Strapless: John Singer Sargent and the Fall of Madame X | 
 enlarge | Author: Deborah Davis
Publisher: Tarcher
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy Used: $2.53
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Rating:  22 reviews
Sales Rank: 302494
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 320
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 8.6 x 5.8 x 1.1
ISBN: 1585422215
Dewey Decimal Number: 759.13
EAN: 9781585422210
ASIN: 1585422215
Publication Date: July 28, 2003
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Condition: Ex-Library. May have library markings or stickers. Otherwise, standard used condition.
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Product Description
The story behind the legendary John Singer Sargent painting that propelled the artist to international renown but condemned his subject to a life of public ridicule. brbr John Singer Sargent's iMadame X/i is one of the world's best-known portraits. As the Metropolitan's most frequently requested painting for loans, it travels to museums around the globe. The image of "Madame X" decorates book and magazine covers, greeting cards and screen savers. She's even been immortalized as a Madame Alexander doll. brbr Few people, though, know the fascinating story behind the painting. "Madame X" was actually a twenty-three-year-old New Orleans Creole, Virginie Gautreau, who moved to Paris and quickly became the "it girl" of her day. All the leading artists wanted to paint her, but it was Sargent, a relative nobody, who won the commission. Gautreau and Sargent must have recognized in each other a like-minded hunger for fame. brbr Unveiled at the 1884 Paris Salon, Gautreau's portrait did generate the attention she craved-but it led to infamy rather than stardom. Sargent had painted one strap of Gautreau's dress dangling from her shoulder, suggesting, to outraged Parisian viewers, either the prelude or the aftermath of sex. Her reputation irreparably damaged, Gautreau retired from public life, destroying all the mirrors in her home so she would never have to look at herself again. brbr Why had Sargent chosen to portray her in such a provoc-ative manner? Was the painting, with the scandal it generated, the machination of a sexually conflicted man who desired a woman and a lifestyle he could never possess? Drawing on documents from private collections and other previously unexamined materials and featuring a cast of characters including Oscar Wilde and Richard Wagner, iStrapless/i is an enthralling tale of art and celebrity, obsession and betrayal.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 17 more reviews...
 Loved This! November 13, 2008
Margaret Mitchell (Alameda, CA)
Such an interesting book. I've always been fascinated by the Madame X painting, so when I saw this book I simply HAD to read it. It did not disappoint me at all.
 Masterpiece August 22, 2008
Stacey M Smith (Fredericksburg, TEXAS)
Amazingly well researched and written. This lovely book goes into the details of how one of the most controversial portraits came to be. I was thrilled to have found this book on one of my favorite painters and one of my most favorite pieces of art. I had been enchanted by Madame X when I had seen the portrait in person. While in college, I looked at a print of the painting daily wanting to know more about the cool, mysterious, woman. br / br /This book offers insight into the world in which Madame X thrived. As you might expect she was a spoiled young woman looking to continue improve her life of luxury via a wealthy husband. She found it, a fortunate (well, contrived) marriage to a rich older man, whom she doesn't seem to have loved, thrust her from a New Orleans socialite to the forefront of Parisian society. As an American-born, European-raised man, John Singer Sargent's Bohemian-gypsy childhood served as a rich foundation for his life as an artist. As his fame and reputation grew, his desire to run in the privileged circles of Parisian society also grew. He was taken by X's unusual beauty and translated her cool, seductive, unattainable persona to canvas. This book follows their steps and sheds light onto one of art's mysterious subjects. Bravo!
A Timeless Image August 27, 2007
HLC
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
When I was younger, I saw this image in an art book and, without reading anything about it, decided that it was a fasion plate from the 1950's. I picked this book up because I instantly remembered the white shoulder. Davis's book puts the painting in a cultural context that greately helped me understand it. There is a black and white print of people at an outdoor cafe on the day of the Salon in which Madame X appeared. The women are covered in bustles, multiple skirts, gloves and hats. I now understand what that audience found so dangerous about her wayward strap.
Engaging story, historical glimpse of 19th-cent France, biography of Sargent to boot August 10, 2007
Mr. Chips (Columbia, MO USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book is about the French-via-Creole socialite Amelie Gautreau's interaction with American-expatriate painter John Singer Sargent, an encounter that resulted in a painting that altered both of their lives. In weaving together the story of these two people, author Davis has created an engaging volume that simultaneously provides a window into 19th-century French society and a biography of the great painter Sargent. br / br /Sargent's decision to paint Gautreau's portrait with a strap hanging off her shoulder at a time when he was trying to promote his fledging portraitist career was a calculated decision to glean publicity on the heels of Manet's "Olympia." There's a saying that "any publicity is good publicity" -- true in the case of Sargent. The strength of his work outlived the short-term scandal caused by the painting, which was so disturbing to him that he soon repainted the shoulder with the strap back on (now in the collection of New York's Metropolitan Museum). Unfortunately, the scandal ruined Gautreau's life, although simply growing old probably would have had the same effect on Gautreau, whose self-worth appears to have been inextricable with popularity, appearance, and youth. br / br /The author is to be commended for trusting her intuition in following a very small detail -- the dress in Sargent's painting -- and finding the mystery behind it, revealing in the process a fascinating story. In so doing, she has created a marvelous glimpse into the art and society of late 19th-century France, as well as an easily-read biography of Sargent, certainly one of our most complex and greatest 19th-century American painters. I have always loved Sargent's work but have never read a biography of him, and was glad to have the opportunity to do so in such an interesting context. A very good read and interesting book.
Enjoyable, readable history of the time, painter and subjects July 4, 2007
Reviewer
In a brief, readable book, Davis does a good job giving us an overview of Gilded Age Paris, the social changes between Sargent Madame X's debut and paintings of Mrs. Gatreua just a few years later. br / br /She also gives us some nice background into lives of some of Sargents subjects, and the fraternal band of painters at the time. The only thing I would take with a grain of salt is her 'was he gay theories' some of the examples of drawings she uses to speculate into this show a lack of understanding about the artistic process. I know several professional painters who read the book and liked it but laughed at her 'proof' - the drawing over of a young many with a similar silhouette as Madame X - this is done all the time by artists, sometimes your subject 'turns into' another.
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