Sylvia Harrison 1913

John Singer Sargent painted 'Sylvia Harrison' with oils, sometime in the late 19th, early 20th century. It’s a painting of a woman in a white dress against a dark, almost fiery background. The marks are loose and expressive. You can see how the brushstrokes create the form, especially in the way the fabric drapes around her. Look at the sleeves, the thick swirls of white paint, how they catch the light, and then notice the shadows, the way he’s mixed in darker tones to give a sense of depth. There’s a real physicality to it, like you could reach out and touch the folds. And yet, it’s also kind of ethereal, almost ghostly. Sargent, like Manet, was interested in the fleeting effects of light, and the materiality of paint itself. These artists seem to suggest that a painting is a record of a thought, a memory, rather than a fixed statement. The conversation continues.