https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/sargent-and-fashion
An absolutely fantastic show. There were two main elements that I took away. One was the amazing technical prowess of Sargent at capturing the look, sense and texture of an incredibly wide range of materials. But fascinatingly, these materials actually looked better than they did in real life as we could see the actual costumes that were used as well as such stunning accessories as the fans and headgear. A small piece of a red velvet dress used in one portrait (that was, touchingly, used as part of a little memorial to the sitter by her sister after her early decease) looked distinctly humdrum when compared to the pooling glamour of the dress in the portrait.
The other element was the extreme complexity of the clothes worn – both in terms of detail. There was a wonderful close up of the miniature pearls used on one couture piece by Frederick Worth that was particularly stunning.
The show was, of course, superbly curated with just the right amount of information, for both the ‘themed’ rooms and the individual portraits therein. But I’m still unsure as to whether I wanted/needed more information about the sitters – tbh, I am not sure that I would as it was the art of the painting that was the real focus of this show rather than the sitters and the subject matter.