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Deborah Davis’ Strapless tells the story of the creation of American painter John Singer Sargent’s most famous painting, Madame X. It’s a story that starts in antebellum New Orleans and ends in Bohemian Paris. Amélie Avegno is an American beauty who travels to Paris and quickly becomes one of the most famous celebrities: newspapers and magazines fawn over her; heads turn when she walks in; kings and emperors, like Ludwig II, admire her. To increase her popularity she commissions a portrait of her, one that will reveal her beauty and sensuality.
John Singer Sargent is a young painter who has achieved some success and received good reviews, but who’s looking for a project that will really make him famous amongst the Parisian high society. At the time portraits were a means rich people used to show off their money and social status. Portraitists were in high demand and Sargent hoped to become one of the most popular.
For him painting Amélie Avegno was the ticket to a luxurious world. He enthusiastically started the painting and boldly painted Amélie’s gown without a strap (hence the title), suggesting the aftermath of or prelude to sex. Exhibited at the annual Salon exhibition, it proved to be a scandal, which nearly destroyed Sargent’s career and forever ruined Amélie’s social standing.
This is a fascinating history book. Deborah Davis describes in lovely, vivid details life in New Orleans before the war and the strange society of Paris, in which shopping, retaining beauty and pursuing pleasure were the order of the day. She also gives an interesting account of the Bohemian side of the city, in which the lives of painters and writers converged. Writers like Henry James and Vernon Lee play secondary roles in this story, for instance.
In the end Sargent just painted the portrait of an entire society through the figure of Amélie Avegno, and what probably disturbed the rich Parisians who saw it at the Salon is that it was too realistic, it reminded them too much of their own narcissistic lives.
The book also follows the course of painter and model long after the debut of the painting, showing how Sargent’s painting managed to achieve renown along the years until it became considered a modern masterpiece, whereas Amélie just disappeared from history books. In the end it’s a sad story about egocentrism. Amélie hoped to become famous through the painting and was nearly sentenced to seclusion because of it, while the painting got a life of its own.
If the history of art interests you, or you just like stories about the fin-de-siècle, I heartily recommend this masterpiece for a peek at a world that isn’t that different from ours, in which art still survives in spite of being bought by the higher classes just as a symbol of social standing.
John Singer Sargent is a young painter who has achieved some success and received good reviews, but who’s looking for a project that will really make him famous amongst the Parisian high society. At the time portraits were a means rich people used to show off their money and social status. Portraitists were in high demand and Sargent hoped to become one of the most popular.
For him painting Amélie Avegno was the ticket to a luxurious world. He enthusiastically started the painting and boldly painted Amélie’s gown without a strap (hence the title), suggesting the aftermath of or prelude to sex. Exhibited at the annual Salon exhibition, it proved to be a scandal, which nearly destroyed Sargent’s career and forever ruined Amélie’s social standing.
This is a fascinating history book. Deborah Davis describes in lovely, vivid details life in New Orleans before the war and the strange society of Paris, in which shopping, retaining beauty and pursuing pleasure were the order of the day. She also gives an interesting account of the Bohemian side of the city, in which the lives of painters and writers converged. Writers like Henry James and Vernon Lee play secondary roles in this story, for instance.
In the end Sargent just painted the portrait of an entire society through the figure of Amélie Avegno, and what probably disturbed the rich Parisians who saw it at the Salon is that it was too realistic, it reminded them too much of their own narcissistic lives.
The book also follows the course of painter and model long after the debut of the painting, showing how Sargent’s painting managed to achieve renown along the years until it became considered a modern masterpiece, whereas Amélie just disappeared from history books. In the end it’s a sad story about egocentrism. Amélie hoped to become famous through the painting and was nearly sentenced to seclusion because of it, while the painting got a life of its own.
If the history of art interests you, or you just like stories about the fin-de-siècle, I heartily recommend this masterpiece for a peek at a world that isn’t that different from ours, in which art still survives in spite of being bought by the higher classes just as a symbol of social standing.