Mrs. Thomas Lincoln Manson, Jr. by John Singer Sargent

Today, we shape our own narratives through digital images and social media. In the late 1800s, instead of selfie sticks and photo shoots, people had their portraits painted. An extremely popular artist in Europe and the United States, John Singer Sargent was renowned for his ability to capture the individual nuances and personalities of his sitters through rapid brushwork, lush color, and striking lighting. Sargent was in high demand among the wealthy and powerful, and his impressive, wide-ranging list of subjects included two U.S. presidents, celebrated authors, and the social elite of the day. Sargent’s internationally exhibited portraits often garnered publicity and greater notoriety for his subjects, and his popularity on the art market has remained constant over time.

On view in the Portrait Gallery (4) is Sargent’s portrait of New York suffragette May Groot Manson (1859–1917). Manson used her wealth and social status to advance voting rights, hosting suffragette meetings in her East Hampton, Long Island, summer home—now a designated historic landmark. She was also a mother of three and wife to a self-described “suffragette husband,” banker, and stockbroker. She died in 1917, two months before women won the right to vote in New York. Though she has been gone for more than 100 years, Sargent immortalized her vibrant presence, as she gazes at the viewer with a look of serious confidence.

John Singer Sargent (American, 1856–1925)
Mrs. Thomas Lincoln Manson, Jr., 1891
Oil on canvas
Purchase, 1969 (3584.1)