Latest news with #MadameX
Vogue
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Vogue
From the Archives: Who Was Madame X? Hamish Bowles Shares the Back Story on John Singer Sargent's Most Famous Sitter
'The Madame X Files,' by Hamish Bowles, was originally published in the January 1999 issue of Vogue. For more of the best from Vogue's archive, sign up for our Nostalgia newsletter here. John Singer Sargent's 1884 portrait of Virginie Avegno Gautreau, universally acclaimed as Madame X, is a definitive study in image-making. La Gautreau flaunts her otherworldly looks and her chosen role as that exotic ornament to society, a professional beauty. She is a sphinx without a secret, 'prophetic of all the sophisticated chic of Vogue,' as Philippe Jullian, historian of fin-de-siècle culture, noted in 1965. But who was this fascinator whose mystery remains compelling more than a century after Sargent captured it in sensual oil paints? John Singer Sargent, whose career is celebrated in a retrospective at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., from February 21 to May 31 (and then traveling to Boston), with a related show of drawings at the Corcoran Gallery of Art from February 14 through May 9, was born in Florence in 1856. His American parents led peripatetic lives and raised their children gypsy fashion, traveling restlessly across Europe. By the early 1880s, after a solid schooling in the atelier of the respected academician Carolus-Duran and at the École des Beaux-Arts, Sargent was already establishing a name for himself in Paris as both a portraitist and a painter of exotic genre scenes of Italy, Spain, France, and Morocco. It seems inevitable that he should have been bewitched by the notorious Victoire Gautreau since throughout his career, Sargent was drawn to unconventionally exotic beauties. He had already delighted in the feral charms of Rosina Ferrara, a Capri girl, and mysterious Moroccan beauties like the one imbibing incense in his Fumée d'Ambre Gris, painted in 1880. Later, he produced some of his most spirited portraits when presented with sitters like the haughty Spanish dancer Carmencita; the art dealer Asher Wertheimer's lively daughters Almina, Ena, and Betty; the madcap Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney; and Vaslav Nijinsky. He called the fabulous and extravagant beauty Rita de Acosta Lydig 'Art in its living form,' and presumably Madame Pierre Gautreau's symbolist looks inspired similar sentiments. Sargent found her 'strange, weird, fantastic, curious.' Fascinated, he determined to capture her as a sitter, and he embarked on an elaborate courtship. He began by enlisting the help of a mutual friend, Ben del Castillo, to whom he wrote, 'I have a great desire to paint her portrait and have reason to think she would allow it and is waiting for someone to propose this homage to her beauty... tell her that I am a man of prodigious talent.' Virginie Gautreau conceded. The sittings began in Paris in 1883, and that summer Sargent set off for the Gautreaus' country estate, the Château des Chesnes at Paramé in Brittany. Here, among the immemorial oaks that gave the 1708 house its name, the Gautreaus had planted clumps of pampas grasses and tropical palms in accordance with the fashionably exotic taste of Troisième République society.
The Irish Sun
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Irish Sun
Horse racing tips: ‘He has a lovely draw under Hollie Doyle' – Templegate's 5-2 NAP the one to beat
TEMPLEGATE takes on Wednesday's racing looking for winners. Back a horse by clicking their odds below. DRAMA (8.10 Kempton, nap) He ran a career best when only just held in a competitive contest at Southwell last month. The handicapper has nudged him up a pound but that should not be a problem now back at a track he has won at twice in the past. He has a lovely draw in stall three which should allow Hollie Doyle to get him switched off early off and if he settles then he looks the one they all have to beat for in-form trainer James Ferguson. GETALEAD (5.25 Warwick, nb) Was a big eyecatcher when finishing strongly for third over shorter at Newton Abbot a week ago. A return to further will make him hard to beat. COMMANDING PRINCE (3.30 Ayr, treble) Should be hard to beat in this modest contest. First-time cheekpieces will help him focus and it would be disappointing if he does not progress through the handicap ranks. Templegate's tips Ayr Most read in Horse Racing 2.00 Copper Knight 2.30 Underwriter 3.00 Henery Hawk 3.30 Commanding Prince (treble) 4.05 Hosanna Power 4.42 John L Sullivan 5.17 Beltane Brighton 6.00 Pop Dancer 6.30 Immediate Effect 7.00 Mr Ubiquitous 7.30 Devasboy 8.00 Versatile 8.30 Mashaan Chepstow 2.22 Ammes 2.52 Crackamour 3.22 Shaatir 3.55 Rosenpur 4.25 Art Of Fox 5.00 Marsh Benham 5.35 Vape Kempton 5.05 Brize Norton 5.40 Moderna 6.10 Opening Bat 6.40 Bill's Baar 7.10 Madame X 7.40 Racingbreaks Ryder 8.10 Drama (nap) 8.40 Aikhal Warwick 2.40 Roadshow 3.10 Rukaana 3.40 Pride Of Paris 4.15 Ukantango 4.50 A Dublin Job 5.25 Getalead (nb) FREE BETS - GET THE BEST SIGN UP DEALS AND RACING OFFERS Commercial content notice: Taking one of the offers featured in this article may result in a payment to The Sun. You should be aware brands pay fees to appear in the highest placements on the page. 18+. T&Cs apply. . Remember to gamble responsibly A responsible gambler is someone who: Read more on the Irish Sun Establishes time and monetary limits before playing Only gambles with money they can afford to lose Never chases their losses Doesn't gamble if they're upset, angry or depressed Gamcare – Gamble Aware – Find our detailed guide on responsible gambling practices here.
Vogue
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Vogue
Everything You Need to Know About Félix, the Couturier Who Is Believed to Have Designed Madame X's Dress
In Deborah Davis's 2003 book Strapless (a fascinating read), the author definitively attributes it to Maison Félix. The Metropolitan Museum's Elizabeth L. Block, who has written extensively about the house, is slightly more cautious, writing that 'The draw of Félix for women who traveled in artistic circles supports the view that Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau wears a Félix dress in John Singer Sargent's famous painting of 1883–84, Madame X.' There is a contemporary report that links Gautreau to Maison Felix, renowned for its attenuated silhouettes. Although a competitor with the House of Worth—which is now being celebrated with an exhibition in Paris—Maison Feéix has been relegated to the sidelines of fashion history, this despite the house being called 'a shrine' when it closed in 1901. Although Vogue was founded eight years after Madame X made her debut, it's there I started digging deeper. A Félix dress was featured in the magazine's first issue, dated December 17, 1892. Block's article was a foundational source as were periodical and book archives. From these I have created an impressionistic time line of the history of the house and its intersection with Gatreau. As you'll read, the roots of the house are in hair. Coiffeur Joseph-Augustin Escalier, known as Félix, a favorite of Empress Eugenie, established the business as in 1846 and it came into the hands of brother hair dressers Auguste Poussineau and Émile Martin Poussineau, about 11 years later. The duo added millinery and then dressmaking to their activities and became known for attiring not only aristocrats and fashion leaders but some of the most famous actresses of the day, chief among them Sarah Bernhardt. 1846 Maison Félix established at 13 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré by Joseph-Augustin Escalier. 'The rise of the Maison Felix was due to the Empress Eugenie. While still the Senorita Montijo . . . Eugenie was suddenly robbed by death of her usual hairdresser. There was to be a grand ball that night, and a messenger was dispatched to secure a substitute. He returned with a certain M. Joseph, who pleased her so well that, after a few trials, she told him she would appoint him her coiffure in ordinary. One morning her coupe stopped at his door, No. 13, on the Faubourg Saint Honoré, Eugenie glanced at the number and frowned. When she entered the shop, she said: 'Monsieur, your number must be changed: it is useless to reckon on success with an unlucky number. So much influence had Eugenie that the emperor ordered the city authorities to change the number to 15, and for 40 years 15 it has remained. Eugenie objected also to the name Joseph and commanded him to change it to Felix. . . . Then she advised him to decorate his shop in mauve plush, because mauve was her favorite color, and she meant to make it the fashion. On these conditions she agreed to make Felix the fashion, and she succeeded, for his genius was very great. Felix II added millinery to the coiffure and dressmaking departments, while the third Felix, without royal patronage, has become the richest and most famous couturier in Paris.' —'Late Paris Fashions,' Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, May 13, 1900
Business of Fashion
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Business of Fashion
The Met's Madame X-Rated Opportunity
Welcome back to Haul of Fame, your must-read beauty roundup for new products, new ideas and a Walmart influencer showdown. (It's not who you think…) Included in today's issue: Beachwaver, Bliss, Bloomeffects, Bottega Veneta, Bubble, Charlotte Tilbury, Clean Classic, Dazzle Dry, Dominique, Dossier, Dove, Glow Recipe, Kosas, Lafco, Lanolips, Laura Geller Beauty, Leonor Greyl, Matiere Premiere, Moroccanoil, O Positiv, Olive & June, Origins, Pantene, Peter Thomas Roth, Redken, Révive, Skinceuticals, Snif, Snow Fox Skincare, Tata Harper, U Beauty, Uni, Vintner's Daughter and a special breakout sun category. But first… Before influencers created #ParisTok trends, portrait subjects told Parisian girls what was pretty. Manet's barmaid was a messy bun originator. Gauguin's Tahitian sirens went hard on 'vacation blush.' And in 1884, John Singer Sargent's Madame X made the case for lip liner and body shimmer, or their 19th century equivalents: A wine-stained mouth and the right amount of moonlight. You can see the dazzling effect close up at the Metropolitan Museum of Art this season, when Madame X herself — also known as Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau, a Louisiana socialite who moved to Paris after her marriage — takes up a full and glorious wall on the museum's second floor. She's there to celebrate 'Sargent and Paris,' a comprehensive exhibit of the portraitist's work, which runs through August 3 and includes formal society portraits, art school sketches, and 'off duty' paintings of Gilded Age socialites partying in Antibes. There are soooo many beauty partnerships that could have happened here — big satin hair bows like those in The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit, lilac creme shadow to reference Gertrude Vernon, Lady Agnew of Lochnaw — but the Met is pretty beauty shy. They looped in J. Hannah's nail polish trios in 2022 and currently have a Band-Aid collab (really) with Target. Otherwise, there hasn't been much overlap between eyeshadow palettes and paint palettes, even though an Urban Decay x Van Gogh situation might be pretty epic. (Imagine a midnight blue liner called 'Starry Night'... or a blood red varnish called 'Lend Me Your Ear.' Sorry.) Sargent's exhibit could have been a beauty X-plosion (again, sorry) but the Madame has one big project with the fragrance brand Pura. Their 'portrait in scent' imagines the alluring muse as a potion of violet, apricot, bergamot and leather that debuted on April 23. 'There are notes within the fragrance that give you the illusion of the powder that they would use on their faces at that time,' said Mara Dumski, Pura's fragrance head. 'We want to really put scent into art, because scent is art, and it brings the art to life for people.' Revenue from museum gift shops can vary wildly, but the Met's audited financial report puts it into the 'auxiliary activities' category along with restaurant revenue. All together, it's a $56.7 million haul and a $3 million profit. Clearly, visitors are shopping when they visit. What's more, the museum claims 3.6 million email subscribers on its marketing list — a robust number if they want to try some baby e-comm steps to their museum shop. What kind of beauty company can claim a piece of that audience? Obviously one that aligns with the museum's all-encompassing mission to 'connect all people to creativity, knowledge, ideas and one another,' along with its unspoken alliances with classical art fiends, Met Gala obsessives and Blair Waldorf fans. The center of that Venn diagram may be younger, and cooler, than one thinks. Consider the Met's most successful fashion partnership to date — with Pacsun. The streetwear store made a licensing deal with the museum in 2022; it's still happening. Sales have been brisk (a source familiar says the revenue is around $10 million) and shoppers include college and high school students IRL alongside curious Highsnobiety and Cultured Mag readers online. That means while it might feel right to sell pricey, classic brands next to priceless, classic art, there may be more of an immediate opportunity for Naked Sundays to sell sunscreen while sponsoring marble nudes from Ancient Greece, or the nutso Rococo compacts from Flower Knows on the heels of a highlighted furniture collection from Versailles. And once Starface decides to make zit stickers in the shape of teeny tiny Warhol Marilyns, it's all over. Yes, in a perfect world, pure art is free from commerce. In the world we live in now, funding a museum takes work, and perhaps, a licensing deal with Glossier. There's a Balm Dotcom flavor for Monet's 'Water Lilies,' right? What else is new… Skincare They're not just for sidewalk pollen explosions. According to Bloomeffects, tulips also have skin-rebound properties. The brand's latest proof is its Black Tulip Regenerative Brightening Serum, an $89 formula available at Credo starting April 24. On April 28, Origins introduced Ginzing Glow-Boosting Moisturiser, a tinted formula available in pink pearl and bronze. It's $39 and promises to boost radiance along with hydration. On April 28, Laura Geller Beauty debuted its Wonder Balm, an all-over tint for eyes, lips and cheeks. It's $30, which is $10 less than Jones Road's now-legendary Miracle Balm, which claims a similar space. Does your vagina need a probiotic? Dr. Jen Gunter would say 'nope' but O Positiv Health hopes you think — and spend — differently. Its gummies launched at Walmart on April 29, which might mean the superstore has to utter the word 'vagina' on its sales floor for the first time. A worthwhile challenge, for sure. Ice, ice, maybe? On April 29, Peter Thomas Roth dropped Ice Facial Cooling Mist, a $30 formula with hyaluronic acid, caffeine and peppermint to 'instantly revive' puffy and flushed skin. Keep it in the fridge and you might be onto something. If you want Costco-sized luxury skincare, Vintner's Daughter is waiting for you. On April 29, it debuted Founder's Reserve, a massive 100mL bottle of the brand's hero botanical serum with 18-carat gold ceramic embellishment, for $740. Each comes with a 'hand-numbered card to certify the product's authenticity,' which... wait, are people out here selling fake Vintner's Daughter? Can you get it on Canal Street next to the knockoff Dior totes? Underground vendors, talk to me... It's been a minute since we've had a pond scum alert, but fear not: Microalgae is still a coveted beauty ingredient. On April 29, Uni launched its Golden Microalgae Body Oil for $48. Besides the tiny cells, it also has passion fruit oil, kalahari melon, and kakadu plum in the formula. Skinceuticals introduced Advanced RGN-6 on May 1. The $195 formula claims to mirror the effects of laser treatments to treat firmness and elasticity. Most of Tata Harper's eye products top $200 but its Brightening Eye Gel, which debuted on May 1, costs $74 and comes loaded with caffeine, cucumber and vitamin C. Double the cleanse, double the profits? Let's see how it goes for Kosas, which released its Plump + Juicy Double Cleansing System on May 2. The duo includes a $48 cleansing oil and a $38 gel cleanser. Is $86 too much to wash your face? Probably, but Kosas is throwing in a free Emi Jay clip with orders on their DTC site, which is actually pretty brilliant. Meanwhile, if you'd rather single-cleanse, RéVive's Melting Cleanser hit shelves on May 1, and claims to do double duty on makeup and pores in one wash. Sun Care GRWM: Sunscreen edition. On April 29, the Tiktok royals at Glow Recipe debuted Watermelon Glow Dew Shield, a version of their internet-famous formula infused with SPF 30. It's $35 and I've already had to pry it from a friend's hands when she came over. Bliss continues its acne crusade with Block Star, a 'clarifying' sunscreen that combines SPF 30 with witch hazel and salicylic acid that debuted on April 29 for $25. U Beauty dropped its Multimodal Sheer Mineral Sunscreen on April 30. It's got an invisible, melt-into-skin formula, plus an endorsement from Michelle Monaghan, who hopped onto a zoom call from the set of a Robert DeNiro movie (!) to show it off to beauty editors last week. It's $98. Sunscreen that's also a lip gloss? Hello, Lanolips. On May 1, the Aussie brand introduced Sun Balm SPF 30, a $14 lip ointment with a golden shimmer. Makeup Will it be a matte summer? Snow Fox Skincare believes so, but they're gonna charge you $45 for it. On April 28, the Taiwanese beauty brand debuted Snow Melt Mattebright, a new powder formulation with a silky texture and 'pore-blurring' effect. Yellow nail polish — should we discuss? Dazzle Dry wants to talk about it, with an amber yellow hue called Go Go Mango out May 2. It's part of the brand's Paradise Collection, which also includes a metallic indigo and a shiny orchid purple, just in case you'd rather keep the 'yellow' trend to Timothee Chalamet at the Oscars. So! Much! Lip liner! On May 1, Charlotte Tilbury introduced Lip Cheat Contour Duo, a double-ended pencil for $26 that's meant to define, enhance and bring back the 1990s lip-liner-and-clear-gloss trend perfected by T.L.C. on T.R.L. The next day, Dominique Cosmetics dropped Lip Frame, a creamier formula for lining and filling in the pout. It comes in nine shades, including super-pale pink and deep magenta. Bubble is nailing its demographic. On May 1, the tween-loved skincare brand debuted a partnership with manicure label Olive & June that includes limited-edition press-ons, polishes, decal stickers, and moisturiser bundles. It's an exclusive with Walmart, Haircare The bigger the hair, the bigger the expense account? Don't tell my editors, but I'm game to test out that theory during all the Met Gala pre-parties this week. On April 29, Beachwaver dropped its $18 Everyday Flex hairspray for body and hold. See you at Caviar Kaspia… Will MAHA turn against seed oils in beauty products, too? I'm asking for Moroccanoil, which debuted its High Shine Gloss Mask on April 29 with argan oil (from seeds), hydrolyzed quinoa (from seeds) and crambe abyssinica, a seed extract that sounds like a Greek battleship. I hope this stuff doesn't get banned, because the mask itself is so perfect for dull or coarse hair. Redken claims its new Naked Gloss oil, which dropped on May 1, gives 130% shinier strands, along with heat protection and frizz reduction. It's $45 if you want to give it a try. The luxury hairbrush wars have a new entrant: Leonor Greyl. The French brand famous for its overnight hair oil released a $82 tortoise-shell brush on May 1. It's made with 100% boar bristles and natural latex rubber… but it's still about $84 less than La Bonne Brosse. Fragrance On April 21, Dossier began stocking CVS stores nationwide with its eight best-selling fragrance dupes, including Ambery Saffron (wannabe Baccarat Rouge), Woody Sandalwood (wannabe Santal 33 Le Labo) and Floral Lavender (wannabe YSL Libre). Sounds harsh? Not for the brand. In fact, Dossier is so excited to share their copycats, they coded their Google ads with each luxury fragrance name. (Yes, this is legal… for now.) While we wait for Louise Trotter to debut Bottega Veneta's Spring 2026 collection, some fragrance news: The Italian brand has released a gold-finished travel perfume case, imprinted with the label's famous braided leather texture, for $350. In the words of Little Mermaid bombshell Ursula, 'Don't underestimate the importance of body language.' The French fragrance house Matiere Premiere isn't — on April 28, it debuted body lotion in the brand's Neroli Oranger, Cologne Cédrat and Bois d'Ébène scents. The Tiki Bar fragrance trend continues! After guava's April invasion, pineapple is drenching May. First up: Clean Classic's Tropical Escape, which also includes coconut and sandalwood. The brand is calling it a 'dopamine charged' scent, which might not have much scientific merit, but it sounds fun. Lafco is testing the drop model with Out of Office, its first-ever limited edition home scent. The candle is infused with coconut, bergamot and sandalwood; only 400 were made. The brand says 500 people are already on the waitlist… but until the credit cards run, that's no guarantee of a hit. Let's see where this goes. Snif's Gentle Reminder is a fragrance, not a memo. It launched May 1 and has notes of milky black tea, lavender and palo santo, along with ube, a violet yam from the Philippines that's sometimes used to make ice cream. And finally… Procter & Gamble versus Unilever is also Alix Earle versus Emma Chamberlain — at least for this week. On April 30, Earle revealed her new Pantene collaboration with the P&G hair care brand, which was born from an organic TikTok video that drove Pantene sales through the roof in December. Meanwhile, Dove paired with Chamberlain Coffee — Emma's (honestly delicious) java line — on an oat milk latte recipe to celebrate its Plant Milk Cleansing Collection. Both are great gigs; both are incredibly successful girls… especially if you believe the recent Page Six item that claims Earle gets $400,000 per TikTok post. Sign up to The Business of Beauty newsletter, your complimentary, must-read source for the day's most important beauty and wellness news and analysis.
New York Times
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Sargent and ‘Madame X' Return, Notorious as Ever
The preternaturally astute portrait painter John Singer Sargent is often identified as an American, but he belonged to no one country. Born in Florence, Italy, to expat parents who moved the family around Europe with the seasons, Sargent (1856-1925) spent a formative decade in Paris before making London his base for a nomadic life (including long stints in Boston and New York). He went to Spain and Italy often enough to have inspired museum exhibitions on his time there. He was cosmopolitan until the end; when he died, in his sleep in London at age 69, obituaries noted that he had been reading Voltaire. France was where Sargent chose to start his career, however, and in the Metropolitan Museum's transporting spring exhibition 'Sargent and Paris' we see just how he did it: with a lot of savoir-faire and a touch of the enfant terrible. A collaboration between the Met and the Musée d'Orsay, where the exhibition will appear in the fall, the show follows Sargent from his arrival in the French capital as an 18-year-old in 1874 through his Salon triumphs of the early 1880s to the controversy around his arresting portrait 'Madame X' of 1883-4. Organized by the Met curator Stephanie L. Herdrich (with help from the museum's research assistant Caroline Elenowitz-Hess and the Musée D'Orsay curators Caroline Corbeau-Parsons and Paul Perrin), the show builds to a climax around 'Madame X,' with long sight lines that tunnel through galleries to stoke anticipation for this famous painting of the precariously dressed Parisian socialite and American expatriate Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau. The work has been a highlight of the Met's collection since Sargent sold it to the museum in 1916, telling the director 'I suppose it's the best thing I've done.' Perhaps because it leans so heavily on a well-known painting and milieu, 'Sargent and Paris' does not break a lot of new ground (unlike, say, the recent 'Fashioned by Sargent' exhibition at MFA Boston and Tate Britain, which shed light on the artist's performative, collaborative process). 'Madame X' and her circle have been covered extensively, including in Deborah Davis's book 'Strapless' and Gioia Diliberto's work of historical fiction 'I Am Madame X.' It's nonetheless an evocative look at the Belle Époque city where a young Sargent hit his stride. And the way he did it — assiduous networking, close study of the greats, an instinctive sense of what was contemporary, and a carefully dispensed soupçon of notoriety — feels instructive for artists today. Emerging artists might also admire the fluidity with which the polyglot Sargent moved between countries (which, at this moment, seems more difficult to emulate). Not that it was so easy then. American-European relations were strained, as today, by trade wars and tariffs and assertions of nationalism. Protectionist impulses extended to art. (One French gossip columnist wrote that Americans 'have painters, like Mr. Sargent, who take away our medals, and pretty women, like Madame Gauthereau [sic], who eclipse ours…') But in a Third Republic Paris in which the newly wealthy mingled with aristocrats and wanted their own status-affirming portraits, Sargent found material and intellectual support. Travel facilitated Sargent's quick rise. Training under the commercially successful portraitist Carolus-Duran, he was sent to Spain and the Netherlands to study works by his idols Velazquez and Frans Hals. His copy of a figure from Hals's 'The Banquet of the Officers of the St. George Civic Guard,' made on an 1880 trip to Haarlem, shows off the vigorous white-on-white brushwork that would become his signature. He also visited Morocco and Italy, in part to satisfy the Parisian Salons' appetite for exotic scenes. Although he dutifully supplied a few of these, as in the overtly sensuous painting of a Tangier woman perfuming herself in 'Fumée d'Ambre Gris,' he thwarted expectations elsewhere with shadowy Venetian palazzo interiors that eschew the city's light-dappled canals. A family friend described Sargent as seeking 'what no one else has sought here — unpicturesque subjects, absence of color, absence of sunlight.' It was a portrait, however, that solidified his reputation in Paris. Appropriately enough, the subject was Amalia Subercaseaux, the wife of a Chilean diplomat. When the painting of Madame Subercaseaux seated at the piano in a bold dress with cascading black-and-white ruffles was shown at the Paris Salon of 1880, it earned Sargent an award that allowed him to bypass the jury for future Salons. At the Met, the picture introduces a gallery of daring portraits that centers on 'Dr. Pozzi at Home' — Sargent's roguish yet regal image of the gynecologist and man-about-town Samuel Jean Pozzi, the reputed lover of Gautreau among others, in a searing scarlet dressing gown. Sargent's travels to Spain influenced the work he made in Paris. His next big Salon moment came in 1882, with 'El Jaleo' — a monumental, intensely atmospheric scene of an Andalusian dancer in mid-gyration. A group portrait of the daughters of Edward Darley Boit is opposite a copy of Velázquez's 'Las Meninas' from his student pilgrimage to the Prado. Outside the Salons, Sargent cultivated a strong network of supporters — many of them formidable, creative women, like the writers Vernon Lee and Judith Gautier, represented at the Met in a palate-cleansing display of informal, sketchlike portraits. (Lee described Sargent's image of her, approvingly, as 'rather fierce and cantankerous.') Sargent was also surrounded in Paris by the feminine archetype of the 'Parisienne' in her modish black dress. Examples in the show by Whistler, Renoir and Manet (who died in 1883 and would have been on Sargent's mind around the time he painted Gautreau) attest to the hold of this image of female beauty and modernity on the imaginations of very different artists. By the time 'Madame X' makes her entrance, we are primed to see its subject as both an individual and a type — and to recognize her and Sargent as creators of this enduringly audacious work. As we know from the abundant literature on the painting, both Sargent and Gautreau were looking for a sensational moment and they got it at the Salon of 1884 (though not in the way either one had expected). Critics objected to the fallen shoulder strap of Gautreau's dress (which Sargent later adjusted to an upright position, as it appears today), as well as her heavy makeup and her avoidance of eye contact with the viewer. They ignored the work's Classical lines and symbols, such as the crescent hair ornament associated with the virgin huntress Diana. And they castigated both artist and subject as American interlopers. (Some of the commentary centered on Gautreau's Creole roots.) The naysayers were right about one thing, which is that the work was very much a joint effort. At the Met, 'Madame X' is surrounded by preparatory sketches of Gautreau that celebrate her as an artwork in her own right. Most show her in profile, nodding to the tradition of the cameo or of Quattrocento portraits of women. And the heavy makeup that so offended salongoers can be seen as a painting of a painting — something Sargent's fellow Salon artist Marie Bashkirtseff seemed to grasp when she wrote, 'The beautiful lady is horrible in daylight because she uses too much makeup … This chalky paint looks like plaster and gives her shoulders the hue of a corpse. Further, she paints her ears pink and her hair the color of mahogany …. But at night she is truly beautiful.' Sargent's reputation in Paris largely recovered from the disastrous reception of 'Madame X.' (Gautreau's didn't.) But by this time he had his eye on London, where he took up residence in 1886. He continued to see his own artistic identity through a French filter — 'American by birth, French by the brush,' as an 1884 article from a Belgian newspaper had it. In small portraits he paid tribute to his artist friends Rodin and Monet, even adopting the Impressionist's own style for a lovely little plein-air scene of him at work in the woods at Giverny. Also here is a more formal treatment of the sewing machine heiress Winnaretta Singer; as the label tells us, both Sargent and Singer made large contributions to the fund to acquire Manet's 'Olympia' for the French state. The French state returned the favor when, in 1892, it purchased Sargent's 1890 painting of the Spanish flamenco star known as 'La Carmencita.' This daring work, which shows the dancer assuming a confident hand-on-hip stance in a voluminous yellow costume, makes for a fitting conclusion to 'Sargent and Paris' — a vision of Spain in France, seen by an artist who held an American passport but knew no borders. Sargent and Paris Through Aug. 3, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Avenue, Manhattan,
