Hosted by the Friends of the Rye Public Library

John Singer Sargent personified the gilded age. His portraits, oil paintings capturing both the spirit of modern life and the grandeur of old masters, won acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic. By the early twentieth century Sargent had grown tired of portraiture telling a friend oil painting had "grown stale" for him and that his newly preferred medium, watercolor, allowed him to work outside his studio and would "keep up his morale".

Join us as we explore the journey Sargent took with his watercolors from the canals of Venice, the Boboli Gardens of Florence, the Val d'Aosta, and the Holy Land to name only a few. These confident bold watercolors reflect his renewed creative spirit, his intimate affection for the friends who traveled with him and the beautiful and exotic places he loved.

Ellen Burke is an Artist and Art Educator with thirty-eight years experience teaching in public schools in New York and Massachusetts as well as being and adjunct professor of Art Education at the New Hampshire Institute of Art. Since moving to Pinehurst, Ellen has enjoyed teaching art lessons to children and adults as well as presenting art appreciation lectures at the Arts Council of Moore County and the Sunrise Theatre.