Beis Shefe בית שפע

This past Shabbos, I spent a significant part of the day at the Sargent and Fashion show at the Tate Britain, walking distance from my dorm. Is it strange to center fashion in an exhibition of Sargent’s work? (See one star review that uses the phrase “old clothes” a lot here.) I’ll admit I was a little dismayed seeing literally a random top hat and pathetic little ostrich feather (that weren’t even worn by the sitters) being displayed as period examples of the garments worn in the paintings. It was distracting and dumb. But… how exciting is it to be able to see an extant ensemble, especially ones as magnificent as depicted by Sargent, next to the portraits! That is truly rare and it is a highly enjoyable experience for anyone who gives a fuck about historical fashion and painting. Look- it’s a LENSE, okay??!!!!! Sargent clearly really cared about clothes, not just the people wearing them.

What grabbed my attention primarily, however, was his glorious, sensational, absolutely show-stopping portraits of dynamic, dominant and fascinating Jewish women 😍😍😍! I was floored!!!! I had encountered his portraits of the Sassoon women last summer at the Jewish museum, namely ✨✨✨ALINE✨✨✨ in her pink and black roses and silk. (Photo repros make her dress kind of look like a giant garbage bag: I swear it doesn’t look like that IRL.)

Look: It can be SO HARD to be Jewish AND a woman (pick a struggle, am I right??) especially in nineteenth-century England. Jewish women then (and now) have been denigrated especially for being bold and brash, flashy, opulent and disregarding of bourgeois social norms. Sargent, in the misogynist and anti-semitic nineteenth century, was brave enough to take on the monumental task of depicting Jewish women truthfully, their talent and vibrance and passion, not just caricature or a body wearing clothes but a life, a personality, a vision, on a flat canvas. Who else can say the same?

The red velvet… the foreshortened fan… the hands!! The way the exude confidence, personality, sex appeal etc., in a world where women were expected to be ornamental tchatckes….

Mrs. Carl Meyer and Her Children

The kids’ faces, wise and snarky beyond their years… Mom teetering off the chair, pushing the kids out of her spotlight, a “social climber” and “social worker”… I often feel when a man commissions a portrait of his wife and kids its like “look at the things I own,” but that’s just not it here, she’s so dominant… She’s a combination of “Yummy Mummy” and “Hot Chani.” Love them 💓

May I present… ✨ALINE ✨ I actually shed a tear gazing at this one and thinking that I will never look this spectacular. What would I give……? The truth is we don’t dress ourselves like this anymore. And so… I gaze wistfully at her portrait…… dreaming of boned bodices and Chantilly lace……