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Drawn with tones of gray and black with charcoal on cream-white paper, a young man’s cleanshaven face floats near the top of the sheet. He faces and looks directly at us with his head tipped slightly back. His dark eyes are shaded under dark brows. His upper lip is full, and his mouth is closed in a set line. His thick, dark, slightly unruly hair sweeps back from his forehead, and he has a squared chin line. The lines indicating his neck fade where they would meet his shoulders. The work is inscribed with charcoal under the man’s head, near the bottom of the sheet: “Olimpio Fusco 63A Aspinlea Rd Hammersmith.”

John Singer Sargent

Olimpio Fusco, c. 1900-1910

Not on View

Medium

charcoal on laid paper

Dimensions

actual: 62.23 × 47.63 cm (24 1/2 × 18 3/4 in.)

Credit Line

Corcoran Collection (Gift of Miss Emily Sargent and Mrs. Francis Ormond, sisters of the artist)

Accession Number

2014.136.192

Artists / Makers

John Singer Sargent (artist) American, 1856 - 1925

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
Read our full Open Access policy for images .

Inscription

lower center in charcoal: Olimpio Fusco / 63A Aspinlea Rd / Hammersmith; lower right corner in graphite by unknown hand: Ch. 2.; upper left verso in graphite by unknown hand: S.6.57

Provenance

Miss Emily Sargent and Mrs. Violet Sargent Ormond (sisters of the artist), Surrey, England; National Gallery (now known as the Smithsonian American Art Museum), Washington, DC, 1929, left in storage at the Corcoran Gallery of Art; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1949; acquired 2015 by the National Gallery of Art

Associated Names

Corcoran Gallery of Art
Ormond, Violet Sargent
Sargent, Emily
Smithsonian American Art Museum

Exhibition History

1964: The Private World of John Singer Sargent, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio; Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts; Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, New York, 1964-1965, no. 146

1983: John Singer Sargent: Drawings from the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, 1983, pp. 20, 58, fig. 8, no. 33, repro

1986: American Masters: Works on Paper from the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, 1986-1988, pp. 42-44, no. 22, repro

1999: "Sketch Everything and Keep Your Curiosity Fresh": Sargent Drawings from the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1999, fig. 4, repro

2006: John Singer Sargent: Portraits and Models, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 2006

2009: John Singer Sargent in the Corcoran Collection, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 2009

2020: John Singer Sargent: Portraits in Charcoal, The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, October 4, 2019 - January 12, 2020, cat.10, pp.88-89.

Bibliography

1967: Gross, Ellen, and James Harithas. Drawings by John Singer Sargent in the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Alhambra, California: Borden, 1967.

1983: Fairbrother, Trevor. Sargent Portrait Drawings: 42 Works by John Singer Sargent. New York: Dover, 1983, fig. 29.

1983: Simmons, Linda Crocker and with the assistance of Adrianne J. Humphrey, et al. American Drawings, Watercolors, Pastels, and Collages in the Collection of the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Washington, DC: Corcoran Gallery of Art, 1983: p. 106, no. 695.