Tommies Bathing (John Singer Sargent)

Tommies Bathing is a 1918 watercolor painting by John Singer Sargent. It is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.[1]

Tommies Bathing
ArtistJohn Singer Sargent 
Year1918
Dimensions34.6 cm (13.6 in) × 53.2 cm (20.9 in)
LocationMetropolitan Museum of Art
Accession No.50.130.58 
IdentifiersThe Met object ID: 12440

Early history and creation

Sargent painted Tommies Bathing in the summer of 1918. The British government had commissioned him for a painting that would commemorate the efforts of the Americans and British in World War I, so he traveled to the front in the valley of the Somme to find a subject. During this time, he painted some informal watercolors, including Tommies Bathing. The name "Tommy" comes from "Thomas Atkins," which was the a fictitious name that the British Army used on official forms for private soldiers.[2]

Later history and display

The watercolor was a gift to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1950 from Mrs. Francis Ormond, Sargent's sister.[2]

Description and interpretation

The work depicts soldiers bathing, resting, and sleeping or napping, implying a narrative from the bathing soldier, to the soldier drying himself in the sunlight, to the partially dressed soldier.[3] Sargent used a high, voyeuristic viewpoint and shows the men in a state of complete relaxation. He also captured the shadows cast across the bodies by blades of grass, with technical facility.[4]

References
  1. "Tommies Bathing". Metropolitan Museum of Art.
  2. "Tommies Bathing, 1918". www.metmuseum.org. Retrieved 2019-07-20.
  3. Herdrich, Stephanie L. (2000). American drawings and watercolors in the Metropolitan Museum of Art : John Singer Sargent. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art. p. 258. ISBN 0870999524. OCLC 43615463.
  4. "Tommies Bathing". www.metmuseum.org. Retrieved 2019-07-20.
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