George McCulloch 1901

John Singer Sargent dashed off this portrait of George McCulloch with oil paint on canvas. Look how Sargent builds up the form with these loose, fluid brushstrokes. It's like he's wrestling with the paint, trying to capture a likeness and a feeling at the same time. See that stroke of white that catches the light on McCulloch’s beard? It’s a single, confident gesture, but it speaks volumes. I can imagine Sargent, standing before his subject, quickly mixing shades of brown and grey, his hand moving with incredible speed. He’s trying to get something down quickly. His eyes are jumping around, trying to grasp his sitter’s likeness. What might McCulloch have been thinking as he sat for this painting? Did he feel exposed under Sargent's intense gaze? Sargent was part of a generation of painters who were thinking about capturing fleeting moments. In that way, all artists are magpies, picking up ideas and transforming them into something new and exciting! It's this constant dialogue that keeps art alive, where ambiguity and uncertainty allows for endless interpretations.