John Singer Sargent, Muddy Alligators

   Just before the 2019 holidays I thought I would gift you something entirely unique and fun, plus a tropical scene to warm our cold day. Our artist is John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) and this is his painting, Muddy Alligators. Sargent created it in 1917 in Florida. He is considered an America ex-patriot for he lived throughout Europe and traveled extensively.  His major genre was oil portraits, but late in life he visited the U.S. doing watercolors in Maine and Florida.  Muddy Alligators is part of the permanent collection of the Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, Massachusetts.  It is 13 1/2 x 20 1/2.
    This is a watercolor over  graphite, meaning he started with a pencil drawing.   It would appear most of these reptiles are reasonably sedate, providing ample opportunity for a pencil study.  In the foreground we see shadows from a fence.  Since we are looking slightly downward on the alligators I assume the sun  is behind us and this fence is between us and the alligators, (at least I hope so).  Further, there are few shadows on the reptiles, so not likely the shadows are created by the rear fence. 
    Watercolor is a particularly tricky media, very different from oil.  It is translucent so one color can be applied on top of another once the first has dried.  Working in bright sun allows the paint to dry almost instantly.  The trick is to keep the image fresh and spontaneous looking.  Sargent has definitely mastered his media, for he has a light and fluid hand allowing our imagination to fill in details of the scene around the reptiles, while they are very descriptive.  The color harmony is basically complementary:  blue and orange.   The fence and fence shadows create a rhythm pattern in the foreground and rear creating a subtle frame around the center focus. 
   Make Art a part of your life, it's a beautiful thing to do.

Comments

  1. charguthDecember 16, 2019 at 6:37 PM

    Wow!! This is a surprise. Quite a departure from his portraits. The complexity of this gator group is stunning, especially in watercolor. To see it in reality would be almost scary. How skillful he has made them stand out from the surrounding habitat; they are almost white. He has placed their heads to lead us to the bright sky in the upper right. That is repeated again in the foreground. This is so exciting. Thank you. No, I don't want it hanging in my bedroom.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Art Expert On LineDecember 17, 2019 at 8:35 AM

    Funny, Great comments! THANKS!

    ReplyDelete

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