"Reading Strapless" Kristin Fouquet 2022
Madame X by John Singer Sargent is one of the most famous and enduring portraits, but few are familiar with the beautiful subject, Virginie Amélie Gautreau. My interest in her began even before I learned I lived in her childhood home. In the early 1990s, I rented an apartment and then another at 927 Toulouse in the French Quarter. The building was built by her grandfather, Phillippe Avegno, and was considered one of the “earliest skyscrapers” of New Orleans. In Strapless: John Singer Sargent and The Fall of Madame X by Deborah Davis, the author presents a detailed gaze into Gautreau’s early life, her years as a Parisian socialite, and until her death as a recluse in 1915.
Sargent’s original painting from 1883-84, Madame Gautreau, with her fallen strap, caused such a scandal that the artist was astounded by the reaction, and the subject was shunned by society. He later repainted the strap on her shoulder and kept the portrait in his studio for decades. Even though Sargent lived abroad for most of his life, he always considered himself an American artist and sold the painting with the new title Madame X to The Metropolitan Museum of Art soon after Gautreau died.
Strapless is an extensively researched book, and I appreciated the balance Davis used in chronicling both subject and artist. It offers a fascinating insight into the world of art and its potential to change lives.
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