An Artist at His Easel

John Singer Sargent's An Artist at His Easel (1914) is a watercolor over traces of graphite on ivory wove paper. This watercolor shows an artist—perhaps Sargent himself or a fellow painter—at work before an easel, the figure captured in the act of painting. The subject of the artist in the studio is a recurring theme in art, and Sargent's treatment is characteristically fresh and direct. The watercolor technique is fluid and confident, the washes capturing the figure and the studio setting with remarkable economy. The traces of graphite provide an initial structure. This watercolor dates from 1914, the year World War I began and the year Sargent effectively abandoned portrait painting to focus on watercolors and his mural projects. The subject of the artist at his easel may carry a note of self-reflection, Sargent contemplating the nature of his own practice as he turned away from the portrait commissions that had made him famous.

Sargent's watercolors of artists at work offer a self-reflective dimension, showing the artist contemplating his own practice.

This watercolor of an artist at his easel captures the act of painting with Sargent's characteristic freshness, the fluid technique suggesting the absorption and concentration of the creative process.