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サージェント展
ボストンでは今、上流社交界の肖像画を多く描いた、フィレンツェ生まれのアメリカ人画家、ジョン・シンガー・サージェント(1856-1925)の絵画展が話題を呼んでいます。サージェントの遠い親せきにあたるという友人とともにこの絵画展を訪れた雅子さん。伝統と歴史を感じさせるサージェントの絵は多くの人を魅了しています。
Sargent Exhibition
By MASAKO YAMADA
There is currently a very popular exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts
featuring the works of John Singer Sargent. This exhibition has been featured
in many local newspapers and magazines, and large advertisements are posted in
the subway stations and on the sides of public buses. I don't know how popular
Sargent is in general — especially outside the United States — but I do know
that Bostonians like to claim him as one of their own.
I went to see the exhibition on a weekday morning, but the line was longer
than the one to get into "Star Wars." Although local college students are
usually allowed into the museum for free, I had to pay $5 (¥600) just to see
this one exhibit, and I was told that I could not enter the hall until 12:30.
The crowds were so thick that the museum had to limit the number of people
entering the hall at any given time.
Even though I entered at the appointed time, the hall was still packed
with people. All those people must have taken time off from work to visit
the museum.
What is so intriguing about John Singer Sargent? Sargent was an
American, but he was born in Europe and spent a great deal of his time there.
He was of a class — the upper class — that mingled socially with
sophisticated Europeans. It used to be fairly common for Americans of his
class to hobnob in Europe. Many of his works depict members of his social
circle. He was born a bit before the Lost Generation of expatriate
Americans that congregated in Paris, but he painted plenty of portraits of
the luminaries of his time, including John D. Rockefeller and Henry James.
I'm obviously not part of this high society, but I am intrigued by its
customs. I think many of the other people at the exhibition visited for the
same reason. It's also obvious that Boston still has many vestiges of these
traditions. Boston is a pretty diverse city nowadays, but it still has many
conservative elements.
My undergraduate college was once a place for proper young ladies to get
an education and the school retains traditions from that age even today. The
very expensive Beacon Hill area of Boston is known as the area where people
with old money live. One can experience a whiff of this lifestyle by
taking afternoon tea at one of the superdeluxe hotels downtown.
I also wanted to see this exhibi
tion because one of my friends is a distant relative of John Singer Sargent. I
went to see the exhibition with him, which made it much more interesting than
going by myself.
I tried to imagine him in the same cosmopolitan setting. He doesn't live a
blue-blooded lifestyle right now, so it was rather difficult. He laughed a
little when I told him this (somewhat too honestly), but I think he wished he
could experience some of that luster.
It's not too surprising that his life is very different from that of his
famous relative — my lifestyle is nothing like that of my turn-of-the-century
ancestors back in Kyushu, either. But I could see why he wanted to retain
some of that family heritage. It's a heritage that thousands of eager
museumgoers have been willing to stand in line to see.
The interesting thing, however, is that even Sargent himself seemed to get
tired of painting high-class women in puffy dresses napping in the sun.
Later in life, he rejected commissions by wealthy patrons and actively
worked on more serious topics.
The last room in the exhibit hall featured some of his final works. The
room had a completely different feel from the other rooms. It was dominated
by a large mural depicting soldiers blinded during World War I. There
were also some very conspicuous religious pieces, including a very heavy,
stern bronze cross and an abstract mural of (probably) an African
religion.
Judging from what he chose to depict toward the end of his life, I have the
feeling that he would not have been too disappointed to see his descendants
live a less glamorous life than his own.
There is currently a very popular exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts
featuring the works of John Singer Sargent. This exhibition has been featured
in many local newspapers and magazines, and large advertisements are posted in
the subway stations and on the sides of public buses. I don't know how popular
Sargent is in general — especially outside the United States — but I do know
that Bostonians like to claim him as one of their own.
I went to see the exhibition on a weekday morning, but the line was longer
than the one to get into "Star Wars." Although local college students are
usually allowed into the museum for free, I had to pay $5 (¥600) just to see
this one exhibit, and I was told that I could not enter the hall until 12:30.
The crowds were so thick that the museum had to limit the number of people
entering the hall at any given time.
Even though I entered at the appointed time, the hall was still packed
with people. All those people must have taken time off from work to visit
the museum.
What is so intriguing about John Singer Sargent? Sargent was an
American, but he was born in Europe and spent a great deal of his time there.
He was of a class — the upper class — that mingled socially with
sophisticated Europeans. It used to be fairly common for Americans of his
class to hobnob in Europe. Many of his works depict members of his social
circle. He was born a bit before the Lost Generation of expatriate
Americans that congregated in Paris, but he painted plenty of portraits of
the luminaries of his time, including John D. Rockefeller and Henry James.
I'm obviously not part of this high society, but I am intrigued by its
customs. I think many of the other people at the exhibition visited for the
same reason. It's also obvious that Boston still has many vestiges of these
traditions. Boston is a pretty diverse city nowadays, but it still has many
conservative elements.
My undergraduate college was once a place for proper young ladies to get
an education and the school retains traditions from that age even today. The
very expensive Beacon Hill area of Boston is known as the area where people
with old money live. One can experience a whiff of this lifestyle by
taking afternoon tea at one of the superdeluxe hotels downtown.
I also wanted to see this exhibi
tion because one of my friends is a distant relative of John Singer Sargent. I
went to see the exhibition with him, which made it much more interesting than
going by myself.
I tried to imagine him in the same cosmopolitan setting. He doesn't live a
blue-blooded lifestyle right now, so it was rather difficult. He laughed a
little when I told him this (somewhat too honestly), but I think he wished he
could experience some of that luster.
It's not too surprising that his life is very different from that of his
famous relative — my lifestyle is nothing like that of my turn-of-the-century
ancestors back in Kyushu, either. But I could see why he wanted to retain
some of that family heritage. It's a heritage that thousands of eager
museumgoers have been willing to stand in line to see.
The interesting thing, however, is that even Sargent himself seemed to get
tired of painting high-class women in puffy dresses napping in the sun.
Later in life, he rejected commissions by wealthy patrons and actively
worked on more serious topics.
The last room in the exhibit hall featured some of his final works. The
room had a completely different feel from the other rooms. It was dominated
by a large mural depicting soldiers blinded during World War I. There
were also some very conspicuous religious pieces, including a very heavy,
stern bronze cross and an abstract mural of (probably) an African
religion.
Judging from what he chose to depict toward the end of his life, I have the
feeling that he would not have been too disappointed to see his descendants
live a less glamorous life than his own.
Shukan ST: July 23, 1999
(C) All rights reserved
- currently
- 現在
- exhibition
- 美術展
- Museum of Fine Arts
- ボストン美術館
- featuring 〜
- 〜 を扱った
- Bostonians
- ボストンの住人
- claim 〜 as one of their own
- 〜 を自分たちの仲間だと主張する
- crowds were so thick that 〜
- 〜 だったほど込み合っていた
- appointed time
- 指定された時間
- packed with 〜
- 〜 でいっぱいだった
- must have taken time off from work to 〜
- 〜 する時間を作るため仕事を休んだんだろう。
- (is)intriguing
- 興味をそそる
- 〜 was of a class
- 〜 はある階級に属する人だった
- mingled
- 親しく交わった
- sophisticated
- 洗練された
- hobnob
- 親しく交際する
- depict
- 描く
- social circle
- 社交界
- Lost Generation
- 失われた世代(第一次大戦の時代に成人し、戦争体験や社会混乱ゆえに人生の方向を見失った世代)
- expatriate
- 国外在住の
- congregated
- 集まった
- portraits
- 肖像画
- luminaries
- 有名人
- John D. Rockefeller
- (1839-1937)アメリカの資本家・慈善家・石油王
- Henry James
- (1843-1916)イギリスに帰化したアメリカの作家
- high society
- 上流社会
- customs
- 習慣
- vestiges
- なごり
- diverse
- 多様化した
- conservative elements
- 保守的な部分
- undergraduate college
- 筆者の母校(ウェルズリー大学のこと)
- proper
- 由緒正しい
- retains
- 保つ
- Beacon Hill
- ビーコンヒル(州庁舎の北側に接する丘。アングロサクソン・プロテスタントが多く住む高級住宅街)
- with old money
- 先祖伝来の財産のある
- whiff
- 気配
- afternoon tea
- 軽食付きの午後の紅茶
- superdeluxe
- たいへん豪華な
- cosmopolitan setting
- 国際的場面
- blue-blooded
- 貴族的な
- luster
- 栄光
- turn-of-the-century
- 世紀末前後の
- ancestors
- 先祖
- heritage
- 遺産
- puffy
- ふくらんだ
- napping
- 居眠りをする
- commissions
- 依頼
- was dominated by 〜
- 〜 でいっぱいだった
- mural
- 壁画
- blinded
- 失明した
- conspicuous
- 目立つ
- stern
- いかめしい
- would not have been too disappointed to see his descendants live a less glamorous life than his own
- 彼の子孫が自分のような豪華な生活をしていないことをあまり残念がらないだろう