John Singer Sargent, A Dinner Table at Night (1884)
SARGENT, John Singer (1865-1925 England/USA)
oil/canvas 51.4x66.7 cm
United States, California, Fine Arts Mus. of San Francisco: M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, California Palace of the Legion of Honor

Description:
Sargent painted this interior scene at the home of Colonel Vickers in Sussex, England. The painting is modern in two ways. First, it imitates photography: Colonel Vickers is sliced in half by the right edge of the canvas, much as people in photographs are cut off by the instantaneous, mechanical action of the camera. Second, the painting style is impressionistic. Notice the sketchy, broad strokes that represent glassware, silver, flowers, jewelry, pictures, and reflections. The painting is similar to other Impressionist interiors by Cassatt, Degas, and Renoir. (see Adelson et al. 16-17). Sargent`s friend and fellow American ex-patriot Henry James was a great admirer of Sargent`s work but he had a complex attitude toward impressionism