A new style fit for a new world: John Sargent gives new life to portrait painting while representing the ruling class at the fag end of the Victorianera

Since his first paintings, John Sargent reveals his compliance to the ortho dox academic methods while otherwise demonstrating his mastery of the impre ssionist approach. He is initiated to the portrait technique in the working atelier of Carolus Duran for whom Velasquez is the supreme reference as fo r Whistler at the same period: by applying oil directly on the canvas, he a dds to the traditional manner a touch of spontaneity that reconciles him wi th the contemporary avant-garde. Yet, far from seeking an easy compromise b etween diverse currents, Sargent remains rigorous in his art, from his arri val in London in 1886, to stage the new elites of the British society emerg ed through a complete reshuffling of the upper classes. Without allowing fo r any concession towards his model, he paints the social being, the archety pe of a group; he endeavours to find the specific style that will character ize and depict in the most suggestive fashion his complex relationship with the rest of society. The audacity of contrasts, the rapid stroke of the br ush, help him expose artifice precisely where his public seems to recognize the perfect rendering of reality.