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Encyclopedia > James McNeill Whistler
Self portrait (1872)
Self portrait (1872)

James Abbott McNeill Whistler (July 11, 1834July 17, 1903) was an American-born, British-based painter and etcher. Averse to sentimentality in painting, he was a leading proponent of the credo "art for art's sake". He took to signing his paintings with a stylized butterfly, possessing a long stinger for a tail.[1] The symbol was apt, for Whistler's art was characterized by a subtle delicacy, in contrast to his combative public persona. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (783x1000, 172 KB) James McNeill Whistler: Selfportrait File links The following pages link to this file: James McNeill Whistler Notable non-graduate alumni of West Point ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (783x1000, 172 KB) James McNeill Whistler: Selfportrait File links The following pages link to this file: James McNeill Whistler Notable non-graduate alumni of West Point ... Year 1872 (MDCCCLXXII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a leap year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... is the 192nd day of the year (193rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1834 (MDCCCXXXIV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... is the 198th day of the year (199th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1900 (MCMIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Friday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar. ... Art for arts sake is the usual English rendition of a French slogan, lart pour lart, which is credited to Théophile Gautier (1811–1872). ...

Contents

Early life

Whistler was born in Lowell, Massachusetts. The house in which he was born is now preserved as the Whistler House Museum of Art. His father, George Washington Whistler, was invited to Russia in 1842 to build a railroad, and James learned French in school while there. At the Ruskin trial (see below), Whistler claimed Russia as his birthplace: "I shall be born when and where I want, and I do not choose to be born in Lowell," he declared. He also attended the United States Military Academy at West Point for several years. His departure from this academy seems to have been due to a failure in a chemistry exam; as he himself put it later: "If silicon were a gas, I would have been a general one day." In European society, he later presented himself as an impoverished Southern aristocrat, although to what extent he truly sympathized with the Southern cause during the American Civil War remains unclear. Nickname: Motto: Art is the Handmaid of Human Good Location in Middlesex County in Massachusetts Coordinates: , Country State County Middlesex Settled 1653 Incorporated 1826 A city 1836 Government  - Type Manager-City council  - Mayor William F. Martin, Jr. ... The Whistler House Museum of Art, birthplace of James McNeill Whistler. ... George Washington Whistler was a prominent American railroad engineer in the first half of the 19th century. ... 1842 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... USMA redirects here. ... Combatants United States of America (Union) Confederate States of America (Confederacy) Commanders Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee Strength 2,200,000 1,064,000 Casualties 110,000 killed in action, 360,000 total dead, 275,200 wounded 93,000 killed in action, 258,000 total...


Career

Controversy

Arrangement in Grey and Black: The Artist's Mother (1871) popularly known as Whistler's Mother

Whistler is best known for the nearly monochromatic full-length figure titled Arrangement in Gray and Black: Portrait of the Artist's Mother, but usually referred to as Whistler's Mother. The painting was purchased by the French government and is housed in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. Download high resolution version (750x652, 73 KB)Whistlers Mother The two-dimensional work of art depicted in this image is in the public domain in the United States and in those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 100 years. ... Download high resolution version (750x652, 73 KB)Whistlers Mother The two-dimensional work of art depicted in this image is in the public domain in the United States and in those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 100 years. ... 1871 (MDCCCLXXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... For the Arrested Development episode, see Whistlers Mother (Arrested Development episode). ... For the Arrested Development episode, see Whistlers Mother (Arrested Development episode). ... Vincent Van Gogh: Starry Night Over the Rhone, painted in September 1888 at Arles Pierre-Auguste Renoir: Bal au moulin de la Galette, Montmartre, 1876 Édouard Manet: The Luncheon on the Grass, 1862-3 Gustave Courbet: The Artists Studio (detail), 1855 Paul Cézanne: Apples and Oranges, circa 1899... This article is about the capital of France. ...


Whistler's painting The White Girl (1862) caused controversy when exhibited in London and, later, at the Salon des Refusés in Paris. The painting epitomizes his theory that art should essentially be concerned with the beautiful arrangement of colors in harmony, not with the accurate portrayal of the natural world. Download high resolution version (393x800, 85 KB)Whistler, “Symphony in White, No. ... This article is about 1862 . ... The Salon des Refusés (Salon of the Rejected) was an art exhibition in Paris. ...


The Peacock Room

Detail of the Peacock Room
Detail of the Peacock Room

In the 1870s Whistler painted full length portraits of F.R. Leyland and his wife. Leyland subsequently commissioned the artist to decorate his dining room; the result was Whistler's Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Peacock Room, now in the Freer Gallery of Art. The room was designed and painted in a rich and unified palette of brilliant blue-greens with over-glazing and metallic leaf, and is considered a high example of the Anglo-Japanese style. Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 401 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (518 × 774 pixel, file size: 131 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 401 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (518 × 774 pixel, file size: 131 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Frederick Richards Leyland (30 September 1831 – 4 January 1892) was a Liverpool shipowner and art collector. ... The entrance to the Freer Gallery. ... The Anglo-Japanese style refers to a period approximately 1872 through 1900 when a new awareness of, and appreciation for Asian, particularly Japanese, design and culture impacted architecture, and the decorative arts of the United Kingdom. ...


Artist and patron quarreled so violently over the room and the proper compensation for the work that their relationship was terminated. The entire room was later purchased by industrialist and aesthete Charles Lang Freer, and installed in his collection. The published communications between Freer and Whistler reveal how Whistler's interest in those collecting his work in his native country (The United States) transitioned over many decades. Charles Lang Freer (1854–1919) was an American railroad-car manufacturer from Detroit, Michigan who gave to the United States his art collections and funds for a building to house them. ...


Ruskin trial

Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket (1874) by James McNeill Whistler
Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket (1874) by James McNeill Whistler

In 1878 Whistler sued the critic John Ruskin for libel after the critic condemned his painting Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket, writing: Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2024x2718, 437 KB) Description: Title: de: Notturno in Schwarz und Gold, Die fallende Rakete en: Night in Black and Gold, The falling Rocket Technique: de: Öl auf Leinwand Dimensions: de: 60,5 × 47 cm Country of origin: de: USA und Gro... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2024x2718, 437 KB) Description: Title: de: Notturno in Schwarz und Gold, Die fallende Rakete en: Night in Black and Gold, The falling Rocket Technique: de: Öl auf Leinwand Dimensions: de: 60,5 × 47 cm Country of origin: de: USA und Gro... 1878 (MDCCCLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Upper: Steel-plate engraving of Ruskin as a young man, made circa 1845, scanned from print made circa 1895. ...

For Mr. Whistler's own sake, no less than for the protection of the purchaser, Sir Coutts Lindsay [founder of the Grosvenor Gallery] ought not to have admitted works into the gallery in which the ill-educated conceit of the artist so nearly approached the aspect of willful imposture. I have seen, and heard, much of Cockney impudence before now; but never expected to hear a coxcomb ask two hundred guineas for flinging a pot of paint in the public's face

At the trial, the lawyer for John Ruskin, cross examined Whistler, "Mr Whistler, tell me, how long did it take you to paint Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket? "Half a day." replied Whistler. "So," continued the lawyer, "you are charging two hundred guineas for half a day's work?" "No." replied Whistler. "For the experience of a life time." The Grosvenor Gallery is an art gallery founded in London in 1877 by Sir Coutts Lindsay. ... Upper: Steel-plate engraving of Ruskin as a young man, made circa 1845, scanned from print made circa 1895. ...


Though suing for one thousand pounds plus costs, Whistler won a mere farthing in nominal damages. The cost of the case, together with huge debts from building his residence, "The White House" in Tite Street, Chelsea, (designed with E. W. Godwin, 1877–8) bankrupted him. A farthing (presumably from four thing) was a British coin worth one quarter of a penny. ... In law, damages refers to the money paid or awarded to a claimant (as it is known in the UK) or plaintiff (in the US) following their successful claim in a civil action. ... Oscar Wildes house at 34 Tite Street, now commemorated with a blue plaque. ... Statue of Thomas More on Cheyne Walk. ... Northampton Guild Hall, built 1861-4, displays Godwins Ruskinian Gothic style. ...


Other relationships

Symphony in White, No. 1: The White Girl (1862)
Symphony in White, No. 1: The White Girl (1862)

Friendly with various French artists, he illustrated the book Les Chauves-Souris with Antonio de La Gandara. He also knew the impressionists, notably Edouard Manet and Edgar Degas, and was a leading figure in the Aesthetic movement. As a young artist, he maintained a close friendship with Dante Gabriel Rossetti, a member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1451x2924, 2834 KB) File links The following pages link to this file: James McNeill Whistler ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1451x2924, 2834 KB) File links The following pages link to this file: James McNeill Whistler ... This article is about 1862 . ... Antonio de La Gandara (December 16, 1861 - June 30, 1917) was a painter, pastellist and draughtsman. ... This article is about the art movement. ... Édouard Manet (portrait by Nadar) Édouard Manet (January 23, 1832 - April 30, 1883) was a noted French painter. ... Edgar Degas (19 July 1834 – 27 September 1917), born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas (IPA ), was a French artist famous for his work in painting, sculpture, printmaking and drawing. ... The Aesthetic movement is a loosely defined movement in art and literature in later nineteenth century Britain. ... Dante Gabriel Rossetti (May 12, 1828 - April 10, 1882) was an English poet, painter and translator. ...


Whistler's lover and model for The White Girl, Joanna Hiffernan, also posed for Gustave Courbet. Historians speculate that Courbet's erotic painting of her as L'Origine du monde led to the breakup of the friendship between Whistler and Courbet. Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet (10 June 1819 – 31 December 1877) was a French painter who led the Realist movement in 19th-century French painting. ... L’Origine du monde (The Origin of the World) is an oil on canvas painted by Gustave Courbet in 1866. ...


In 1888, Whistler married Beatrix, the widow of E. W. Godwin. The five years of their marriage (before her death from cancer) were very happy. Northampton Guild Hall, built 1861-4, displays Godwins Ruskinian Gothic style. ...


He was well-known for his biting wit, especially in exchanges with his friend Oscar Wilde. Both were figures in the café society of Paris at the turn of the 20th century. It was once said that the young Oscar Wilde attended one of Whistler's dinners, and hearing his host make some brilliant remark, Wilde apparently said, "I wish I'd said that". Whistler riposted, "You will, Oscar, you will!" ‹ The template below (Proseline) is being considered for deletion. ... Café society was the collective description for the so-called beautiful people and bright young things who gathered in fashionable cafes and restaurants in Paris, London, Rome or New York, beginning in the late 1800s. ... This article is about the capital of France. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999...


Printmaking

A supremely gifted engraver, Whistler produced numerous etchings, lithographs, and dry-points. His lithographs, some drawn on stone, others drawn directly on "lithographie" paper, are perhaps half as numerous as his etchings. Some of the lithographs are of figures slightly draped; two or three of the very finest are of Thames subjects — including a "nocturne" at Limehouse; while others depict the Faubourg St Germain in Paris, and Georgian churches in Soho and Bloomsbury in London. The etchings include portraits of family, mistresses, and intimate street scenes in London and Venice. This article is about the River Thames in southern England. ... Cast-iron architecture in Greene Street SoHo is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan. ... Bloomsbury may refer to: Bloomsbury, London, an area in the centre of the city the Bloomsbury group, an English literary group active around from around 1905 to the start of World War II. the Bloomsbury Gang, a political grouping centred on the local landowner, John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford... For other uses, see Venice (disambiguation). ...


Recognition

Whistler achieved worldwide recognition during his lifetime. In 1884 he was elected an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. In 1892 he was made an officer of the Legion d'Honneur in France and he became a charter member and first president of the International Society of Sculptors, Painters, & Gravers in 1898. Year 1884 (MDCCCLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... 1892 (MDCCCXCII) was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... French Legion of Honor The Légion dhonneur (Legion of Honor ( AmE) or Legion of Honour ( ComE)) is an Order of Chivalry awarded by the President of France. ... Year 1898 (MDCCCXCVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ...


Legacy

Whistler's influence was significant, and has been the subject of museum exhibitions and publications. A trip to Venice in 1880 to create a series of etchings not only reinvigorated Whistler's finances, but also re-energized the way in which artists and photographers interpreted the city. His tonalism had a profound effect on many American artists, including John Singer Sargent and William Merritt Chase. Famous protégés included Oscar Wilde and impressionist painter Walter Sickert; Whistler fell out with both Wilde and Sickert. He successfully sued Sickert in the 1890s over a minor legal issue in France. When Wilde was publicly acknowledged to be a homosexual in 1895, Whistler openly mocked him. Another significant influence was upon Arthur Frank Mathews, whom Whistler met in Paris in the late 1890s. Mathews took Whistler's Tonalism to San Francisco, spawning a broad use of that technique among turn of the century California artists. Self Portrait, 1906, oil on canvas, 70 x 53 cm, Uffizi Gallery, Florence. ... William Merritt Chase (November 1, 1849 - October 25, 1916) was an American painter known as an exponent of Impressionism and as a teacher. ... ‹ The template below (Proseline) is being considered for deletion. ... See also Impressionist (entertainment): A girl with a watering can by Renoir, 1876 Impressionism was a 19th century art movement, which began as a private association of Paris-based artists who exhibited publicly in 1874. ... Walter Sickert Walter Richard Sickert (May 31, 1860 in Munich (Germany) – January 22, 1942) was an English impressionist painter. ... Year 1890 (MDCCCXC) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar). ... Since its coinage, the word homosexuality has acquired multiple meanings. ... Year 1895 (MDCCCXCV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Arthur Frank Mathews (1860-1945) was an American Tonalist painter who was one of the founders of the Arts and Crafts movement. ... Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket James McNeill Whistler ca. ...


Once, after he had suffered a heart attack, a Dutch newspaper incorrectly reported Whistler dead. He wrote to the newspaper, saying that reading his own obituary induced a "tender glow of health". Various notable people have had their death announced in error. ...


The operetta [[Patience]] pokes fun at the Aesthetic movement, and the lead character of Reginald Bunthorne is often identified as send-up of Oscar Wilde. In reality Bunthorne seems to be an amalgam of several prominent artists, writers and Aesthetic figures. Bunthorne wears a monocle and has prominent white streak in his dark hair, as did Whistler. Aesthetics (or esthetics) (from the Greek word αισθητική) is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty. ...


Whistler published two books which detailed his thoughts on life and art: Ten O'Clock Lecture (1885), and The Gentle Art of Making Enemies (1890). He was, in turn, the subject of a contemporaneous biography by a friend: the printmaker Joseph Pennell collaborated with his wife Elizabeth Robins Pennell to write The Life of James Mcneill Whistler, published in 1908. Joseph Pennell (July 4, 1857 – April 23, 1926) was an American artist and author. ... Elizabeth Robins Pennell (1855-1936) was an American author. ...


Whistler's belief that art should concentrate on the arrangement of colors led many critics to see his work as a precursor of abstract art.


He is buried at St Nicholas's Church in Chiswick, London. For other uses, see Chiswick (disambiguation). ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ...


Gallery

Footnotes

  1. ^ Mr. Whistler's Art, Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery [1]

References

  • Snodin, Michael and John Styles. Design & The Decorative Arts, Britain 1500–1900. V&A Publications: 2001. ISBN 1-85177-338-X.

See also

See also Western art, History of painting, History of art, Art history, Painting, Outline of painting history Jan Vermeer, Girl with a Pearl Earring, known as the Mona Lisa of the North 1665-1667 Édouard Manet, The Balcony 1868 The history of Western painting represents a continuous, though disrupted, tradition...

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
James McNeill Whistler
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Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Wikiquote is one of a family of wiki-based projects run by the Wikimedia Foundation, running on MediaWiki software. ... Image File history File links Commons-logo. ...

Further reading

  • James McNeil Whistler by Lisa N. Peters. ISBN 1-880908-70-0.
  • Whistler: A Retrospective by Robin Spencer. ISBN 0-517-05773-5
  • Whistler in Venice by Eric Denker. ISBN 1-85894-200-4
  • After Whistler: The Artist and his Influence on American Painting by Linda Merrill, et al. ISBN 0-300-10125-2

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain. Encyclopædia Britannica, the eleventh edition The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911) is perhaps the most famous edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ...


  Results from FactBites:
 
James McNeill Whistler Etchings James McNeill Whistler Biography (765 words)
James McNeill Whistler was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, in 1834.
Whistler spent five years of his childhood in St. Petersburg, Russia, where his father, George Washington Whistler (1800-1849), a railroad engineer, was employed in the building of the St. Petersburg-Moscow railroad.
Although Whistler won the case, compensation for his financial losses was not forthcoming and his already doubtful reputation was in tatters.
James McNeill Whistler (1677 words)
James McNeill Whistler, the painter of that most American of works--the very icon of American motherhood--"Arrangement in Grey and Black" (better known, of course, as "Whistler's Mother"), ironically left the United States at the age of twenty-one, never to return.
Although a contemporary of the Impressionists, Whistler walked his own path from the Realism of Courbet to an aesthetic approach of "Art for Art's Sake." As one of the first westerners to be influenced by the artistic tradition of Japan, Whistler developed an aesthetic response to living.
Whistler directed the model to hang her arms listlessly and maintain an expressionless face to ensure the exclusion of narrative.
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