The Art of John Singer Sargent

Paper Summary:

The paper studies the paintings of Italian-born artist John Singer Sargent. The writer first gives a history of the life of the artist and then analyzes the artwork. He examines the paintings to find the influence on color and style that can be attributed to the outbreak of World War II.

From the Paper:

"Still, the weight of the composition tends toward the bottom
of the frame as the mass of dead on either side of the path
creates an even more solid mass about one-third of the way up
from bottom toward the top of the frame. The eye is drawn first
to the line of men moving across the frame and then down to the
dead on either side of the path, dead these men may not see
because they have cloths across their eyes. The dead thus seem
visually to be pulling the entire picture down toward the ground,
adding to the image of the living moving with difficulty down the
path, as if their legs are being held back by the dead. One man
even has his right leg lifted as if straining to move forward,
while the others seem captured in a moment of stasis. One man
toward the end of the line is turned away from the viewer,
perhaps viewing the dead along the path, perhaps being sick."

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