Singer, Israel Joshua, 1893-1944, Polish-American novelist and playwright who wrote in Yiddish, older brother of Isaac Bashevis Singer. Living variously in Poland and Russia, he earned a literary reputation in both countries. His collection of stories Perl un Andere Dertzeylungen (1922; tr. Pearls, 1923) was acclaimed by the New York publisher Abraham Cahan, who hired Singer as Polish correspondent to his Yiddish newspaper the Jewish Daily Forward. Singer's epic masterpiece Di Bruder Ashkenazi (tr. The Brothers Ashkenazi, 1936) details Jewish industrial development before World War I. Singer emigrated to the United States in 1934.

Singer, Isaac Merrit, 1811-75, American inventor, b. Rensselaer co., N.Y. As a child he lived in Oswego, N.Y. He patented in 1851 a practical sewing machine that could do continuous stitching. Although he lost a suit for infringement brought by Elias Howe, his company was already so well established that it took the lead in a subsequent combination of manufactures and pooling of patents. Between 1851 and 1865 Singer patented 20 improvements, including the yielding presser foot and a continuous wheel feed.

Singer, Isaac Bashevis, 1904-91, American novelist and short-story writer in the Yiddish language, younger brother of I. J. Singer, b. Leoncin, Poland (then in Russia). The son of a provincial Hasidic rabbi (see Hasidism), he moved to Warsaw in the early 1920s and became associated with the city's Yiddish literati. He emigrated to the United States in 1935 and worked in New York City as a journalist on the Yiddish-language Jewish Daily Forward, which also published much of his early fiction. In 1943 he became an American citizen. Singer's American career was launched a decade later when his story "Gimpel the Fool" was discovered by Irving Howe, translated by Saul Bellow, and published in the Partisan Review.

Singer's work, often frankly sexual, draws heavily on Jewish folklore, religion, and mysticism and frequently deals with shtetl life in pre-Holocaust Eastern Europe. Many of his later works treat the loneliness of old age and the sense of alienation produced in Jews by the dissolution of values through assimilation with the Gentile world. His novels include Satan in Goray (1933, tr. 1955), The Family Moskat (1945, tr. 1950), The Slave (tr. 1962), The Manor (tr. 1967), Enemies (tr. 1972), Shosha (tr. 1978), The Penitent (tr. 1983), Scum (tr. 1991), and the posthumously published Shadows on the Hudson (tr. 1997).

Singer is also highly regarded for his hundreds of vivid, imaginative, perceptive, and witty short stories. Collections include Gimpel the Fool (tr. 1961), The Spinoza of Market Street (tr. 1961), Old Love (tr. 1979), and The Death of Methuselah (tr. 1985). In 2004 his Collected Stories, in English translation, were published in three volumes. Singer also wrote books for children and several plays, notably The Mirror (tr. 1973). Though he wrote in Yiddish, he was fluent in English and closely supervised the English translations of his works. In 1978 he won the Nobel Prize in Literature, the first Yiddish-language author to be so honored.

Sargent, John Singer, 1856-1925, American painter, b. Florence, Italy, of American parents, educated in Italy, France, and Germany. In 1874 he went to Paris, where he studied under Carolus-Duran. He remained there for 10 years except for visits to the United States, Spain, and Africa. From his first exhibit in the Salon of 1878 he received early recognition, and by 1884, when he moved to London, he already enjoyed a high reputation as a portrait painter. He spent most of the remainder of his life there, painting the dashing portraits of American and English social celebrities for which he is famous. For a considerable period of time, Sargent was the world's best-known and most highly paid portrait painter. In 1890 he was commissioned by the architect Charles McKim to paint a series of murals, The History of Religion, for the Boston Public Library. He completed them in 1916.

An untiring and prolific painter of great facility, Sargent was particularly brilliant in his treatment of textures. In his portraiture he showed great virtuosity in his handling of the brushstrokes, quickly capturing the likeness and vitality of his subject. His portraits nearly always flattered his sitters; he remarked upon this once, saying his was a pimp's profession. During his youth, and again after 1910, he deserted portrait painting long enough to produce a large number of brilliant impressionistic landscapes in watercolor, many of them painted in Venice and the Tyrol. Of these, fine collections are in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Brooklyn Museum. His portraits and figure pieces are housed in many private and public collections in England and the United States. Well-known examples are the portrait of Isabella Stewart Gardner and El Jaleo (Gardner Mus., Boston); the portraits of Madame X, the Wyndham sisters, Henry Marquand, and William Merritt Chase (Metropolitan Mus.); The Fountain (Art Inst., Chicago); and Children of E. D. Boit (Mus. of Fine Arts, Boston). During the late 1990s and early 2000s Sargent was subject to wide-ranging critical reappraisal, provoking a renewed appreciation for his work.

(born Oct. 27, 1811, Pittstown, N.Y., U.S.—died July 23, 1875, Torquay, Devon, Eng.) U.S. inventor and manufacturer. He became an apprentice machinist at 19. He patented a rock-drilling machine (1839) and a metal- and wood-carving machine (1849) before producing an improved version of Elias Howe's sewing machine in 1851 and soon thereafter founding I.M. Singer & Co. (see Singer Co.) to manufacture it. Howe's successful patent-infringement suit against him in 1854 did not prevent Singer from manufacturing his machine, and his company was soon the world's largest sewing-machine producer. He patented numerous further improvements in the technology; he also pioneered the use of installment credit plans.

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Yiddish Yitskhok Bashevis Zinger

(born July 14?, 1904, Radzymin, Pol., Russian Empire—died July 24, 1991, Surfside, Fla., U.S.) Polish-born U.S. writer of novels, short stories, and essays. He received a traditional Jewish education at the Warsaw Rabbinical Seminary. After publishing his first novel, Satan in Goray (1932), he immigrated to the U.S. in 1935 and wrote for the Jewish Daily Forward, a Yiddish newspaper in New York. Though he continued to write mostly in Yiddish, he personally supervised the English translations. Depicting Jewish life in Poland and the U.S., his works are a rich blend of irony, wit, and wisdom, flavoured distinctively with the occult and the grotesque. His works include the novels The Family Moskat (1950), The Magician of Lublin (1960), and Enemies: A Love Story (1972; film, 1989); the story collections Gimpel the Fool (1957), The Spinoza of Market Street (1961), and A Crown of Feathers (1973, National Book Award); and the play Yentl the Yeshiva Boy (1974; film, 1983). He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1978.

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(born Jan. 12, 1856, Florence, Italy—died April 15, 1925, London, Eng.) U.S.-British painter. Son of wealthy American parents, he was born in Italy and grew up in Europe, not seeing the U.S. until 1876. Having studied painting in Paris, in 1879 he traveled to Madrid and Haarlem to study the works of Diego Velázquez and Frans Hals; his finest works were painted soon afterward. Best known is his portrait Madame X, which created a scandal at the 1884 Salon; critics found it eccentric and erotic, and the sitter's mother claimed it made her daughter a laughingstock. Discouraged, he moved permanently to London, though he often visited the U.S. Not until about 1887 did he achieve the acclaim he was to enjoy in the U.S. and England the rest of his life. His elegant portraits created an enduring image of high society of the Edwardian age; the best, painted with his slashing brushstrokes, capture his subjects in revealing, off-guard moments. He largely gave up portraiture in 1907 and devoted the rest of his life to murals and landscapes.

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(born Jan. 12, 1856, Florence, Italy—died April 15, 1925, London, Eng.) U.S.-British painter. Son of wealthy American parents, he was born in Italy and grew up in Europe, not seeing the U.S. until 1876. Having studied painting in Paris, in 1879 he traveled to Madrid and Haarlem to study the works of Diego Velázquez and Frans Hals; his finest works were painted soon afterward. Best known is his portrait Madame X, which created a scandal at the 1884 Salon; critics found it eccentric and erotic, and the sitter's mother claimed it made her daughter a laughingstock. Discouraged, he moved permanently to London, though he often visited the U.S. Not until about 1887 did he achieve the acclaim he was to enjoy in the U.S. and England the rest of his life. His elegant portraits created an enduring image of high society of the Edwardian age; the best, painted with his slashing brushstrokes, capture his subjects in revealing, off-guard moments. He largely gave up portraiture in 1907 and devoted the rest of his life to murals and landscapes.

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(born Oct. 27, 1811, Pittstown, N.Y., U.S.—died July 23, 1875, Torquay, Devon, Eng.) U.S. inventor and manufacturer. He became an apprentice machinist at 19. He patented a rock-drilling machine (1839) and a metal- and wood-carving machine (1849) before producing an improved version of Elias Howe's sewing machine in 1851 and soon thereafter founding I.M. Singer & Co. (see Singer Co.) to manufacture it. Howe's successful patent-infringement suit against him in 1854 did not prevent Singer from manufacturing his machine, and his company was soon the world's largest sewing-machine producer. He patented numerous further improvements in the technology; he also pioneered the use of installment credit plans.

Learn more about Singer, Isaac Merritt with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Yiddish Yitskhok Bashevis Zinger

(born July 14?, 1904, Radzymin, Pol., Russian Empire—died July 24, 1991, Surfside, Fla., U.S.) Polish-born U.S. writer of novels, short stories, and essays. He received a traditional Jewish education at the Warsaw Rabbinical Seminary. After publishing his first novel, Satan in Goray (1932), he immigrated to the U.S. in 1935 and wrote for the Jewish Daily Forward, a Yiddish newspaper in New York. Though he continued to write mostly in Yiddish, he personally supervised the English translations. Depicting Jewish life in Poland and the U.S., his works are a rich blend of irony, wit, and wisdom, flavoured distinctively with the occult and the grotesque. His works include the novels The Family Moskat (1950), The Magician of Lublin (1960), and Enemies: A Love Story (1972; film, 1989); the story collections Gimpel the Fool (1957), The Spinoza of Market Street (1961), and A Crown of Feathers (1973, National Book Award); and the play Yentl the Yeshiva Boy (1974; film, 1983). He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1978.

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