Paul Fisher, Professor of American Studies, Wellesley College

Earlier generations of art historians often noticed how complex and remarkable John Singer Sargent’s portraits of women tend to be.  But are these “Sargent’s women,” or do the women in the portraits actually manifest the momentous changes in women’s roles during Sargent’s lifetime?  This talk explores Sargent’s rich depictions of women and the many ways in which his work actually owes a great debt to nineteenth-century women’s culture.

John Singer Sergent - La Carmencita 1890

John Singer Sargent - Madame Gautreau Drinking a Toast, 1883

John Singer Sergent - The Breakfast Table, 1883