Presenter(s): Katelyn Jones—Art History
Faculty Mentor(s): Nina Amstutz
Session 1: Oh, the Humanities!
This research analyzes the popular late nineteenth century society portraitist, John Singer Sargent, and his portraits of women, primarily those of which critics have noted a unique postural tension
in the sitters . This nervous tension has been up to this point considered by art historians to be a visual tactic deployed by the artist to create a dynamic and attractive composition . I argue that this tension goes beyond just clever compositional structure and rather can be contextualized through
an understanding of changes in the contemporary fashion industry . From the memoirs of sitters to critical reviews, Sargent’s women are often compared to inanimate objects . One object in particular that is repeated often is that of the mannequin, whose commercial use emerges alongside the need of department stores at the end of the nineteenth century .Through formal analysis of key portraits in Sargent’s oeuvre and contemporary document analysis, I draw connections between the visual presentation of female sitters and their dummy counterparts, as well as how the two worked similarly within their respective sales environments; the gallery and the store . Ultimately, this research seeks to understand the shifting role of art in the beginnings of mass international consumerism, providing a background to how viewers of the 21st century understand the industries of commercial design, art, and fashion .