Mountains and Fort along Coast (from Sketchbook) 1904

Mary Newbold Sargent made this sketch of a coast with mountains and a fort sometime in the 19th century. I love how she captures this scene with such a light, quick touch, like she’s barely skimming the surface of the paper. I wonder what it was like for her, sitting there with her sketchbook, trying to catch the light on the water and the shapes of the fort in the distance. Did she feel the breeze? Smell the sea air? You can sense the vastness of the sea, the quiet solitude of the moment, right? Sargent is an interesting artist working in the 1800s: her work feels really different, like an inner conversation with drawing and seeing. The way she uses line is so confident and free, reminds me of Cy Twombly. Artists like Sargent and Twombly really showed us how a simple gesture can speak volumes. It’s like they’re not just drawing what they see, but also what they feel.