Distinguished American-born artist (1856 –1925) who spent most of his career as an expatriate in Europe. While he painted a variety of subjects in various media, his fame rests primarily on his evocative, penetrating society portraits. ALS signed “John S. Sargent,” one page, 8.5 x 11, Hotel-Pension Bellevue letterhead, no date. Letter to Mr. Osler. In part: “If this reaches you in time, tell your friend whose name I can’t remember or read, that I am still away. I hope [you] got a letter I wrote you long ago saying I had left London before you wrote…I should have answered the enclosed if it had not been been sent to me from London…that I don’t open until it rains.” In fine condition, with intersecting mailing folds, and some light creasing.
The Hotel-Pension Bellevue is located in Berlin, and Sargent is known to have visited Germany at least twice as an adult. In 1903, he was awarded the Gold Medal for the portrait of Leon Delafosse at the Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung exhibition, and five years later he received the Berlin order Pour le merite. Following Germany’s aggressive actions throughout Europe during World War I, Sargent formally returned the latter in October 1919. His most controversial work, Portrait of Madame X (Madame Pierre Gautreau), completed in 1884, is now considered one of his best works, and was the artist's personal favorite. (He stated in 1915, “I suppose it is the best thing I have done.”) However, when it was unveiled in Paris at the 1884 Salon, it aroused such a negative reaction that it likely prompted Sargent’s move to London. Pre-certified PSA/DNA and RRAuction COA.
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