Elizabeth Garrett Anderson 1900

John Singer Sargent painted this portrait of Elizabeth Garrett Anderson using oil on canvas. The paint has been applied with clear confidence and skill, and the artist's technical abilities shine through in the luminous quality of the face, which emerges from a dark background. Sargent's choice of materials are telling; he was an artist who operated firmly within a professional system, exhibiting at the Royal Academy and taking commissions from wealthy patrons. As such, it is fitting that he would have used the most established materials and processes of fine art painting. By accepting a commission to paint Anderson, he was able to use his craft to elevate the status of a woman who was excluded from a lot of professional circles. The very act of creating this portrait immortalized the sitter within a canon, celebrating not only the sitter but also Sargent himself. Ultimately, this work serves as a potent reminder that the choices of material and process, and the attendant labor, are always imbued with cultural meaning.