John Singer Sargent - Madame X
Metropolitan Museum of Art - The infamous Madame X - the model was an American expatriate who married a banker. Sargent wrote to a friend " I have a great desire to paint her portrait and have reason to think she would allow it and is waiting for someone to propose this homage to her beauty. If you are 'bien avec elle' and will see her in Paris, you might tell her I am a man of prodigious talent." A remarkable portrait it is - profile pose, unnaturally pale upper class skin, very tight waste. The dress reveals much, her attitude haughty, her flesh tones sensual and erotic. Scandal erupted when he displayed the portrait in Paris.. Later, Sargent overpainted the shoulder strap to make it look more secure, but to no avail, the damage to his reputation in France was done. A scandalous work at the time, it is remarkable at how far society's ability to be shocked has changed in the past century. I suspect Sargent had an affair with this mysterious and beautiful woman. /artist
