Art for the Private Viewer
The Broad Usage of Sexual Figures in Art
Curated by Sree Balusu

Man with Red Drapery, John Singer Sargent, After 1900

"Once I pass'd through a populous city imprinting my brain for future use with its shows, architecture, customs, tradition,
Yet now of all that city I remember only a man I casually met there who detained me for love of me,
Day by day and night by night we were together - all else has long been forgotten by me,
I remember I saw only that man who passionately clung to me,
Again we wander, we love, we separate again,
Again he holds me by the hand, I must not go,
I see him close beside me with silent lips sad and tremulous."
-- Once I pass'd through a populous city, Walt Whitman

Many who argue that John Singer Sargent was gay, point to a series of paintings (which includes this painting) depicting men in sexual poses as clear evidence.

The naked man has only his dark red drape covering him as he poses erotically. The man expresses longing (possibly for a lover), as his arm is thrown upward while his head is tilted far back. The subject may remind viewers of a stage actor. Looking closely at the man's posture, we can see how it is poetic and even theatrical in its depiction of the sadness in being separated from a lover.

Sargent did say "Cultivate an ever-continuous power of observation. Wherever you are, be always ready to make slight notes of postures, groups and incidents. Store up in the mind... a continuous stream of observations from which to make selections later. Above all things get abroad, see the sunlight and everything that is to be seen." He thoroughly follows this idea in Man with Red Drapery, as he creates a very specific figure that shows unhappiness.

This painting is an excellent example of the way that sexual figures in art can be used to create an aura of grief and nostalgia.