Mountain Fire
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Brooklyn Museum photograph
Object Label
Although Mountain Fire presents an expansive Alpine view, Sargent’s attention to the enveloping effects of smoke and steam makes it one of his most abstracted watercolors. With this work he clearly offered a farewell nod to the British watercolor tradition as exemplified by Joseph Mallord William Turner’s Alpine subjects of a century before, in which deep perspectives were articulated with transparent washes. Sargent evoked dense haze and smoke by adding opaque white to his washes and by freely allowing the bleeding edges of wet washes to suggest vaporous effects.
Caption
John Singer Sargent American, born Italy, 1856–1925. Mountain Fire, ca. 1906–1907. Opaque and translucent watercolor, 14 1/16 x 20in. (35.7 x 50.8cm) frame: 23 7/8 x 29 13/16 x 1 3/8 in. (60.6 x 75.7 x 3.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Purchased by Special Subscription, 09.831. No known copyright restrictions (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 09.831_PS6.jpg)
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Artist
Title
Mountain Fire
Date
ca. 1906–1907
Medium
Opaque and translucent watercolor
Classification
Dimensions
14 1/16 x 20in. (35.7 x 50.8cm) frame: 23 7/8 x 29 13/16 x 1 3/8 in. (60.6 x 75.7 x 3.5 cm)
Signatures
unsigned
Credit Line
Purchased by Special Subscription
Accession Number
09.831
Rights
No known copyright restrictions
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