Emily Sargent
{{Infobox artist
| birth_name = Emily Sargent
| birth_date = {{birth year|1857}}
| birth_place = Florence, Italy
| death_date = {{death year|1936}}
| known_for = Watercolor
| image = Sargent - Emily Sargent, c. 1877, nr. 11.jpg
| caption = John Singer Sargent portrait of Emily (c. 1877)
}}
Emily Sargent (1857-1936) is best known as a watercolor artist and as the sister of the painter John Singer Sargent. Emily Sargent painted alongside her brother throughout her life. Her work has been little known until recently as she exhibited her work only once in her lifetime, but her family donated examples to many museums leading to increasing recognition.{{Cite web |last=Iacobelli |first=Natalia |date=2024-05-17 |title=Rediscovering Emily Sargent: Forgotten 19th-Century Watercolorist |url=https://www.dailyartmagazine.com/rediscovering-emily-sargent-watercolorist/ |access-date=2025-03-18 |website=DailyArt Magazine |language=en-US}}
Early life
Emily Sargent’s father, FitzWilliam (b. 1820 in Gloucester, Massachusetts), was an eye surgeon at the Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia from 1844 to 1854. Her mother, Mary Newbold Sargent (née Singer, 1826–1906), suffered a breakdown after the death of her first child, and the couple decided to go abroad to recover.{{cite web |title=John Singer Sargent |url= https://www.biography.com/people/john-singer-sargent-9471905 |publisher=Biography.com |access-date=September 25, 2018 |archive-date=September 25, 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180925180729/https://www.biography.com/people/john-singer-sargent-9471905}} They were nomadic expatriates for the rest of their lives.Olson (1986), p. 1.{{Cite Appletons'|wstitle=Sargent, Paul Dudley}} Sargent's parents were based in Paris, but moved regularly, spending time at the sea and at mountain resorts in France, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland. While Mary was pregnant with John, they stopped in Florence, Italy, because of a cholera epidemic. Emily and John were both born there. After Emily’s birth, FitzWilliam resigned his post in Philadelphia and accepted his wife's request to remain abroad.Olson (1986), p. 2. They lived on a small inheritance and savings, leading a quiet life with their children. They generally avoided society and other Americans, except for friends in the art world.Olson (1986), p. 4. Three more children were born abroad, only two of whom lived past childhood.
When Emily was four years old, she injured her spine. This resulted in her recovering for many years, often leaving her disabled for periods of time. She dealt with the repercussions of the injury for the rest of her life.
Mary Sargent was an artist and wanted her children to be well-versed in art and participate in the art world. While Emily's brother John became a well-known oil painter, Emily focused on watercolor painting, which was considered more suitable for a young woman.{{Cite web |title=Emily Sargent {{!}} William Vareika Fine Arts LTD |url=https://vareikafinearts.com/artist/emily-sargent/ |access-date=2025-03-18 |language=en-US}}
Emily's injury did not stop her from traveling widely throughout her life, first with her parents and later with her brother John.{{cite news |last1=Cascone |first1=Sarah |date=5 February 2023 |title=Emily Sargent, Not Just a Sister to John, Was a Serious Painter in Her Own Right |url=https://news.artnet.com/art-world/emily-sargent-2215370 |access-date=3 August 2024 |publisher=ArtNet}}
Art and travels
File:Sargent - Emily, Jane und Doloresjpg.jpg
Emily and John were close and both lived in Europe most of their lives, often traveling and painting together. Places that they traveled to included Rome, Spain, England, and the United States. Neither married or had children, and Emily sometimes served as a hostess for her brother and helped him with his clients.{{cite news |last1=Laidler |first1=John |title=It’s Emily Sargent’s time for a showcase |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/05/12/metro/its-emily-sargents-time-showcase/ |access-date=3 August 2024 |publisher=Boston Globe |date=12 May 2022}} During her travels, Emily would frequently send letters to her friends about her journeys.{{Cite web |last=Sargent |first=Emily |date=1910 |title=Letter from Emily Sargent to Hugh Lane about how her brother told her about Lady Gregory's kind invitation to Lane's house which her brother was unable to accept, |url=https://catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000641576 |access-date=2025-03-18 |website=catalogue.nli.ie |language=English}} Not only did Emily Sargent travel with her brother, she also painted along side of him. Some of her watercolors include Sea and Shore, Nile, Dead Sea, and Rocky Landscape.{{Cite web |last=Tate |title=Emily Sargent 1857 – 1936 |url=https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/emily-sargent-30785 |access-date=2025-04-10 |website=Tate |language=en-GB}}
Legacy
Sargent exhibited a few copies after Old Master paintings at the Whitechapel Gallery in 1908, but otherwise her worked remained with the family. In 1998, 440 of her watercolors were discovered in a trunk in a family residence. Many of these works have been given to some of the world's best known museums, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (45 watercolors),{{Cite web |title=Athens |url=https://collections.mfa.org/objects/693590/athens;jsessionid=BF09FCF6207ACAAF216EC55DB14649B0 |access-date=2025-04-08 |website=collections.mfa.org |language=en}} the Tate (29),{{Cite web |last=Tate |title=Emily Sargent 1857 – 1936 |url=https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/emily-sargent-30785 |access-date=2025-04-08 |website=Tate |language=en-GB}} the National Gallery of Art(25),{{Cite web |title=Artist Info |url=https://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.47118.html |access-date=2025-04-08 |website=www.nga.gov}} the Metropolitan Museum of Art (22),{{Citation |last=Sargent |first=Emily |title=Courtyard Scene, Cairo |date=1900 |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/848067 |access-date=2025-04-08}} the Brooklyn Museum (20),{{Cite web |title=Tangier |url=https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/objects/225197 |access-date=2025-04-08 |website=Brooklyn Museum |language=en-US}} the Ashmolean Museum(19),{{Cite web |title=Welcome |url=https://www.ashmolean.org/ |access-date=2025-04-08 |website=www.ashmolean.org |language=en}} as well as the Sargent House Museum(15){{Cite web |title=Sargent House Museum |url=https://www.sargenthouse.org/ |access-date=2025-04-08 |website=Sargent House Museum |language=en-US}} in Gloucester, Massachusetts, where several of her ancestors lived.
The first major exhibition of her work Emily Sargent, A Glimpse into her World was held at the Cape Ann Museum in Gloucester in 2022.{{cite web |title=Emily Sargent, A Glimpse Into Her World |url=https://www.capeannmuseum.org/exhibition/emily-sargent-a-glimpse-into-her-world/ |access-date=3 August 2024 |website=Cape Ann Museum}}
File:Spain MET ADA3320.jpg|alt=|Spain
File:Emily Sargent - Constantinople.jpg|alt=|View of Constantinople (1904)
References
{{reflist}}
Work cited
- {{cite book |last=Olson |first=Stanley |title=John Singer Sargent: His Portrait |location=New York |publisher=St. Martin's Press |date=1986 |isbn=0-312-44456-7}}
External links
{{commons category}}
- {{cite news |last1=Sherwood |first1=Harriet |title=First Tate Britain rehang in 10 years will put female artists at centre |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2023/feb/15/first-tate-britain-rehang-in-10-years-will-centre-women-artists |access-date=3 August 2024 |publisher=The Guardian |date=15 February 2023}}
- {{cite web |last=McCouat |first=Philip |title=Rose-Marie Ormond Sargent's Muse and 'the Most Charming Girl That Ever Lived' |url= http://www.artinsociety.com/rose-marie-ormond-sargentrsquos-muse-and-ldquothe-most-charming-girl-that-ever-livedrdquo.html# |website=Journal of Art in Society |access-date=July 8, 2020}}
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Category:19th-century American women painters