revise this visual analysis essay according to this constructive criticism and add any details:

Your paper has a great flow and a wide variety of language which makes it engaging to follow. Your description is well written and very detailed, I would suggest creating a greater separation between your description and analysis paragraphs, ensuring that the description includes more objective language, describing the visual elements while the interpretation of the work is included in the analysis. You did a great job in describing and interpreting the work, I would just aim to contrast the two more heavily. The amount of context and insight in your work provides a great backstory to the piece and is written clearly. One reminder is to indent the beginning of each paragraph. I also believe we are meant to include the actual image at the end of the essay, so this might be useful to consider.

I'm not sure if you know, but it was added to the requirements to have the photo with the essay. I searched it up after reading your description to see its accuracy and found that it was very well done. I could easily put together what I thought Madame X was wearing. Without seeing the picture before hand, it made the second to last paragraph a bit more difficult to understand (when describing her as being nude); even though beforehand you mentioned she was clothed. Perhaps there is a clearer way to establish the nudity as being a perspective and not reality. Another suggestion is to change the word "real" in the statement "a real social signifier" and maybe just put "a social signifier" (it reads a little weird the other way or maybe that was intentional). Overall revise the whole essay, because there are some extra spaces between words, or no spaces at the beginning of sentences. At the end of the second page there is a sentence that doesn't begin with a capital. Another small thing, with your sources you don't have it indented.

Be sure to include a copy of image at the end of the paper.

Also, provide parenthetical citation or footnotes and bibliographic info for your sources of information about the work.

About this essay - Jianna Mallhi Portrait Of Madame X

John Singer Sargent's painting, Portrait of Madame X, completed in 1884, is an oil portrait that portrays Virginie Amelie Avegno Gautreau, a prominent socialite in Parisian high society. In that time period, it was common for portraits of respectable women to remain nameless to keep their virtue and modesty; this is where the title's origin comes from. The intention was that madame Gautreau's anonymity would be kept intact, but due to her distinct and unmistakable features she was immediately recognized, defying this tradition. Her recognition in the portrait, along with the implications it carried, would be scrutinized for years to come. Virginie married Pierre Gautreau at nineteen, which elevated her status and influence within Parisian society. As 'Madame'(a real social signifier), she gained the autonomy to decide where she went, what she wore and who she interacted with, becoming renowned for her beauty and sophistication. At that time, Sargent was eager to submit a painting to the 1884 Paris Salon, a prestigious yearly exhibition of French art that determined the artistic standards and significance of works in French society. However, Parisian society was known to be temperamental, and successful entries to the Salon typically upheld traditional and conservative artistic standards, with innovation accepted only in measured doses. In contrast, Madame X embodied a boldness that challenged these conventions, making it a provocative entry that would ruin her reputation and cause Sargent to leave France.

With this painting, Sargent set out to capture Gautreau's "unpaintable beauty and hopeless laziness" (as he described in a letter), looking to both immortalize her allure and impress critics at the Salon.

Gautreau's posture is a defining element of her presence in the portrait. Her body is oriented toward the viewer, yet her head is turned at an extreme angle, creating a dissonance between

her physical presence and her averted gaze as well as a visual rhythm that guides the viewer's eye through the painting. This deliberate positioning enhances her hourglass figure, which is further accentuated by the figure-hugging gown she wears. These lines that curve her silhouette not only shape her waist and hips, but creates a sense of fluidity. The dramatic twist of her neck not

only draws attention to her sharp, Romanesque nose but also adds a sense of tension to the composition. Her distinctive posture also highlights the elegance of her profile. The artificial and unnatural hue of

her skin creates a ghostly quality that produces a distinction between her luminous skin and the brown, muted background. This juxtaposition let's her dominate the center foreground, isolating her figure. The low table in the background provides a counter-balance without

taking attention away from her.The tips of her ears are tinged with red, adding this subtle flush to her pale complexion, reminding the viewer that she is a living, breathing, and feeling woman. The realism in Sargent's portrait is evident in his detailed attention to the physical characteristics of Madame Gautreau, for example her lifelike skin texture and the play of light and shadow across her figure. These shadows also give the figure a three-dimensional presence against the background, helping in creating the depth and dimension that grounds the painting in a recognizable reality.

The controversy that emerged with Sargent's Portrait of Madame X at the 1884 Salon in Paris sparked discussions about femininity and societal norms. Sargent's portrait was controversial

because interpreting it required an awareness of the male gaze. Madame Gautreau's tense provocative pose and the way she was angled faced away from viewer drew attention

to the fact she had agency, this created a dynamic that urged the viewers to interact with her on her own terms. his portrayal of an upper-class woman who exuded control over herself

was unacceptable, as she was the one dictating the interaction even though she was in a painting. The actual size of the artwork is nearly seven feet tall which could have also forced the audience at

the salon to confront her presence directly. In these ways, Gautreau was challenging the male gaze; she made it hard to passively consume her as an object, as the viewer could not help but get a sense of her agency. As Debra Davis noted in her book (Strapless: John Singer Sargent and the Fall of

Madame X), "she invites attention but not attraction," showing the complexity of Gautreau's identity and the social issues reflected in her portrayal. John Berger's distinction between being "nude" and "naked" applies strongly to Sargent's portrait, where Madame Gautreau is presented in a way that forces viewers to confront her body. In 1884, French art critic Robert de la Villeherve stated, "Of all the women undressed at the Salon this year, the most interesting was Madame Gautreau." The boldness of Sargent's painting caught Parisian audiences off guard, as they were

accustomed to more traditional portrayals of "nude women" in art.

Sargent's painting highlights the dichotomies between beauty and discomfort. Gautreau's dramatic stance and offset gaze creates an uneasy tension that invites viewers to confront their perceptions of femininity. The interaction of formal elements encourages a closer look at the standards society places on women, demonstrating how beauty can both empower and confine. Through this painting, Sargent forces us to reevaluate the significance of female representation in art and the realities that frequently lie beneath the surface of beauty.