John Singer Sargent

Sargent is a painter who never fails to please. His career spanned the era of the Impressionists to the second decade of the 20th century, and his art, while lacking perhaps the originality of Whistler and the insight of Eakins, was always highly accomplished and enormously popular. At its best it unashamedly evokes the wealth, charm, and confidence of the Gilded Age. This book accompanies the major Sargent retrospective that ended recently at London's Tate Gallery and can now be seen at Washington, DC's National Gallery before it goes on to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Well-known Sargent specialist Ormond contributed two essays and shared editing responsibilities with Kilmurray. They offer portraits, landscapes, and watercolors as well as the important mural project for the Boston Public Library; the result--a splendid overview, recommended as the best single book on this artist. Although a few familiar works are not included (Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth, for instance) and some of the more than 150 color illustrations lack the definition achieved in the authors' recent John Singer Sargent: the Complete Paintings. v. 1: The Early Portraits (CH, Nov'98), elegant prose and thorough documentation--endnotes, bibliography, and chronology--more than compensate. A good choice for all libraries. General readers; undergraduates through faculty. W. S. Rodner Tidewater Community College