Americans in Paris and Beyond: John Singer Sargent

In the second half of the nineteenth century, Paris became the essential proving ground for a generation of American artists seeking to test their talent against the world's most demanding art capital. This four-part series explores the careers of James McNeill Whistler, Thomas Eakins, Mary Cassatt, and John Singer Sargent, four Americans whose encounters with French art, society, and ideas reshaped not only their own work but the trajectory of American art itself. Each session examines how these artists’ immersion in Parisian ateliers, salons, and avant-garde circles cultivated a distinctly cosmopolitan sensibility and traces how that experience left its mark on their technique, subject matter, and artistic identity. Together, the four talks offer a portrait of Paris not merely as a backdrop, but as a formative and transformative force in American art history. This class features: John Singer Sargent