Sargent abroad

With impressive new scholarship and little-known, color-drenched images, this beautiful book reveals an unexpected and highly engaging aspect of John Singer Sargent's remarkable career. Although most renowned for his dazzling society portraits, Sargent took greatest pleasure in escaping his studio to paint out of doors. In the past, his far-flung expeditions have been dismissed as little more than tourist jaunts.

But with this book - the first significant study of the figures and landscapes that Sargent painted from 1900 (after he had established himself as one of the foremost portraitists of the age) through 1914 (when World War I changed his world) - it becomes clear that his travel paintings constitute a far larger and more important aspect of his work than previously realized. Many of these oils and watercolors come from private collections and have rarely, if ever, been seen in the years since the artist's death in 1925. For the first time, Sargent's extensive travels are thoroughly documented here, using letters and diaries written by his companions. Charming vintage photographs, including some that Sargent is believed to have taken himself, chronicle his adventures and cast new light on this intensely private artist. The book also includes as invaluable chronology of the artist's travels as well as brief biographies of his traveling companions - mostly beloved family and dear friends - who accompanied Sargent on his creative journeys.