A Caravan of Gypsies

James, Sargent, and the American Symptom

Abstract

This paper focuses on the affinities and differences between Henry James and his favorite portrait painter, John Singer Sargent. At first, a comparison between the two expatriates may seem inevitable. Continentalized from their earliest years, polyglots with a penchant for society, they were almost counterparts in their different media. But a closer look reveals their diverging attitudes toward questions of exile, dislocation, and expatriation. Sargent's refined style, bravura and precocious talent propelled him into the forefront of international society portraiture. From the very beginning his career was accompanied by public acclaim and his status as an exile was never an issue for him. James, instead, was keenly aware of the question of home and belonging; his choice of exile entailed renunciation and losses which remained painfully relevant to the very end.