Born to American parents in Florence, John Singer Sargent was certainly one of the most famous American expats to live in Europe between the 19th and 20th centuries. In fact, it was in London that Sargent gained the limelight, becoming, during the Edwardian era, the most famous portraitist of his generation. In an era in which the art world gradually concentrated on Impressionism, Fauvism and finally Cubism, Sargent practiced his form of realism, looking to the great old masters, to Velázquez, to Van Dyck. This exhibition celebrates Sargent's relationship with the world of fashion. The London painter in fact took great care in choosing the clothes that the subjects of his portraits would wear and at the same time he paid great attention to "how" they would wear them. This innovative use of costumes was fundamental to his works and to bringing out the personality of his subjects. It was these bold sartorial choices that allowed him to express his vision as an artist. For example, tightening a heavy coat around a man to emphasize his figure or letting the strap of a dress sensually slip from a woman's shoulder. The exhibition at Tate Britain is an opportunity to compare 60 paintings by Sargent which will be exhibited together with various period clothes worn in the same artworks to offer a truly original portrait of this great artist who died in his home in Chelsea in 1925.
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