The Grand Affair: John Singer Sargent in His World

John Singer Sargent was a mystery: an outgoing American painter and personage (who hobnobbed with the likes of Henry James, Isabella Stewart Gardner, and Monet), about whose private life few details are known. Biographer Fisher (American studies, Wellesley Coll.; House of Wits) is uniquely qualified to delve into the artist’s life, having helped organize the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum’s 2020 exhibition Boston’s Apollo: Thomas McKeller and John Singer Sargent. As a portraitist, Sargent was known for teasing out the personalities of his elite subjects, which Fisher argues landed him high-profile commissions and made him a darling of the Gilded Age. This book also sheds light on Sargent’s loving relationships with his sisters and parents, his models, and his friends. Fisher suggests that Sargent, who was not out as a gay man, expressed his appreciation of the male form through his art.