Abriès

John Singer Sargent

ca. 1912 · Watercolor and graphite on white wove paper · The American Wing

Sargent traveled frequently, especially after 1900, when his interests shifted away from his portrait work and towards landscape and genre scenes. During holidays with family and friends, he worked more often in watercolor, a portable medium that suited his expressive style. This sheet was painted in Abriès, an Alpine region in France near the Italian border. In this tightly cropped view, Sargent studies the characteristic architecture of the region. He eliminates the sky and creates a near abstract composition by focusing on the geometric challenge of depicting a chalet’s intersecting wood beams. Sargent never exhibited this watercolor during his lifetime and probably considered it unfinished.

Artist

John Singer Sargent

Date

ca. 1912

Medium

Watercolor and graphite on white wove paper

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Gift of Mrs. Francis Ormond, 1950