34 http://www.InternationalArtist.com
THE ART OF THE PORTRAIT
J
ohn Singer Sargent was a master at
making the most complicated subject one
could decide to paint look as though it was a
breeze or a walk in the park. His method in
recording detail laden subjects was to first see
it in its most simplistic essence of shapes
and values. He could hold areas together, such
as a rock-strewn mountain slope or a looming
forest wall, by first just getting its overall
shape using only limited color and value. Next,
he could go in and by staying within this set
range, add a few accents or hints to bring
dimension to those forms.
This is illustrated best in Sargent’s
watercolors where you can see a broad
wash for an area, and then with just a few
brushstrokes you have a choppy water surface
or the side of a bobbing boat. By working from
the largest down to the smallest, from the
simple to the complex, Sargent would then, in
a few quick strokes, give a simple “suggestion”
of the forms rather than load it up and lose the
feeling of freshness.
Working within a value zone is in keeping
with having an overall foundational value plan
for your composition. Understanding how to
select and arrange a value plan can best be
described in a 1947 book by Andrew Loomis,
titled Creative Illustration. The original book has
been out of print for decades, however high
demand by artists and art educators due to its
academic content has seen it become available
online for free download in PDF format and
in 2011 and 2013 facsimile books have been
reissued by a British publishing company.
American illustrator and author, William
Andrew Loomis (1892-1959) spent his
professional life in Chicago but gained his art
education and much of what he chronicles in
his many books, at the Art Students League of
New York under George Bridgman and FrankThe Portrait Society of America
Chairman’s Letter
Can’t See the Forest for the Trees
John Singer Sargent, Rio dei Mendicanti, Venice, circa Four Basic Tonal Plans
1909, watercolor on paper, 36 x 28½" (91 x 72 cm)Left: John Singer Sargent, Arthur Ramsay, 14th Earl of Dalhousie, 1900, oil, 60.6 x 43.7" (154 x 111 cm).
Right: This painting is basically a white suit in front of a white background, but notice how Sargent brings your
eye to the center with the bright shirt and red tie, but he then judiciously places deep dark shadows bringing a
balance to the values.