COOPERSTOWN, NY - The Fenimore Art Museum is proud to present the first museum exhibition devoted exclusively to portraits of women by American artist John Singer Sargent (1856-1925).  "John Singer Sargent: Portraits in Praise of Women breaks new ground in several ways," commented Dr. Paul S. D'Ambrosio, Vice President and Chief Curator and exhibition organizer.  "It is the first exhibition to directly compare the varied attributes of the women Sargent portrayed and the visual strategies employed by the artist to communicate those characteristics. Lastly, paired with the Museum's new exhibition Empire Waists, Bustles and Lace, the first exhibition of the Museum's collection of historic costumes, the Sargent exhibition will be the first to allow visitors to see and experience broader historical context of women's fashion." Included are drawings of Madame Gautreau, the mysterious subject of Sargent's famous portrait Madame X.

See more images.