Mark Beard "Bruce Sargeant and His Circle: Figure and Form"
ClampArt
This event has ended.
New York–based artist Mark Beard has devoted the last two decades to exploring and amassing the work of Bruce Sargeant (1898–1938), a painter whose work idealized and celebrated the beauty of the male form. Had Sargeant not met a tragic and unexpected end in a wrestling accident, he may have gone on to the heights now enjoyed by artists such as James McNeill Whistler and others; instead, his oeuvre remained hidden for years and is only now being brought to light, with works still being discovered.
Prized in elite gallery circles and salons in Europe and the United States, Sargeant’s work has never been featured in a major art-historical survey—until now. His subtly-toned oil paintings of young men at sport and at leisure are reminiscent of classic figure painting, highlighting his beaux arts training, yet their gentle elegance continues to speak to contemporary audiences through Abercrombie & Fitch’s installations of Sargeant’s work in its flagship stores worldwide.
In addition to essays and plates showcasing Sargeant’s breadth of interests, both in his artistic studies and in the men he painted, this collection expands our understanding of Sargeant’s work by examining his artistic circle—his teacher, Hippolyte-Alexandre Michallon; his friend and colleague Edith Cromwell; archrival Brechtholdt Streeruwitz; and Peter Coulter, one of the many artists indirectly influenced by this salon of talented artists.
A foreword by Thomas Sokowlowski, director of the Andy Warhol Museum, appropriately places Sargeant in the pantheon of twentieth-century figure painters, and the afterword by WM Hunt draws favorable parallels between Sargeant’s glorification of the male body and the work of photographers Herb Ritts and Bruce Weber, among others. Further, various texts by dealers, museum trustees and art aficionados offer insights and remembrances about this prolific circle. This sensuous publication is an essential reference for all those who appreciate the male form and the artistic tradition of the human figure.
About the Contributors:
Mark Beard was born in 1956 in Salt Lake City. His portraits, nudes, bronzes, and handcrafted books have been shown worldwide; he has also designed more than 20 theatrical sets in New York, London, and Germany. His works are in museum collections, including the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the Atheneum; the Whitney, Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Princeton, Harvard, and Yale Universities; Graphische Sammlung, Munich, and many others, as well as more than 200 private collections. He is represented by ClampArt in New York City, where he resides.
Thomas Sokolowski is director of the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, PA.
Media
Schedule
from September 16, 2010 to October 30, 2010
Opening Reception on 2010-09-16 from 18:00 to 20:00