The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is hosting "Emily Sargent: Portrait of a Family," its first exhibition of watercolors by Emily Sargent (1857–1936), the younger sister of famed portraitist John Singer Sargent. The works were rediscovered after a forgotten trunk of hundreds of paintings was found in storage by relatives, and in 2022, the family donated 26 pieces across seven museums in the U.S. and U.K. The show features about 20 of the Met's received works, rotating delicate pieces midway through its run, and includes a watercolor co-created by Emily and John.
This exhibition matters because it marks a significant step in recovering the legacy of a previously overlooked female artist, whose work was lost for decades. It offers the public a rare chance to see Emily's personal style and technical experiments, while also prompting new scholarly research into her life and practice. The show complements the Met's concurrent blockbuster "Sargent and Paris," highlighting how Emily's work can now be studied alongside her brother's, including instances where they painted the same scenes.