Sargent, A Gust of Wind, 1886

While working on Madame X in Brittany, Sargent painted Judith Gautier. I choose this painting of Sargent's because Judith is absolutely fascinating to me, and Sargent paints her in a way that perfectly describes the person I would imagine Judith Gautier to be.

She grew up thrown into the arts by her father, Theophile Gautier. As a writer he pushed Judith to read outside the box, and she become accustomed to a bohemian lifestyle that she took on "with a vengeance" (Davis 114). Her father asserted his independence and non-conformity by never marrying her mother, which might have something to do with Judith's controversial marriage herself. She married super star bachelor, Catulle Mendes, who was a writer like her father. They climbed into the elite social arts groups together. Because of her desire to climb the ladders, Judith turned the other cheek to her husbands quite public infidelity. Victor Hugo and Richard Wagner helped Judith to realize that she could still stand in social graces on her own as her marriage finally ended in 1874. Relationships with the men she met with her husband quickly turned into flirtations and Judith became the ultimate fan of the arts. As the number one groupie, "she convinced them that she alone understood art and its importance" (Davis 115).

To me she has a lifestyle that has taken her quite a long way, but is she really an independent superstar riding on the backs of these talented artists? If her goal was to become an independent women I'm not so sure because using Hugo for government pension so she can keep living the high life doesn't sound too independent to me. She is definitely one of a kind, and I believe Sargent's painting of her here shows just that. She was known for embracing Asian culture and wore kimonos often - as seen here and alone in the open - and he has painted one of his magnificent portraits in true Sargent fashion.