She has returned.
After two years of travel, “Madame X” – the famous image of John Singer Sargent – returned to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she is a new exhibition star, “Sargent and Paris”, until August 3.
A young young painting in a attractive black dress has always been one of the largest attractions in Met.
“People are annoyed when it is not shown,” said Stephanie Hurdric, the American drawing and painting in Met. “I have seen even people [Madame X] A tattoo on their bodies. “
On that day, the painting was almost not very appreciated.
“Immodest”, “inappropriate” and “vulgar” were described when it first appeared. One of the critics considered this “the worst, the most ridiculous picture, and the most insulting this year.” Another was called “simply abusive in her ugliness.” Cartoonists mocked him for several months.
The new exhibition examines the scandal surrounding the piece, which was drawn by Sargent when he was 28 years old after spending a decade in the city of light.
Paid Who was presented to him, Fergini Amily Gotio (Ni Avgino) had a 25 -year -old social meeting that changed his reputation forever by linking Sargent.
Like Sargent, Emily was American. He tightened a wealthy French Cruiol family in New Orleans. After the death of her father in the civil war-was a leader in the Confederate Army-her 8-year-old mother, Ameli, took to Paris, hoping to find a rich husband.
With its distinctive appearance and the feeling of bold fashion, it became the Paris elites. At nineteen years old, Amili married Pierre Goetrio, a 20 -year -old businessman, and had a daughter, but that did not prevent her from showing off.
“It was a professional beauty … what we call influential today,” Hurrich said. “She was wearing glamorous dresses, often low, dyed her hair, and she performed her ears.”
The newspapers-in France and the United States-mentioned the place where she is shopping, as she did her hair and how she achieved her artificial paleness full of lavender. She attended the concerts and dinner with men who were not her husband, which led to the vibration of tongues.
The only thing Amili needed to support her role because the most famous woman in France was a picture, which is a truly exciting picture.
Sargent was a rising star in the art world. He had arrived in Paris in 1874, and attracted attention to his captivating photos. In 1881, one of the fans of Amili Al -Masha'a, a gynecologist and famous ladies man, Samuel Jean de Bozi, drew in the crimson silk robe.
He and Emily began planning in 1882, where they pass through her tank and choose a black dress that does not fit his shape with the neck line. She did not wear any jewelry, with the exception of her wedding band and the diamond crescent in her hair, a reference to Diana, the goddess of hunting.
Sargent's work on the image. “He had a feeling that he needed to outperform himself,” Hurrich said.
He was hoping to end it in time for the Paris 1883 salon – the largest artistic event for the city – but he was not ready.
Amili quickly bored the whole process. “I have a non -survival beauty and laziness is hopeless MME. G”, Sargent complained to a friend.
When it ended in 1884, Amili called it a “masterpiece”. Sargent presented it to the 1884 salon entitled “Madame ***” – although everyone in Paris knew the identity of the topic.
Both Paris went to the opening, and they were interested. “But she does not wear a shirt [undergarment]”They shouted in dirt and innocent. It was the most shocking thing that Emily had placed with a belt of her shoulder to fall. So what is the salon boasted about a lot of meters: these were all historical paintings, nymphs and other imaginary creatures.
Later that evening, the mother of Amili stormed the Sargent Studio and called for Sargent to remove the plate from the salon or her humiliating daughter, “Dies from despair.” Sargent defended the work, saying he drew it “just as she was wearing clothes.” But when the salon ended, he installed the unprotected image in his studio and prepared his pain on the belt in a straight position. (This is left.)
After that, Sargent faced a problem in obtaining commissions. “Women are afraid of him for fear that they will search them for an eccentric.” He moved to London, and helped his photos there – and in the United States – restore his reputation. However, it will not offer “Madame ***” for another 20 years.
Gotio recovered and returned in the city after weeks.
“I embraced the controversy,” Hurrich said.
She continued to put more artists, separate from her husband, and in the end she is consumed by vanity.
According to the book “Strapless: John Singer Sargent and The Fall of Madame X” for Deborah David, Amélie was removed from 50 years in her home after she heard a woman saying “her physical splendor has completely disappeared.” She stopped leaving the house and died in 1915 at the age of 56.
The following year, Sargent sold her picture to MET, and asked the museum to reformulate “Madame X.”
“I assume it's the best thing I did,” he wrote later.
