JOHN SINGER SARGENT’S BRITISH AND AMERICAN SITTERS, 1890-1910: INTERPRETING CULTURAL IDENTITY WITHIN SOCIETY PORTRAITS EMILY LOUISA MOORE TWO VOLUMES VOLUME 1 PH.D. UNIVERSITY OF YORK HISTORY OF ART SEPTEMBER 2016 ABSTRACT Began as a compositional analysis of the oil-on-canvas portraits painted by John Singer Sargent, this thesis uses a selection of those images to relate national identity, cultural and social history within cosmopolitan British and American high society between 1890 and 1910. Close readings of a small selection of Sargent’s portraits are used in order to undertake an in-depth analysis on the particular figural details and decorative elements found within these images, and how they can relate to nation-specific ideologies and issues present at the turn of the century. Thorough research was undertaken to understand the prevailing social types and concerns of the period, and biographical data of individual sitters was gathered to draw larger inferences about the prevailing ideologies present in America and Britain during this tumultuous era. Issues present within class and family structures, the institution of marriage, the performance of female identity, and the formulation of masculinity serve as the topics for each of the four chapters. These subjects are interrogated and placed in dialogue with Sargent’s visual representations of his sitters’ identities. Popular images of the era, both contemporary and historic paintings, as well as photographic prints are incorporated within this analysis to fit Sargent’s portraits into a larger art historical context. The Appendices include tables and charts to substantiate claims made in the text about trends and anomalies found within Sargent’s portrait compositions. This close statistical reading of Sargent’s portrait oeuvre, while at times a subjective exercise, had not before been undertaken on this scale in art historical literature. The resulting data has been compiled to see if there is a correlation between compositional elements and nationality of sitter. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS VOLUME 1 ABSTRACT 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS 3 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 5 LIST OF TABLES 10 LIST OF CHARTS AND GRAPHS 11 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 12 AUTHOR'S DECLARATION 13 INTRODUCTION. Making Sense Of Sargent And His Age 14 CHAPTER 1. Restless Families: Social Status And Familial Presentation 37 PART 1. THE COMMISSIONERS: ASHER WERTHEIMER AND GEORGE WASHINGTON VANDERBILT 41 PART 2. NEW BRITISH AND OLD AMERICAN: RECONFIGURING THE WERTHEIMER AND VANDERBILT PORTRAIT COMMISSIONS WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF CULTURAL SYSTEMS 52 CONCLUSION. THE LEGACY OF THE VANDERBILT AND WERTHEIMER COMMISSIONS 67 CHAPTER 2. Nervous Matrimony: Challenges To The Doctrine Of Separate Spheres 72 PART 1. THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE BRITISH ARISTOCRATIC MARRIAGE: THE MARLBOROUGH FAMILY 73 PART 2. THE NEW WOMAN, THE NEW MAN AND THE NEW MARRIAGE IN AMERICA: MR AND MRS I.N PHELPS STOKES 97 CONCLUSION. SARGENT'S SYMBOLS OF MARITAL UNIONS 127 CHAPTER 3. Femininity On Edge: Reformulating The Cult Of True Womanhood 130 PART 1. CONSTRUCTING THE NATURAL AMERICAN WOMAN: DAISY LEITER 132 PART 2. IDEAL DOMESTICITY AND THE BRITISH WOMAN: THE DUCHESS OF PORTLAND 150 CONCLUSION. THE PERFORMANCE OF FEMININE IDENTITY 167 CHAPTER 4. The Age Of Imperialistic Masculinity: Military Might And Capitalist Power 170 PART 1. THE REGALIA OF BRITISH MASCULINITY AND THE MILITARISM OF EMPIRE: SIR FRANK SWETTENHAM 172 3 PART 2. MASCULINE SIMPLICITY AND THE BUSINESS OF AMERICAN IMPERIALISM: PRESIDENT THEODORE ROOSEVELT 180 CONCLUSION. SARGENT’S DISTILLING OF MANLINESS 189 CONCLUSION. Reading Sargent's Portraits 193 BIBLIOGRAPHY 201 Unpublished Primary Sources 201 Published Primary Sources 202 Secondary Sources 205 VOLUME 2 ILLUSTRATIONS 224 APPENDIX 1. Tables 299 APPENDIX 2. Charts and Graphs 380 4 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 1. John Singer Sargent, Lady Elcho, Mrs Adeane and Mrs Tennant or The Wyndham Sisters, 1899, New York. (The Metropolitan Museum of Art Online Collection). 2. John Singer Sargent, Mrs Edward Davis and her Son, Livingston, 1890, Los Angeles. (Los Angeles Museum of Art Online Collection). 3. Max Beerbohm, 31, Tite Street, 1908, Private Collection. (Reproduced in Evan Charteris John Sargent). 4. John Singer Sargent, Asher Wertheimer, 1898, London. (Tate Gallery Online Collection). 5. John Singer Sargent, George Washington Vanderbilt, 1890, Asheville, North Carolina. (Richard Ormond and Elaine Kilmurray, John Singer Sargent: Portraits of the 1890s, 33). 6. James McNeil Whistler, George W. Vanderbilt, 1897/1903, Washington D.C. (National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Online Collection). 7. Sir John Everett Millais, Charles Wertheimer. 1888, Paris. (Musée d'Orsay Online Collection). 8. Sir William Orpen, Charles Wertheimer. c. 1904, Essex. (Artuk.org Digital Collection). 9. Detail from Unconscious Humour at the Royal Academy, 1898. (Punch Magazine vol. 114. 7 May1898, 206). 10. Joseph Keppler, ‘Modern Colossus of (Rail) Roads’ 1879, Washington, D.C. (Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Digital Collection). 11. John Singer Sargent, Joseph Pulitzer, 1905, Private Collection. (Columbia University Library Online Exhibitions). 12. Connaught Place, c. 1878, Edward Walford, Old and New London vol.5. (British History Online). 13. William Henry Jackson, Biltmore House, c. 1902, Washington, D.C. (Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Digital Collection). 14. John Singer Sargent, Richard Morris Hunt, 1895, Ashville, North Carolina. (Ormond and Kilmurray, Portraits of the 1890s, 102). 15. John Singer Sargent, Frederick Law Olmstead, 1895, Asheville, North Carolina. (Ormond and Kilmurray, Portraits of the 1890s, 103). 16. John Singer Sargent, Mrs Walter Bacon, 1896, Ashville, North Carolina. (Ormond and Kilmurray, Portraits of the 1890s, 112). 5 17. John Singer Sargent, Mrs William Henry Vanderbilt, 1888, Ashville, North Carolina. (Richard Ormond and Elaine Kilmurray, John Singer Sargent: The Early Portraits, 214). 18. John Singer Sargent, Mrs Asher Wertheimer. 1904, London. (Tate Gallery Online Collection). 19. John Singer Sargent, Alfred, Son of Asher Wertheimer, c. 1901, London. (Tate Gallery Online Collection). 20. John Singer Sargent, Ena and Betty, Daughters of Asher and Mrs Wertheimer, 1901, London. (Tate Gallery Online Collection). 21. John Singer Sargent, Essie, Ruby and Ferdinand, Children of Asher Wertheimer, 1902, London. (Tate Gallery Online Collection). 22. John Singer Sargent, Hylda, Almina and Conway, Children of Asher Wertheimer, 1905, London. (Tate Gallery Online Collection). 23. John Singer Sargent, Almina, Daughter of Asher Wertheimer, 1908, London. (Tate Gallery Online Collection). 24. John Singer Sargent, Mrs Benjamin Kissam, 1888, Ashville, North Carolina. (Ormond and Kilmurray, The Early Portraits, 213). 25. John Singer Sargent, The Marlborough Family, 1904-05, Woodstock. (Richard Ormond and Elaine Kilmurray, John Singer Sargent: The Later Portraits, 145). 26. John Singer Sargent, Mr and Mrs I.N. Phelps Stokes, 1897, New York. (The Metropolitan Museum of Art Online Collection). 27. Sir Joshua Reynolds, The Family of George Spencer, 4th Duke of Marlborough, 1777- 79, Woodstock. (Artstor Digital Library). 28. John Singer Sargent, Sir George Sitwell, Lady Ida Sitwell and Family, 1900, Private Collection. (Ormond and Kilmurray, The Later Portraits, 45). 29. John Singleton Copley, The Sitwell Family (Children) 1786-7, Private Collection. (Emily Ballew Neff, John Singleton Copley in England, 57). 30. Giovanni Boldini, Consuelo Vanderbilt, the Duchess of Marlborough and her Son Lord Ivor Spencer-Churchill, 1906, New York. (The Metropolitan Museum of Art Online Collection). 31. Leslie Matthew Ward, Statesman No. 699: The Duke of Marlborough, “Blenheim Palace,” 1898, Vanity Fair 22 September 1898. (Artstor Digital Library). 32. Photo of Consuelo Vanderbilt, 1890s, San Diego. (Artstor Digital Library) 33. F. T Richards, Illustration 5—No Title, 1896, Washington D.C. (Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division). 6 34. Charles Dana Gibson, The Ambitious Mother and the Obliging Clergyman, 1902, Life Magazine 5 June 1902. (Artstor Digital Library). 35. James Montgomery Flagg, These Stylish Suits $49.98, 1899. (The Century Magazine, (December 1899), 321 via UNZ.org). 36. Charles Dana Gibson, One Difficulty of the Game: Keeping Your Eye on the Ball, 1900, Fairfield, Connecticut. (The Fairfield Museum Digital Collection). 37. Edward Lamson Henry, The New Woman, 1892, Private Collection. (The Athenaeum Digital Archive). 38. John Sloan, South Beach Bathers, c. 1907-1908, Minneapolis. (Walker Art Gallery Online Collection). 39. Charles Dana Gibson, Her First Appearance in this New Costume, 1894, Washington D.C. (Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Digital Collection). 40. John Sloan, Dolly with a Black Bow, 1909, New York. (Whitney Museum of American Art Online Collection). 41. Charles Dana Gibson, The Weaker Sex II, 1903, Washington D.C. (Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Digital Collection). 42. Thomas Gainsborough, William Hallett with his wife Elizabeth (The Morning Walk), 1785, London. (National Gallery, London Online Collection). 43. John Singleton Copley, Mr and Mrs Thomas Mifflin, 1773, Philadelphia. (Philadelphia Museum of Art Online Collection). 44. Charles Dana Gibson, Warning to Noblemen: Treat Your American Wife with Kindness, 1900, Washington D.C. (Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Digital Collection). 45. John Singer Sargent, Daisy Leiter. 1898, London. (Artuk.org Digital Collection). 46. John Singer