John Singer Sargent

Ormond, Sargent scholar and descendant, and Kilmurray, research director of the catalogue raisonné project, have produced an admirable volume in the series. It covers Sargent's move from Paris to London and his experiments with the techniques of impressionism, particularly influenced by the works of Claude Monet. Sargent's admiration for the French artist is made clear in his letters (many published here for the first time) as well as in the paintings done during their years of friendship. However, with the commission to paint the murals for the new Boston Public Library building, his work took a new direction. Monumental and symbolic art replaced the earlier naturalism, and his travels through Europe provided images to be reworked into his series of religious historical paintings. From an interior painting such as theBlue Bowl (1885–89) to the Javanese Dancer (1889) to the works after such artists as El Greco and Titian, one can only marvel at Sargent's imagination and artistic scope.