Latest news with #portrait
Vogue
15 hours 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.
National Post
6 days ago
- National Post
Churchill portrait thief sentenced to two years less a day in jail
OTTAWA — The Ontario man who pleaded guilty to stealing an iconic portrait of former British prime minister Winston Churchill said he committed the crime to find money to help his brother, who was experiencing mental health struggles, Justice Robert Wadden told the court during a sentencing hearing Monday. Article content Article content Jeffrey Wood kept his composure in the courtroom as Wadden told him he was being sentenced to two years less a day in jail. Article content Article content Wood admitted earlier this year that he stole the portrait from Ottawa's Chateau Laurier hotel and committed forgery. Article content Article content Renowned photographer Yousuf Karsh snapped the celebrated portrait in 1941 in the Speaker's office just after Churchill delivered a rousing wartime address to Canadian members of Parliament. Article content Karsh lived in the hotel, and operated a studio out of it, for almost two decades. He donated the Churchill portrait and six others to the hotel in 1998, when he moved out. Article content Police said the portrait was stolen from the hotel sometime between Christmas Day 2021 and Jan. 6, 2022, and replaced with a fake. Article content The swap was only discovered months later, in August, when a hotel worker noticed the frame was not hung properly. Article content The portrait was returned to the hotel after a lengthy international investigation determined it was bought at an auction in London by an Italian man who was not aware it was stolen. Article content During the sentencing hearing Monday, Wadden said Wood planned to use the money he received from selling the portrait to help his brother. Article content Article content Article content Article content Wadden said it was tricky to determine just how long Wood should serve for the crime because there is a lack of case law on similar art thefts in Canada. Article content Instead of focusing on a few domestic cases mentioned by the Crown, Wadden said he took into account international cases presented to him to help decide on the best approach. Article content Wadden said that Wood had no previous criminal record and maintained employment throughout his adulthood. Still, Wood did not help police recover the portrait, and when it was finally brought back to Canada it was damaged, Wadden said. Article content The Italian buyer forfeited the portrait when he learned it was stolen. Had he not done so, Wadden said, a major artifact of Canadian history would be lost forever. Article content 'The portrait is a reminder of the importance not just of Churchill, but of Karsh. It is a point of national pride that a portrait taken by a Canadian photographer would have achieved such fame,' Wadden said. 'There is an element of trust in our society that allows such properties to be displayed, to be enjoyed by all Canadians. To steal, damage and traffic in such property is to breach that trust.'
CBS News
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Summer 2025 preview: On display at museums
It's hard to resist staring back at paintings by artist Amy Sherald, now on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. Sherald is best known for her portrait of former first lady Michelle Obama, but the exhibit gives a more complete look at her palette. "That painting is here in the show, and we're very happy to be able to share it with visitors here," said co-curator Rujeko Hockley. "But we really wanted to show the progression of her work as an artist. "Amy often paints the skin tone of her subjects, who are Black people, in what we call grisaille, or gray tone," said Hockley. "It kind of disrupts this immediate identification, perhaps even stereotyping that all of us are, you know, subject to." Rujeko Hockley with a work by artist Amy Sherald, at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. CBS News It's not the only way to spot a Sherald painting. Hockley said one characteristic of the artist's work is her subjects' body language: "Very kind of solid, confident, not over-confident, but just really certain and still in [themselves]." The Sherald exhibition, said Hockley, is "a show that is really speaking to kind of overwhelmingly positive sense of connection, and kind of shared humanity, and kind of beauty that comes from being around one another, that comes from kind of seeing the humanity in another." For more info: But if you can't make it to New York, there are plenty of exhibits to visit this summer. Beloved impressionist works are on display at museums in Boston and Portland, Oregon. On view at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, is Van Gogh's 1889 portrait of Joseph Roulin (left). The Portland Art Museum is displaying its restoration of Claude Monet's 1914-15 "Waterlillies." Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA/Art Resource, NY; Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon. Major contemporary artists are featured, too, from KAWS in Bentonville, Arkansas, to Jeffrey Gibson in Los Angeles. Works by KAWS, on display at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Ark. (left), and by Jeffrey Gibson, at The Broad, Los Angeles. CBS News And, in Cleveland, things are looking especially bright thanks to the works of Takashi Murakami … one of the many exhibits giving us reason to smile this summer. A view of the exhibition "Takashi Murakami: Stepping on the Tail of a Rainbow," at the Cleveland Museum of Art. CBS News Story produced by Julie Kracov and Sara Kugel. Editor: George Pozderec.
Forbes
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Seeing Each Other: Artists Through The Eyes Of Artists At Pallant House Gallery
Lucien Freud Portrait of Celia Paul at Pallant House Gallery. Lee Sharrock A powerful exploration of artistic connection and mutual gaze, Seeing Each Other: Artists Through the Eyes of Artists is a new exhibition at Pallant House Gallery featuring intimate portrayals and tributes of celebrated modern and contemporary artists, from Francis Bacon and David Hockney to Tracey Emin and Lubaina Himid—revealing the creative bonds that shape British art across generations. Step into a living constellation of faces, gazes, and friendships at Seeing Each Other: Portraits of Artists, the sweeping new exhibition at Pallant House Gallery in Chichester. Spanning 125 years of British art, this poetic gathering of over 130 works —from drawings and sculpture to film and photography—unveils the tender, complex, and often electrifying relationships between artists and their creative kin. More than 80 voices echo through this show, including Lucian Freud, Paula Rego, Lubaina Himid, David Hockney, Lee Miller, Francis Bacon, Barbara Hepworth, Maggie Hambling and Peter Blake. Their portraits do more than capture likeness; they tell stories of admiration, rivalry, love, and influence—from the intimate circles of the Bloomsbury Group to the bold bravado of the Young British Artists. Covering a period of 125 years–and featuring drawings, installations, paintings, photography, prints and sculpture–the exhibition sets out to document some of the most intriguing images by artists of their creative peers. Mary McCartney, Being Frida, London, 2000, Giclée Print © Mary McCartney © Mary McCartney At its heart, this is an exhibition of artistic dialogue—painter meeting painter, friend painting friend, and women artists capturing the essence of their peers with unwavering insight. Lindsay Mendick's ceramic tribute to Tracey Emin reshapes a moment of performance art into permanent form, while Lubaina Himid's painted wooden figures honour a lineage of women whose images and ideas continue to shape the canon, and Mary McCartney's enigmatic image of Tracey Emin as Frida Kahlo captures the spirit of both women. Highlights include; a projection of Johnny Shand Kydd's enigmatic images capturing the YBAs when they were young and hanging out at The Groucho Club and Colony Rooms in Soho; and new commissions including a magical portrait by Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year winner Curtis Holder and double portraits by artists and long-term friends Ishbel Myerscough and Chantal Joffe studied together at the Glasgow School of Art. Double portraits by Ishbel Myerscough and Chantal Joffe © Lee Sharrock From previously unseen gems like Seóirse MacAntisionnaigh's 1924 painting The Slade Tea Party–of Slade School students including Mary Adshead and Eileen Agar–to Curtis Holder's luminous new portrait, each piece hums with connection. Whether glimpsing Johnny Shand Kydd's Soho snapshots of the YBAs or lingering before Ishbel Myerscough and Chantal Joffe's dual portraits of one another, visitors are invited into a world where artists become mirrors. While there are many husband-and-wife artist couples featured who have painted or drawn portraits of each other–from Barbara Hepworth and John Skeaping to Winifred and Ben Nicholson, and Lucian Freud and Celia Paul –there is also a strong presence of women artists who have immortalised fellow women artists through portraiture. Lubaina Himid installation at Pallant House Gallery. © Lee Sharrock Lindsay Mendick's ceramic ode to Tracey Emin in the form of a ceramic reimagining of Emin's 1996 performance Exorcism of the last painting I ever made is a highlight, as is Lubaina Himid's sculptural artwork featuring painted wooden full length portraits of female artists from past and present, including Bridget Riley, Élisabeth Vigée-le Brun, Frida Kahlo and Himid's friend, artist Claudette Johnson. Lindsay Mendick's ceramic ode to Tracey Emin. Photograph by Lee Sharrock. Lee Sharrock The exhibition features artists' portraits of fellow artists spanning several genres, movements and locations, starting at the turn of the 20th century with portraits of Walter Sickert, Sylvia Gosse and Nina Hamnett, through to The Bloomsbury Set in London and Suffolk, Newlyn School in Cornwall, pre-war modernism in Paris, to Pop Art art, the London School, YBAs and finally to contemporary artists and photographers such as Cindy Sherman and Mary McCartney and the British Black This final chapter in Pallant House's trilogy on modern British art—following still life and landscape—offers a deeply human tapestry. Curated by Melanie Vandenbrouck with scholarly grace, Seeing Each Other is a celebration of the artist's gaze—not just outward, but across the room, into the eyes of someone who understands. Seeing Each Other: Portraits of Artists runs from 17 May to 2 November 2025 at Pallant House in Chichester, Sussex. Curtis Holder painting. © Lee Sharrock
Times
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Times
Trump still buys Putin's picture of innocence
It was the portrait that said it all. Inspiring and flattering as Putin intended, President Trump received in March a painting of himself as a gift from the Russian leader. It was a 'beautiful portrait', said Steve Witkoff, Trump's envoy, who dutifully brought it back from Moscow. The president was 'clearly touched by it'. In commissioning and sending such a gift, Putin showed he appreciated both the opportunity and the delicacy of the moment. Ever the KGB operative, he has been trained to find the weakness of an interlocutor and play on it. The agents he used to run in East Germany would each have had a weakness, which he would exploit in developing his hold over them. Some would need cash, some cigarettes, or
