John Singer Sargent is considered the last great generalist, easily mastering Impressionism, classic portraiture, landscape, water color, murals, and even sculpture. An American-born painter, he became the darling of Paris, and, at the height of his fame, suddenly devoted himself to landscape art, much to the dismay of Europe’s high society who were all vying for portrait sittings with him. Sargent painted two U.S. presidents, the new barons of business, war generals, and other cultural artists, just as passionately as he painted gypsies, street children, fishing boats, and his sleeping friends. During WWI, Sargent worked on the front line to document the atrocities of war.

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