An Artist at His Easel

An Artist at His Easel by John Singer Sargent American, 1856-1925, is a compelling example of the artist's late-career mastery of the watercolor medium. Created in 1914, this intimate classification of painting utilizes watercolor applied over subtle traces of graphite on ivory wove paper. During this period, Sargent increasingly favored this looser, more immediate technique over formal oil portraiture, often using it to capture subjects from his travels or domestic life. While Sargent spent much of his career in Europe, this piece reflects the artistic spirit and cultural lineage of the United States, cementing his reputation as a leading American artist.

The subject matter, depicting a figure deeply engaged in the act of painting, allows Sargent to explore light, shadow, and the concentrated labor of the studio. The fluid application of paint and the swiftness of execution are characteristic of his approach to watercolor, which emphasizes atmosphere and movement over meticulous detail. Sargent, celebrated globally for his technical genius, used works like this as vital technical experiments and personal studies.

This particular work is significant both as an intimate study of the creative process and as a representation of the broader artistic shifts that marked Sargent’s output during the 1910s. His deft handling of the medium, utilizing the white of the paper to achieve dazzling luminosity, demonstrates why these watercolors are considered equal in importance to his grander oil paintings. This esteemed work, An Artist at His Easel, is held in the permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. Due to the enduring popularity of Sargent’s oeuvre, images of the piece are widely available for academic study and reproduction, with many institutions offering high-quality images for prints under public domain guidelines.