Yes, Sargent is great. But let's loosen up!
How about
David Park, the dean of the Bay Area Figurative movement in San Francisco. In the late '40s, Park, a student of Clifford Still, drove all his abstract pictures to the dump and began painting the figure. He inspired Richard Diebenkorn to paint figuratively, and headed a group that included Elmer Bischoff, Joan Brown, and others in the bay area. He died quite young of cancer. Google him for lots of images. Two good ones
here. And a nice short video
here.