Miss Dorothy C. Miller, Assistant Curator of Painting and Sculpture. Mr. Barr is sailing this week to supervise the in­ stallation of the exhibition in Paris. The following pieces of sculpture and contemporary paintings will be shown in the exhibition: CONTEMPORARY PAINTINGS: GIFFORD BEAL, b. 1879, New York. Lives in New York. "Horse Tent" (1937) Lent by the Artist GEORGE WESLEY BELLOWS, b. 1882, Columbus, Ohio; d. 1925 "Stag at Sharkey's" (1909) Lent by the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio .
    [Show full text]
  • American Library in Paris 1922 Year Book
    Year book. American Library in Paris. Paris, [1922- https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015033915250 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives http://www.hathitrust.org/access_use#cc-by-nc-nd-4.0 This work is protected by copyright law (which includes certain exceptions to the rights of the copyright holder that users may make, such as fair use where applicable under U.S. law), but made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license. You must attribute this work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Only verbatim copies of this work may be made, distributed, displayed, and performed, not derivative works based upon it. Copies that are made may only be used for non-commercial purposes. Please check the terms of the specific Creative Commons license as indicated at the item level. For details, see the full license deed at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0. OCT 6 1924 A3 The American Library in Paris Incorporated IBRARL Alrutex post libris MERIC bellun lux PARIS 1 INC 1920 YEAR BOOK 1922 The American Library in Paris , Inc . ]$ TDs 0 R | * * * !$ 4tta ( The American Library in Paris Incorporated YEAR BOOK 1922 lO. RUE DE L'ELYSEE PARIS at 5 Amer 2- Memorial Report Endowments American Advisory Report - Annual Life Patrons Officers Statement Donations Board Foreword Committees 1924 Constitution Balance . Members Lib Members Sheet of of . of . the Board Council Trustees Legion Tablet . in of . Librarian Income . , Paris Decembre of .
    [Show full text]
  • Impressions of Interiors: Gilded Age Paintings by Walter Gay
    Janet Whitmore exhibition review of Impressions of Interiors: Gilded Age Paintings by Walter Gay Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide 12, no. 1 (Spring 2013) Citation: Janet Whitmore, exhibition review of “Impressions of Interiors: Gilded Age Paintings by Walter Gay,” Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide 12, no. 1 (Spring 2013), http://www. 19thc-artworldwide.org/spring13/whitmore-reviews-impressions-of-interiors. Published by: Association of Historians of Nineteenth-Century Art. Notes: This PDF is provided for reference purposes only and may not contain all the functionality or features of the original, online publication. Whitmore: Impressions of Interiors: Gilded Age Paintings by Walter Gay Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide 12, no. 1 (Spring 2013) Impressions of Interiors: Gilded Age Paintings by Walter Gay Frick Art Museum, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania October 6, 2012 – January 6, 2013 Flagler Museum, Palm Beach, Florida January 29 – April 21, 2013 Catalogue: Impressions of Interiors: Gilded Age Paintings by Walter Gay. Isabel L. Taube, with contributions by Priscilla Vail Caldwell, Nina Gray, Sarah J. Hall and Emilia S. Boehm. London: D. Giles Limited, 2012. 224 pp.; 104 color illus; 24 b/w illus; selected bibliography; index; chronology. ISBN:978-1-907804-08-3 $55 (hardcover) ISBN: 978-0-615-57374-8 $34.95 (softcover) The recent exhibition, Impressions of Interiors: Gilded Age Paintings by Walter Gay, at the Frick Art Museum in Pittsburgh offers a glimpse of wealthy expatriate Americans living in France and the carefully designed interior spaces of their homes at the turn of the twentieth century. It is a rare opportunity to study the early roots of American interior design as an independent creative practice, as well as the work of Walter Gay (1856–1937), an academically trained painter who specialized in capturing the interior spaces of both his own homes and those of his friends and family.
    [Show full text]
  • EXHIBITION of AMERICAN ART LEAVES for PARIS April
    38418 - 17 THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART F0R 14 WEST 49TH STREET, NEW YORK IMMEDIATE RELEASE TELEPHONE: CIRCLE 7-MKE TO EDITORS OUTSIDE NEW YORK CITY: Artists and lenders of paintings and sculptures here listed are natives or residents in various cities and towns throughout the country. Localities are given in every instance. Today, April 20, the large Exhibition of American Art 1609-1938, which the Museum of Modern Art has assembled for Paris,, will leave New York for France on the S.S. Lafayette. More than one thousand items are included in the exhibition which will be held at the Jeu de Paume, Paris, from May 24 to July 13. For more than a year, at the invitation of the French Government, the Museum has been assembling the exhibition. The largest section includes approximately 200 oils and watercolors, 40 sculptures, and 80 prints, the work of artists in all parts of the United States during the past three centuries. The exhibits shown in this section have been selected by Mr. A. Conger Goodyear, President of the Museum, assisted by Mr. Alfred H. Barr, Jr., Director, and Miss Dorothy C. Miller, Assistant Curator of Painting and Sculpture. Mr. Barr is sailing this week to supervise the in­ stallation of the exhibition in Paris. The following pieces of sculpture and contemporary paintings will be shown in the exhibition: CONTEMPORARY PAINTINGS: GIFFORD BEAL, b. 1879, New York. Lives in New York. "Horse Tent" (1937) Lent by the Artist GEORGE WESLEY BELLOWS, b. 1882, Columbus, Ohio; d. 1925 "Stag at Sharkey's" (1909) Lent by the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio .
    [Show full text]
  • Publications of the Metropolitan Museum Of
    PUBLICATIONS OF THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART • 1870-1964 A Bibliography compiled by Albert TenEyck Gardner Associate Curator of American Paintings and Sculpture 1965 3/i^Ar »(^/w^A^*» /)& '(%«st, PREFACE In the second century A.D. the prolific writer Galen compiled a classified bibliography of his works — necessary, in his view, to set the record of history straight. He first listed all the books falsely attributed to him and then, in seventeen succeeding chapters, listed and annotated the five hundred or so titles that had come from his hand. The account might be termed a "bio-bibliography," as it con­ stitutes a record of the author's productivity. This term is also appropriate to Albert TenEyck Gardner's bibliography of the publica­ tions of-The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the first complete listing of all known books, pamphlets, and serials bearing our imprint; for it is a record of the institution's achievements over the past nine decades and mirrors its varied and numerous activities. The scholarly publications testify to the contributions made to knowledge by the Museum's staff; the catalogues and guides indicate the broad scope of its acquisitions; the exhibition catalogues commemorate the many important loan exhibi­ tions that have complemented and augmented its collections. In brief, this bio-bibliography is a valuable index of the myriad ways in which the Museum presents its vast collections of art to an ever-growing public. It is also a testimony of the contributions of many individuals to the Museum's publishing program. As Mr. Gardner notes, a decisive influence over this program was wielded by Henry Watson Kent, Secre­ tary of the Museum for twenty-seven years, who established a tradition of fine design and printing for Museum publications that has survived ever since.
    [Show full text]
  • Le Musée Du Luxembourg Pendant La Première Guerre Mondiale Julien Bastoen
    Le Musée du Luxembourg pendant la Première Guerre mondiale Julien Bastoen To cite this version: Julien Bastoen. Le Musée du Luxembourg pendant la Première Guerre mondiale : Un musée au service de la diplomatie culturelle et de la propagande. 2015. hal-02512375 HAL Id: hal-02512375 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02512375 Preprint submitted on 19 Mar 2020 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Le Musée du Luxembourg pendant la Première Guerre mondiale : un musée au service de la diplomatie culturelle et de la propagande Julien Bastoen (version originale du texte paru en allemand : « Das Musée du Luxembourg und der Erste Weltkrieg: Ein Museum im Dienst von Kulturdiplomatie und Propaganda », dans Christina Kott, Bénédicte Savoy (dir.), Mars & Museum. Europäische Museen im Ersten Weltkrieg, Vienne/Cologne/Weimar, Böhlau, 2016, p. 131-146) L’angle mort historiographique que représentait le fonctionnement des musées nationaux français pendant la Première guerre mondiale a été récemment mis en lumière à la faveur de recherches sur le Musée du Louvre1, sur l’évacuation et la protection des collections nationales2, et sur quelques agents de l’administration des Beaux-arts, dont Henri Marcel, directeur des musées nationaux pendant le conflit3.
    [Show full text]
  • Fearing Family Scrapbook
    Fannie R. Brewer Scrapbook of Military and Art History, ca. 1875-1933 Repository: Hingham Public Library Creator: Fannie R. Brewer Quantity: 1 flat box Processed By: Stephanie McBain Access: Open for research. Some materials have been placed in protective enclosures and should not be removed from them. Provenance This scrapbook was created by Fannie R. Brewer during the early 20th century and was given to the Hingham Public Library by an anonymous donor. Biographical Note Family and Friends Fannie Reed Brewer was born in Boston on April 9, 1858 to John Reed Brewer (1818-1893) and Caroline Sayles Brewer (1821-1887). The Brewers lived on Commonwealth Ave in Boston and had a summer estate at World's End in Hingham. They also owned Sarah and Langley Islands. Among Fannie's many great interests were the military, art, writers, and travel. She never married, and resided in the family homes in Boston and Hingham until her death in September 1936. Brigadier General Alston Hamilton and his family were friends of Fannie's. Alston was born in Oxford, North Carolina on October 20, 1871. He married Nancy Creel (ca. 1877-1930) of Kentucky, and they had two children: son John (b. ca. 1898) and daughter Alston (b. 1911). Hamilton was a Colonel, then a Brigadier General, and served for a time in the Panama Canal Zone. Wilbur Fenno Thayer was married to Fannie's niece Augusta Brewer Thayer (1899-1940), with whom he had two children. He was born on June 19, 1885 in Braintree to Wilbur and Mabel Whitman Thayer. He graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1907 with a degree in Law, and served in the Navy during World War I as a member of the court-martial.
    [Show full text]