A compelling biography of a troubled socialite and talented but minor artist. Rich, charming, and a drop-dead beauty, Margarett Sargent (18921978) was also a footnote in the history of art. An independent spirit from the start, Sargent challenged her conservative and wealthy Bostonian family by pursuing a career, first as a sculptor of portrait busts and later as a painter. She studied with, among others, Gutzon Borglum (of Mount Rushmore fame) at his art camp in Turn of River, Conn., and George Luks, who became Sargent's most important mentor and friend. She exhibited fairly regularly in solo and group shows between 1916 and 1936. Critic Henry McBride wrote in 1930: ``If she is ever able to forget, or conceal, her somewhat noticeable admiration for Matisse she will prove an artist that has to be taken very much into account.'' But in 1936, Sargent felt that creating art had gotten ``too intense,'' and she turned instead to gardening. Sargent's artistic career is only part of this story, however. Like a character out of an F. Scott Fitzgerald story, she partied, flirted, and drank to excess. Alcoholism, along with severe mental illness, undermined her career, her marriage, and, ultimately, her life. Her last decades were pathetic and lonely ones, spent in and out of various mental institutions. In this carefully researched biography, Moore, the artist's granddaughter and a playwright and poet, has gone through her family's attic, culling information from letters, journals, and interviews to introduce us to Sargent's handsome society husband, many lovers, suffering children, and loyal friends. Most painfully, she has confronted the legacy of a family haunted by mental illness. Striking just the right balance between personal and professional, Moore places Sargent's life and career in a broader cultural context. In Moore's skilled hands, this portrait of narcissism, illness, and social privilege becomes completely captivating. (color and b&w photos, line drawings, not seen)
Pub Date: March 12, 1996
ISBN: 0-670-85063-7
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1995
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
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