"The painting is not a portrait, but a landscape… a snowy field of white cloth animated by rivers of cashmere shawls. Fabric is his main subject. Critics compared it to a flowing mountain stream, a 'liquefaction of clothes'." John Singer Sargent Two Girls in White Dresses, 1911 Oil on canvas
Stopped me in my tracks this morning. Thanks for sharing.
The guy could really paint clothes. He chose the outfits, the room, and sometimes made alterations on the canvas. The first celebrity stylist. 😂
I’ve had the chance to see a few Sargents up close, and I know seeing the folds in that fabric up close would have me 🥹 Really love to imagine him ‘tailoring’ with paint
As much as I lingered in front of these paintings— they're gorgeous— I also thought about where the cotton for the fabrics, the wealth for the leisure and ease, the hours and hours of labor and toil, where all that came from.. Paraphrasing Du Bois, "built upon a groan".
"Great gowns, beautiful gowns". - Aretha Franklin