Strapless: John Singer Sargent and the Fall of Madame X
Category: Books,Arts & Photography,History & Criticism
Strapless: John Singer Sargent and the Fall of Madame X Details
Review "Readers will enjoy this brisk, sometimes breathless account of the creation of the work the artist once called his best...A fascinating commentary on the evanescence of fame and beauty." --Kirkus Reviews"An entertaining, observant novel about the gorgeous, enigmatic Madame X." --from Bustle.com's roundup of "11 Novels Every Art History-Lover Should Pick Up""A stunner about a stunner." —The Philadelphia Inquirer"The book's pace is lively and its breadth impressive." —Houston Chronicle Read more About the Author Deborah Davis is the author of Party of the Century: The Fabulous Story of Truman Capote and his Black and White Ball (Wiley, April 2006), and Strapless: John Singer Sargent and the Fall of Madame X (Tarcher/Putnam, 2003). Her most recent book is The Secret Lives Of Frames: One Hundred Years of Art and Artistry (Filapacchi, 2007). Read more
Reviews
Madame X is one of those paintings that everyone knows, or thinks they do. And there are many books about John Singer Sargent. So why another one? The simple fact is that the story behind the painting is even more fascinating than the story we think we know. Two Americans, trying to make their way in Paris society of the Gilded Age. One a painter on the cusp of greatness. The other a woman whose seductive power has opened doors that many American society women could not budge. The painting was to be their master stroke. But it backfired, and how! This book is well written, has plenty of illustrations (so important in a book about paintings), and is a glimpse into a world so very foreign to our own. What went wrong? Read on.
