Tailor’s Shop, Cairo

John Singer Sargent, Tailor’s Shop, Cairo, 1905, watercolor on paper on board, 10 5/8 x 14 1/2 in., sold at Sotheby’s in 2014 Frankly, I cannot quite believe this exists, but here it is, one of the wildest, almost abstract Sargent watercolors there is. According to the inscription on the back, John Singer Sargent made this little sketch, Tailor’s Shop, Cairo, in 1905. But it’s written in the hand of his sister Emily, and seems not to have been shown anywhere. Maybe it’s something Sargent kept, but didn’t like. Like maybe the way that black in the center and right takes over and spreads was a bit too much of a mess for him. Which reminds me of one of the Sargent watercolors at the Met visited recently by YouTuber Vijay Surendra. [s/o Wayne Bremser’s wife for the link]. It was a canalscape from Venice that the artist had folded in half, not good enough to show, but too good to throw away. As for the tailor’s shop, I’m fine with it, and so was whoever paid GBP 112,500 for this sketch in…