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Headless wonders
Tim, I was asked to post this formula. I do not pretend to be an expert on Sargent. I have personally benefited from this and thought many others might.
I had noticed that contemporary portraits often lack the grace and elegance of past paintings. I noticed that the figures looked somewhat squat and out of proportion. They did not have that certain "Je ne sais quoi". Fortunately for me I came across a series of books published by the "Famous Artist Schools". This was a mail order correspondence school successfully operating in the Fifties. These proportions were published there. Since the illustrators of that time were working mostly figuratively they still had access to that knowledge. It had not died out as yet. Many of them were classically trained. Many of these 'illustrators' who produced the course, would put to shame many of our contemporary figurative artists. They were Norman Rockwell, Robert Fawcett, Al Dorne, Coby Whitmore among others. There are other basic formulas that appear to work i.e. that the eyes in an adult are halfway down the face etc. There are always exceptions of course. These particular proportions have been of great use to me. I can only speak for myself.
I have personally measured the proportions in Sargent's painting (among others) and find their formula to correspond in many examples. Others may not agree. That is their prerogative. I have found it enormously useful and simply wanted to pass it on as asked.
There are many simple formulas that work in composition and proportion and once absorbed can often be successfully ignored.
To reiterate, this is a formula I have found useful, was asked for, and hope other artists would benefit from.
Sincerely,
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