My Kid Could Paint That

John Singer Sargent, Madame X, 1884

Crossing Boundaries
By Emma Shapiro

Amelie Gautreau, the subject of Sargent's Madame X, was a well-established Parisian socialite, best known for her beauty. Although Amelie was born in the United States in New Orleans, she moved to Paris at a young age with her mother and grew up in a life of French nobility. She later enhanced her popularity by marrying a wealthy banker twice her age. Due to this high social standing she had many painters paint portraits of her. John Singer Sargent aimed to become one of those lucky painters.

Sargent vied to paint Madame Gautreau because he believed that doing so would elevate his status as a painter. One of Amelie Gautreau's most defining characteristics was her soft white skin, and Sargent wanted to emulate that skin on canvas. When Sargent had the chance to paint Amelie Gautreau he tried to show her skin, grace, and beauty, but also emphasize her daring attitude and individuality. By portraying her personality though portraiture Sargent thought he would receive praise for his skill and also his uniqueness. To do this, Sargent painted the right strap of Gautreau's gown slipping down her shoulder. But, Sargent's attempt at being innovative failed him.

The painting was first displayed at the 1884 Salon. Sargent had won an award at the salon the previous year which forced the Academie to give him a spot on the wall in 1884. Yet, his painting at the 1884 salon received much more ridicule than praise. People were offended by Sargent's portrayal of one of Paris' elites as coquettish. 19th century society could not believe that Sargent would paint something which condoned adultery. Madame Gautreau's mother requested that Sargent remove the painting from the salon and change the name of the portrait from Portrait of Madame Gautreau to Portrait of Madame X. She wanted the identity of her daughter hidden, because this painting crossed the line.

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. 

John Singer Sargent, Madame Gautreau Drinking A Toast, 1882-3

Preceding his famously controversial portrait of Madame X, John Singer Sargent painted this far more intimate and gentle piece as a gift to Madame Gautreau's mother. One of my favorite parts of this piece is what Sargent coins, "the unpaintable beauty and hopeless laziness of Madame Gautreau." This work was actually a simplistic sketch for quite a while, but Sargent decided to finish it and add more life to his subject.

It's a delicate piece. Gautreau's skin seems to glow against her dark background, the lines of her dress and body not completely clear; instead smokily fading into the darkness. She cheers either to herself or someone separate from the scene; separate from her hazy nonchalance.

John Singer Sargent, Madame X,  1884

Portrait of a Woman Scorned
The Fairer Sex Treated Not-So Fairly
Curated by Katherine Anderson

Amelie Gautreau was the epitome of Parisian society of the nineteenth century - designer gowns, a wealthy spouse, regular exotic vacations, and ties to the artistic community. Yet every person worth talking about at the time had a secret life other than her appearance, chock-full of affairs unknown to the public eye. Amelie was no exception to this, and for years she climbed the social ladder of Paris, one bed at a time. Her porcelain skin and unique features made Amelie the epitome of beauty, grace, and affluence that each woman coveted. Yet with the slip of a single strap, Amelie Gautreau became the shunned figure known as Madame X.

John Singer Sargent, Madame X, 1884

John Singer Sargent was an American painter who loved his country but spent most of his life in Europe. Despite his American roots, early in his career he was was mainly active in French. Being the intense hard worker that he was, he focused mainly on portraits and landscapes. He was recognized as the “darling” of Paris until the scandal over the Madame X painting arose.

Madame X was a painting that was going to greatly impact and boost his fame as an artist and help his career. The subject was a Paris beauty named Madame Gautreau. Gautreau was renowned in social circles in Paris for her beauty. She had such tremendous beauty that most artist considered her to be apart of an “elite class” of women. She defined the new type of Frenchwoman, one who was defined by her sophistication.