A Fork in The Road
Decision Made in Art
Curated by Sydney Reed

John Singer Sargent, Madame X, 1883-84

Have you ever struggled with a choice so much that you never reached a definite decision you felt completely comfortable with? It’s that one decision in a collection of choices that catches you off guard and then proceeds to make you question everything else. For Sargent, this decision and subsequent questioning began with a portrait. In February of 1883, Sargent began a portrait commission for the prominent socialite, Amélie Gautreau. This portrait had the potential to be beneficial for both Sargent and Amélie, as past portraits had elevated the fame of rising social stars and painting a well-known woman could lead to more commissions for Sargent. After a difficult period of time sketching Amélie, as she was still a busy social figure who had many engagements to attend to, and contemplating how to execute the portrait, Sargent finally had a clear idea and began the work that he would submit to the Paris Salon of 1884.

As Sargent began to paint the life size portrait of Amélie, his confidence quickly began to wane. What began as a striking, confident and slightly sensual painting began to look too radical on certain days, and not radical enough for the Salon on other days. Sargent’s concerns about the original painting were so intense that he scraped and repainted the canvas numerous times, resulting in an uneven canvas, something Sargent could not present to the public. He, thus, painted a copy, hoping to make less changes, but then still couldn’t decide whether the original was satisfactory, or whether he should continue the copy. He invited his mentor Carolus-Duran to help dispel Sargent’s fears, and decided, after receiving advice, to abandon the copy and add the finishing touches to the original.

The original painting looked similar to the one you see in this blog, with one slight change that really wasn’t viewed as so minor – Amélie's right strap. The portrait Sargent submitted to the Salon had a strap that was sensually falling from Amélie's right shoulder, revealing nothing, but insinuating everything (at least according to the viewers of the portrait). What seemed like a rather harmless decision in a collection of overwhelming choices at the time turned into a scandal when the Salon opened. Men and women alike found the painting too sexual and vulgar, revealing too much of the young ladies figure and making her look both sexualized and too pale, almost like a corpse when contrasted against the blackness of the dress. People ridiculed the painting in conversations, newspapers printed negative reviews, Amélie was mortified by the negative reaction, and Sargent didn’t know what to do.

Sargent could not remove the painting from the Salon, and had to wait until the Salon was over before he could reclaim the portrait that threatened to destroy his future as a portraitist and Amélies’ future as a social figure. Once the portrait returned to Sargent’s studio, he immediately painted over the fallen strap and placed a new one on Amélie's shoulder. Sargent did not paint the strap to be re-exhibited so the public could view the possibly redeeming factor, but possibly so Sargent could see the other side of the decision he never fully felt confident in.

Artists have to make choices every time they stare at a canvas, never knowing how that decision will impact how their painting is received and criticized. For some paintings, as evident in Madame X, it can come down to only a few brushstrokes that determine not only the fate of the painting, but the fate of the artist and the subject. However, there is another factor at work – time. While Sargent’s masterpiece was originally viewed as a scandal and pushed aside once the backlash of the original showing faded, the painting rose to fame after Sargent’s death. Sometimes, all a painting needs is the right crowd of viewers who are prepared to look past the original skepticisms, judgments, and fallen strap, and view a skilled masterpiece that portrays beauty, class, and decisions that set Sargent apart from other portraitists.