“The Writing Master,” 1882. Oil on canvas from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.

LONDON

Sergeant is the third and youngest member of a hallowed trio of master draughtsmen that also includes John Ward and Jehan Daly. He has been inspired and influenced by both his distinguished older friends since the early years of his career, when drawing was considered an irrelevance at most art establishments in the country.

Sergeant started concentrating particularly on still lifes when he saw an exhibition entitled “Interiors” at Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox, in 1981.

The exhibition inspired Sergeant to start drawing not only portraits of rooms, but also to focus on individual objects one finds scattered around rooms, such as flowers, newspapers and clocks. Still life has become something of an obsession for the artist, and over the years he has become more and more focused on detail, the result being meticulously composed and finished drawings that he feels are a merger between realism and abstraction.

The exhibition at The Fine Art Society will include a number of his still lifes, interiors and portraits, in pen and ink, watercolor and chalks with estompé. For information call 020-7629-5116.