Recently I was lucky enough to spend a wonderful afternoon at the Tate Britain’s current exhibition ‘Sargent & Fashion’. It is on until the 7th of July so there is still time to catch it if you can. Aside from being a feast for the eyes with a collection of wonderful late victorian and edwardian costumed portraits, there are also some of the textiles that inspired the paintings with a smattering of original costumes and period pieces to highlight the fashions of the time. The exhibition is thought provoking on other levels too, partly because we can easily draw comparisons with our own behaviour on social media today and what these grand dames were aspiring to do in their vanity over a hundred and thirty years ago. The aspiring influencers of their day, What do our clothes say about us? What do portraits tell us of the people and times of the day? Perhaps it is best summed up by a paragraph in the Director’s introduction in the marvellous book that accompanies the exhibition

“This book and the exhibition it accompanies invite us into the studio of the turn-of-the-twentieth century’s best-known portraitist and encourage us to reconsider him as an artistic director of public performances. Through the lens of dress and fashion, we can see John Singer Sargent’s power over his images. Clear are the liberties he took with his sitters’ sartorial choices to express their distinctive peronalities, social positions, professions, gender identities and nationalities”

So who was this man who made a living (and a rather good one too) from painting the great and the good of his day? John Singer Sargent (1856 - 1925) was born in Florence to American parents. The dye was cast from the beginning I suppose, because he spent his life living mostly in Europe but partly in the US and made his career mixing with expatriates in London and Paris. With a background like this, it was part of his world to slip between these layers of society with ease, perhaps never quite belonging to any section of it, and yet seeming to belong to it all.

JSS is the older gentleman at the top left

Having to earn a living by painting portraits might seem a frustrating thing to an artist, being dictated to by the aristrocrats, politicians and great industrialists of the day. Was there room for artistic expression of one’s own? In fact Sargent had no problem finding his way with this, often choosing the clothes, backdrops and props himself to best enhance his subject. He apparently “revelled in the possibilities of depicting fabric” and this strikes you immediately as you walk around the exhibition. His skill in portraying drapes and gathers, tucks and frills is done with such a light touch you feel that you could touch the fabric itself. Throughout the whole selection of paintings displayed here, all the costumes are simply magnificent in their sumptuousness.

Some facts taken from the exhibition book: Sargent charged 1000 guineas for a full length portrait which is equivalent to around $120,000 today. A ‘Worth’ gown could cost between $10,000 and $30,000 in todays money so this puts the whole process in perspective. These were extremely wealthy people who wanted to show off their wealth and preserve that image forever. Remember that photography was well established by Sargent’s time so having your portrait painted was something quite on another level. Another fact that fascinated me was that the commissioners of these portraits did not simply buy them to hang over the fireplace in their country home, they seem to have been exhibited in salons and gallery’s for sometime and even acquired quickly by museums for permanent display. They seem to me to be the ultimate in vanity gone mad! They literally were the social media queens of the era.

Sargent learnt a hard lesson early on while still living in Paris. The ‘Madame X’ scandal was a tough one to get over. In 1883, Sargent began work on a portrait of Virginie Gautreau, the american born wife of a financier, who was determined to make her mark on society. She was exceptionally beautiful and she knew how to use this to climb the social ladder. A perfectly styled portrait was a way to show her contemporaries that she knew what the height of elegance and fashion was combined with highlighting her natural attributes to be the envy of all. The dress is a sculpted black gown with thin silver straps over bare shoulders. At the time of painting, Virginie had one strap down, loosely hanging and Sargent faithfully reproduced this. When it was exhibited at the prestigious Salon of the day, it caused a scandal. A step too far, or a strap too loose. The suggestiveness of this was too much for society and after it was removed from the Salon, Sargent had to repaint it with the strap in place!

After this faux pas, Sargent moved to London and there he began a splendid career amongst the glitterati of London Society. He painted men and women always taking great care to portray his subjects at the height of their power. He also moved amongst the theatrical stars of the day and captured some of the great moments of stage performance.

I loved the detail on this dress and how it deftly accomplished with tiny brushstrokes.

Ellen Terry’s famous Beetle Wing dress was on display too….although it was rather difficult to capture on camera.

ELLEN TERRY’s beetle wing dress for Lady Macbeth

This gown is thus described by the designer Alice Laura Comyns-Carr “It was cut from fine bohemian yarn of soft green silk and blue tinsel … it was sewn all over with real green beetle wings and a narrow border of Celtic design worked out in imitation rubies and diamonds. To this was added a cloak of shot velvet in heather tones upon which griffins were embroidered in flame coloured tinsel. The wimple and veil was held in place by a circlet of imitation rubies and two long plaits twisted with gold hung to her knees”. It was quite something to see!

Visiting an exhibition like this makes you realise how nothing really changes, just the tools we have available to us. The ‘showing off’ and ‘look at me’ vibes of social media today are just the same as these wealthy ladies jostling for position in the society of the day. However, it is completely wonderful to see the skill and attention to detail by John Singer Sargent and to appreciate the paintings as works of art in their own right.

All of the paintings are magnificent and perhaps my favourite one was this:

I mean who wouldn’t want to wear this? even if you can’t breathe ….

Hope this will tempt you to visit and I strongly recommend picking up the accompanying book - it is tempting me to have a go at painting myself!

More information here at Tate Britain

See you soon, Ruby x

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Sargent and Fashion at Tate Britain

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