By Mark Beard
Located in New York, NY
A classical anatomical figure in an artist's studio, surrounded by brushes and a palette, with muted tones creating a contemplative and intimate atmosphere. Contemporary figurative painting by Mark Beard [Bruce Sargeant (1898-1938)]
Artist’s Studio
n.d.
Signed in red, u.r.
Oil on canvas
36 x 18 inches
$4,000 + $300 framing
The pure and brilliant world of Bruce Sargeant’s art seems terribly removed from our own, unhampered by the
prevalent inconsistencies of today’s world. Peopled with comely thoroughbreds, his paintings project a world vision
unchanged from the models cherished by idealist writers like E. M. Forster and Rupert Brooke in that golden decade
that led up to the Great War. Neither buff nor narcissistic, his fair-haired young athletes pose, somewhat
uncomfortably, before the painter’s gaze, not wanting the attention yet feeling their duty to submit. Though
tantalized by the New World dabbings of Robert Henri and John Sloan, Sargeant found his true inspiration in the art
and ethos of fifth-century Athens, where the achievement of the kaloi kagathoi, young men who were “beautiful to
look at and worthy of admiration,” were the perfect models for artistic rendering and public adulation. At base,
Sargeant’s models, like the sculptures of Lysippus and Praxiteles, are idealized heroes whose achievements on the
playing field earn them their renown. However, unlike his precursors, the painter requires no civic responsibility
from his ephebes, only physical stamina, gymnastic prowess, and good looks. His work bespeaks a class that existed
briefly, but was prolonged and attenuated in the languorous novels of writers such as Denton Welch...
Category
2010s Contemporary Paintings
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