Curry James Mcneill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art
"To say to the painter that Nature is to be taken every bit she is, is to say to the actor that he may sit down on the piano."
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"An artist is not paid for his labor but for his vision."
"If the man who paints but the tree, or blossom, or other surface he sees before him were an artist, the king of artists would be the photographer. It is for the artist to do something beyond this."
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"A picture is finished when all trace of the ways used to bring about the end has disappeared."
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"Nature contains the elements, in color and form, of all pictures, as the keyboard contains the notes of all music. Merely the artist is born to pick and choose...that the event may exist beautiful - every bit the musician gathers his notes, and forms his chords, until he brings forth from chaos glorious harmony..."
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"Fine art should exist contained of all clap-trap--should stand alone, and entreatment to the creative sense of middle or ear, without confounding this with emotions entirely foreign to it, equally devotion, pity, dear, patriotism, and the like. All these have no kind of concern with it; and that is why I insist on calling my works 'arrangements' and 'harmonies.'"
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"By using the word 'Nocturne' .. I wished to indicate an artistic interest alone, divesting the picture of whatsoever outside anecdotal interest which might have been otherwise attached to information technology. A nocturne is an organization of line, form, and colour first."
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"One was Whistler in public - the fop, the cynic, the brilliant, brassy, vain and careless idler; the other was Whistler of the studio -- the earnest, tireless, somber worker, a very slave to his fine art, a biting foe to all pretense and sham, an embodiment of simplicity well-nigh to the point of diffidence, an incarnation of earnestness and sincerity of purpose."
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Summary of James Abbott McNeill Whistler
One of the most significant figures in modern art and a forerunner of the Post-Impressionist movement, James Abbott McNeill Whistler is celebrated for his innovative painting style and eccentric personality. He was bold and self-bodacious, and chop-chop developed a reputation for his verbal and legal retaliations against art critics, dealers, and artists who insulted his piece of work. His paintings, etchings, and pastels epitomize the modern penchant for creating "art for art'due south sake," an axiom celebrated past Whistler and others in the Artful movement. They as well represent i of the earliest shifts from traditional representational art to brainchild that is at the eye of much of modern art.
Accomplishments
- Whistler abandoned Gustave Courbet's Realism and adult his own signature style in which, much similar Édouard Manet at the time, he began exploring the possibilities and limitations of paint. By limiting his color palette and tonal contrast while skewing perspective, Whistler showcased a new compositional approach that emphasized the apartment, abstract quality of the painting.
- Whistler titled (or re-titled) his works using terms such as "symphony," "arrangement," and "nocturne" to suggest a correlation betwixt musical notes and variations in color tone. These more abstract titles served to focus the viewer's attention on the artist's manipulation of paint, rather than the actual field of study thing depicted.
- Whistler was a devoted advocate of the Artful movement in his promotion of the "art for art's sake" mentality through his writings such equally The Gentle Art of Making Enemies (1892), and he also helped cultivate new concepts of beauty by using unconventional models reminiscent of Pre-Raphaelite figures and, near notably, by incorporating the Japanese aesthetic into his imaginative compositions.
- Japanese art deeply fascinated many early modernistic artists living in Paris. Only because Whistler was among the first American artists working in England to incorporate delicate oriental fabric patterns and props into his work, he is credited with spearheading what has been called the Anglo-Japanese style in fine art. Works such The Peacock Room were integral to introducing the Japanese aesthetic to England and America.
- Just equally Courbet's Pavilion of Realism questioned the authorisation of the French Salon, Whistler's libel adapt confronting John Ruskin as well as other defensive measures against fine art critics who did not share his vision inspired mod artists, such as the Impressionists, to look beyond traditional art institutions when seeking exhibition space or support for their work.
Biography of James Abbott McNeill Whistler
James Abbott McNeill Whistler was the oldest son of engineer George Washington Whistler and his devoutly Episcopalian second wife Anna McNeill. Every bit a child Whistler was temperamental and decumbent to mood swings. His parents quickly discovered that cartoon soothed him and so they encouraged his creative inclinations. When in 1842 Whistler's father was recruited past Tsar Nicholas I to design a railroad, James moved with his father, mother, and younger brother William (afterwards a surgeon for the Confederate regular army) to St. petersburg in Russia. There, the precocious youth insisted on showing his drawings to Sir William Allan, a Scottish painter hired by the Tsar to create a portrait of Peter the Great. Allan encouraged the youth to cultivate his talents and in 1845, at age xi, Whistler was enrolled in the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts. This, Whistler'due south kickoff formal art instruction, ended simply 4 years afterward when his male parent died from cholera and the family unit returned to the Usa, settling in Pomfret, Connecticut.
Important Art by James Abbott McNeill Whistler
Progression of Fine art
1862
Symphony in White, No.1: The White Daughter
Originally titled The White Girl, this painting depicts a young woman, Whistler's mistress and model Joanna Hiffernan, with long, flowing cherry-red hair and wearing a uncomplicated white cambric clothes. She stands on a similarly colored bearskin carpeting as she grasps a white flower at her side, her afar gaze lending her a doll-like quality. Indeed, Whistler treats her every bit a toy or pawn of sorts in that that artist is here less concerned with the accuracy of portraiture as he is with using the canvas as a means of exploring tonal variations. That Whistler later re-titled the painting Symphony in White, No.one: The White Girl to draw attending to the varying white tones of the work and propose a comparison betwixt them and music notes, clarifies this objective.
The painting bears the distinction of being the get-go work to truly achieve fame for the artist. Rejected by London's Royal Academy and the French University'southward Salon for its inappropriate field of study matter that seemed to suggest the loss of innocence, the painting appeared in the Salon des Refusés in 1863, where it was greatly admired by Édouard Manet, Gustave Courbet, and Charles Baudelaire, among others. Symphony in White denotes Whistler's shift from mimicking Courbet's realism to developing his own signature abstract mode in which he focused on using subtle color variations, texture, and the careful balancing of forms or shapes to convey a mood that would appeal to the senses.
Oil on canvas - The National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
1865
Harmony in Blue and Silver: Trouville
In this work, i of at least five paintings created by Whistler in Trouville, a solitary effigy stands on a beach, looking out beyond the wide expanse of water before him. The figure's gaze directs us toward two sailboats that appear right of center along the high horizon line. The bearded man depicted on shore is the artist's friend and Realist painter Gustave Courbet, who accompanied Whistler to Trouville in 1865 when this painting was created. Originally titled Courbet - on Sea Shore, Whistler afterward inverse the title to reflect his growing involvement in associating his painted canvases with musical compositions. The figure and the landscape in which he resides almost disappear into the washes of colour Whistler delicately applied through sweeping brushstrokes of thinned paint.
The painting pays tribute to Courbet, who deeply influenced Whistler's early artistic development, and yet information technology too signals Whistler'due south move away from Courbet'due south realism toward Aestheticism. Trouville has no clear meaning or moral message. Instead, information technology exemplifies Whistler's experimentation with color tones and methods of applying paint to the sail surface so as to promote visual or sensual stimulation. This notion that colour harmonies, mood, and beauty of form are more of import than the subject area thing itself was at the heart of "art for art's sake," the proud motto of the Aesthetic movement, for which Whistler became a leading proponent. The soft colors and dreamy, atmospheric quality created through Whistler's use of broad, sweeping brushstrokes also marks this painting as an important precursor to the American Tonalist move of the 1880s.
Oil on sail - Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, Massachusetts
1871
System in Greyness and Blackness No. ane: Portrait of the Artist'due south Mother
Otherwise known as Portrait of the Artist's Mother, Anna McNeill Whistler is clothed in a long black dress with a simple white lace cap, seated in profile, steadily gazing ahead, and belongings a white handkerchief in her lap. On the wall behind her appears a reproduction of Whistler'south View of the Thames. The Japanese-inspired floral patterning on the curtain hanging at left denotes the artist's well known interest in the Japanese aesthetic. Whistler'south stylized butterfly signature is simply visible at the height correct corner of this curtain. The organisation of forms appears elementary when in fact there is a careful balancing of shapes at play. For example, the rectangular shapes of the moving-picture show on the wall, curtain at left, and the floor assist stabilize the sitter'due south form.
A religiously devout woman, Anna McNeill Whistler had been living with her son in his London home for seven years when he asked her to pose for him after a model canceled a scheduled session. At 67 old, Whistler'southward mother found it difficult to stand for extended periods of time and and so the creative person changed the pose to a seated position for her comfort.
In 1891 the painting became the first American piece of work to exist purchased by the French regime. This elevated Whistler's reputation and aided him in securing wealthy American patrons. Considered an iconic painting, Portrait of the Creative person'southward Mother is one of a very few, including Edvard Munch's The Scream and Grant Wood's American Gothic, that can exist appreciated past the art-viewing elite while also resonating with the masses with minimal explanation required. It is overwhelmingly interpreted as symbolic of motherhood, mourning (due to the colors used), or American Puritan Stoicism (considering of the sitter's dress). This particular image has been the source inspiration for many other paintings, including Albert Herter's Portrait of Bessie (1892) and Henry Ossawa Tanner's portrait of his own female parent. Whistler's painting has since developed a considerable presence in pop civilisation, having been referenced in numerous movies, cartoons, and advertisements.
Oil on sail - Musée d'Orsay, Paris
c.1872-75
Nocturne: Bluish and Gilt - Old Battersea Bridge
The fifth in Whistler's Nocturnes series that included countless etching, pastels, and paintings created during the 1870s, Nocturne: Bluish and Gold - Old Battersea Bridge offers a night view of London's Thames River. A pier of Battersea Bridge looms in the foreground of the painting with the tower of Chelsea Old Church and the newly built Albert Bridge visible in the altitude. Beyond the bridge, fireworks announced as flecks of color in the sky. To create these paintings Whistler traveled past gunkhole along the river in the early evening, sketching as he went. He relied on his memory and those rough sketches to create these thinly painted, atmospheric scenes of tranquillity tranquility.
The creative person's adoration for the Japanese artful is apparent in the compositional similarities the painting shares with Nether the Mannen Span at Fukagawa (c. 1830-34) by Katsushika Hokusai, one of Whistler's favorite Ukiyo-e painters. This work is considered the "nearly Japanese" of Whistler's "nocturnes" considering of its simplified, silhouetted forms that created a two-dimensional flattening of the composition. Sometime Battersea Bridge was produced in Whistler's libel arrange against John Ruskin every bit show of the artist's successful rendering of an artful impression or memory of a fleeting moment. Every bit such, Whistler argued, the bailiwick itself becomes inconsequential and the relationship between colour and form paramount.
Given the title "nocturne" after wealthy shipping magnate and patron Frederick Leyland described it as such, Sometime Battersea Bridge features variations of blues tinged with gold. Whistler'southward penchant for blurring forms and emphasizing subtle tonal differences, makes his "nocturnes" some of the earliest experiments in brainchild. They intrigued his Impressionist friends concerned with exploring the relationship between different colors and influenced modern French composer Claude Debussy who, in 1899, created an orchestral composition titled Iii Nocturnes.
Oil paint on canvas - Collection of the Tate, United Kingdom
1875
Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket
The last of Whistler's nocturnes and ane of only 6 depicting London's Cremorne Gardens, Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket (1875) presents an explosion of fireworks in the night sky. Rather than offer a physical image, the creative person conveys the furnishings of fireworks over the river. In so doing, he successfully captures a sense of excitement and celebration. Painted loosely with sweeping brushstrokes of night dejection and greens interrupted by minor bursts of bright color, the composition exemplifies the Aesthetic principle "fine art for art's sake" past conveying what Whistler described as a "dreamy, pensive mood," rather than a articulate narrative.
Although it is now considered one of the most important examples of Whistler's brainchild, The Falling Rocket was not well received when outset exhibited. Some viewers questioned the merit of the seemingly convoluted subject affair; while others disliked what they considered to be his reckless and careless painting technique. When John Ruskin produced a negative review of this painting in 1877, Whistler sued the art critic for libel, submitting this canvas, along with other of his nocturne paintings, every bit evidence. Ruskin'south condemnation of the artist's work as representative of "the modernistic school" was in fact accurate. Whistler'due south method of flicking paint at the canvas to create the fireworks in The Falling Rocket was appropriated by later modern artists, most notably Jackson Pollock.
Oil on panel - The Detroit Found of Arts, Detroit, Michigan
1876-77
Harmony in Blueish and Gold: The Peacock Room
Although best known for his paintings, Whistler received a request from his patron Frederick Leyland to consult on builder Thomas Jeckyll'southward interior blueprint for the dining room in Leyland'due south London dwelling house. The room was specifically designed to showcase Leyland'southward impressive collection of Chinese porcelain and an early commission by Whistler, The Princess from the Land of Porcelain (1863-64), which held a place of honor over the mantle. Whistler'south modifications were more than all-encompassing than anticipated by Leyland and the room came to exist known equally: Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Peacock Room.
Whistler chose to make his Japanese-inspired painting the theme for the room, adorning moldings and wainscoting with a decorative blueprint and reworking the leather wall hangings with a chip of yellow paint to raise the colors in his painting. These slight alterations were canonical past Leyland, simply once the shipping magnate left for Liverpool, Whistler made many more, including painting the 16th-century Cordoba leather wall coverings Prussian blue and applying metal gold leaf to shelving. These later enhancements were fabricated without Leyland's approval and provoked a disagreement between artist and patron over adequate compensation for the project. Whistler expressed his frustration with Leyland by creating a wall landscape depicting ii fighting peacocks, believed to represent the artist and patron. Whistler never saw the room once again and his relationship with Leyland never recovered.
The elaborately busy interior speaks to Whistler's deep understanding of the Japanese aesthetic, while also establishing the artist as a forerunner of the Art Nouveau style that would develop simply a few decades later. Celebrated as a quintessential example of the Anglo-Japanese aesthetic, The Peacock Room absorbed after Abstract Expressionist painter, such as Robert Motherwell and David Smith, who sought to amend understand the Eastern concept of "humanity's oneness with universal nature." Through the fighting peacock mural titled Art and Money, Whistler's creation as well becomes significant as a visual testament to the artist's fierce passion for defending his piece of work and creative process, oft to the detriment of his relationship with patrons and critics.
Oil, paint and gold leaf on canvas, leather, and wood - Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC
1880
Piddling Venice
Measuring less than a human foot in height and width, Little Venice (1880) is i of more than than fifty etchings Whistler created depicting the city during his 14 month stay in Italy, in 1879. He had already established his reputation as a master painter when these etchings were exhibited in London. They were well received and demonstrated his proficiency in multiple artistic media. Here, Whistler depicts the natural elements of water and air dominating the comparably diminutive urban expanse. The carving echoes his modernist approach to painting with regards to his use of loose, expressive lines to capture the ethereal dazzler, rather than a topographical rendering, of the city.
Petty Venice, which appeared as part of a series of etchings collectively titled "Beginning Venice Fix" in the Fine Art Society's exhibition in London in 1880, helped Whistler rebuild his reputation post-obit the Ruskin libel suit. The creative person chose to avert tourist attractions, preferring instead to capture the city's small canals and common quarters - the "Venice of the Venetians." In then doing, Whistler elevated the artistic value of these sights and helped constitute a new iconography of the city. Whistler's experimentation with inks, tone, and paper, also as his economical utilize of line and habit of wiping the etched plate to create an atmospheric event are techniques that later modern artists, such as Mortimer Menpes and John Marin, adopted in their own work.
Carving - The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York
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Content compiled and written by The Art Story Contributors
Edited and revised, with Summary and Accomplishments added past Sandy McCain
"James Abbott McNeill Whistler Artist Overview and Analysis". [Internet]. . TheArtStory.org
Content compiled and written by The Art Story Contributors
Edited and revised, with Summary and Accomplishments added by Sandy McCain
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First published on 22 Mar 2016. Updated and modified regularly
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Source: https://www.theartstory.org/artist/whistler-james-abbott-mcneill/
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