Sargent Abhorred Making His Lavish Portraits, So He Took Up Charcoal (2020)

“I abhor and abjure them and hope to never do another, especially of the Upper Classes.” - is a particularly wonderful quote

A nice article here of artists who also hated their clients: https://www.thecollector.com/artists-who-hated-their-clients...

Sargent also did amazing watercolors of landscapes and various non-portrait scenes.

Some examples: https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/sargent_watercolo...

I think his skill really comes through in that work. It shows the economy of his brush strokes.

I like Sargent, but I didn't know about these charcoals. They're terrific.

Symptoms of burnout, cannot face "your" medium.

He made an exception during that time period for one model that was his inspiration for many figures of gods in his epic Boston Public Library murals:

https://www.apollo-magazine.com/thomas-mckeller-john-singer-...

Really enjoyed learning charcoal when I was learning to draw and paint -- particularly sanding vine charcoal, and rubbing the dust produced into paper to produce a mid-gray, then drawing, for darker bits, and erasing for lighter areas.

It's where I learned to draw with shapes, not lines.

He also took up watercolour and did a lot of studies and plein air painting that shows an incredible spontaneity and energy that's very different than his oils, while still retaining his basically perfect draughtsmanship.

As mr. Money Mustache would say: work gets better when you don’t need the money.