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Nocturne: Blue And Silver Chelsea
(1871)
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Biography
Born in 1834 in Massachusetts, Whistler's father George Washington Whistler
was an engineer and his mother Anna Matilda, a strict and devout housewife.
In 1843 the family moved to St Petersburg, where George was employed to
work on the railways. The young Whistler was prone to moody spells and
fits of temper and his mother noticed the only thing that would calm the
child was drawing. He showed an early interest
in art, so that in 1845, at the age of 11, he enrolled in the Imperial
Academy of Fine Arts in St Petersburg. It was here that he met the well
known Scottish artist Sir William Allan who was to remark to Whistler's
mother that your 'your little boy has uncommon genius'.
In 1847 Whistler's mother moved the family
temporarily to London, while her husband remained in Russia. Young Whistler
continued to study art, attending exhibitions and lectures in fine
art painting and photography. He read art books and it became clear
that he had found his chosen career. At the age of 15, he wrote to his
father to tell him of his intending career with the hope he would not
object. His father however died of cholera shortly after. The family returned
to the hometown of his mother in Connecticut. Money was short and times
were difficult.
Shortly after, Whistler was sent to West
Point Academy, where his father had once taught drawing and other relatives
had attended. It was because of this, and despite Whistler's bad eyesight
and not particularly robust health, that he was admitted. He remained
for three years but failed his final exams. It appears he was more interested
in drawing caricatures than studying the art of warfare. He did however
learn the skill of drafting maps, which resulted in his first job: to
draft the entire US coast for military purposes. After it was discovered
that he was more fond of drawing mermaids than seacoasts, he was transferred
to the printmaking department. He only
lasted in this position a few months but it proved valuable training in
etching.
Training
Whistler moved to Paris in 1855, rented a studio in the Latin Quarter
and took to the bohemian lifestyle easily. He studied at the Ecole Imperiale
and the atelier of Charles Gabriel. Gabriel was a great advocate of Ingres,
and was to impress the importance of line over colour
and that black was the fundamental colour of tonal harmony. Impressionism
would turn this theory on it's ear less than 20 years later, when it banned
the use of brown and black as unnatural on a palette. Whistler spent a
lot of time studying and copying works at the Louvre and then selling
those copies to make some money. The subtleties of Velazquez's paintings
in the Louvre and for the flattened forms of Japanese prints were also
to become important influences on his developing style.
Early Works
Whistler's first exhibited painting was La Mere Gerard (1858),
which received some praise. He moved to London in 1859 and painted his
next work, At the Piano, the same year. It was a portrait of his
niece and her mother and clearly displayed a promising talent. The painting
is unsentimental and effectively uses black and white to contrast mother
and daughter. It was displayed at the Royal Academy the following year.
A year later he produced a set of etchings of the Thames, which displayed
early Impressionist tendencies, and began to establish his technique of
tonal harmony, limiting his palette to certain colours. After returning
to Paris for a brief period, Whistler produced one of his first famous
works - Symphony in White, No. 1: The White Girl (1862) now at
The National Gallery of Art, Washington DC. The portrait is of his mistress
and manager Joanna Hiffernan. Critics saw the girl in a white dress, holding
a fading flower as an elegy for lost innocence. Whistler claims it was
simply a study in white. Some even considered it a study in the Pre-Raphaelite
manner. The work was rejected by the Royal Academy but accepted by the
Salon des Refusés in 1863.
Mature Style
In 1866 Whistler visited Chile, an unusual journey to make at the time,
one the artist's declared he did for political reasons. However, whatever
the reason, as a result of his trip, he returned with several paintings
which he called 'moonlights', but later renamed to 'nocturnes'. The works
were delicate night scenes of a harbour bathed in blues and light greens.
He continued to paint many more nocturnes
for the next 10 years, including Nocturne: Blue and Gold - Old Battersea
Bridge (c.1872–5) and Falling rocket: Nocturne in Black and
Gold (1875). His changing style confused his contemporaries. On the
unveiling of his Falling Rocket nocturne - a painting in which the subject
matter dissolves almost entirely into a complex interplay of colour and
form - it was criticised heavily by the English critic John Ruskin who
accused the artist of flinging 'a pot of paint...in the public's face'.
Whistler sued for libel and resulting court case has become quite famous.
Whistler's wit and responses have gone down in history. Asked how long
it had taken him to 'knock off' the painting, he replied 'two days'. He
was then asked if it was for 2 days he charged 200 guineas. He replied:
'No. I ask it for the knowledge of a lifetime'. Whistler won the case,
but the legal costs left him bankrupt.
Portraits
Whistler was not as successful a portraitist as his contemporary American
artist, John Singer Sargent. Primarily,
it was because he refused to flatter his sitter and preferred to show
it how it is. His most famous portrait is that of his mother, painted
in 1862. According to a letter at the time, a famous sitter failed to
appear so he turned to his mother and offered to do her portrait instead.
Initially she was standing, but this became too tiring, so he had her
sit instead. The resulting pose, side view, hands neatly on nap is now
a famous pose. The limited use of colour gave the painting a harmony and
quiet dignity. Right from the start the painting has evoked mixed reactions
from ridicule to reverence. Gradually over time it has been accepted as
a universal icon of motherhood and in 1934 the US issued a postage stamp
with a reproduction of the work. Other important portraits by Whistler
include Thomas Carlyle, historian (1873), Cicely Alexander,
daughter of a London banker (1873), Lady Meux, socialite (1882)
and F.R. and Elinor Leyland. The Leylands later commissioned the
artist to paint a now-famous mural in their house, the Peacock Room. His
finished work anticipated a great deal of the 1890s Art Nouveau designs
and was much admired by Aubrey Beardsley.
Later Years
In 1892, after a luke-warm reception for a solo-exhibition in London,
featuring mainly his nocturnes, Whistler moved to Paris with his new wife
Trixie Godwin (a former pupil). He set himself up in a large studio and
made friends with other well-known painters like Claude
Monet and Henri Toulouse-Lautrec
and sculptors such as Auguste
Rodin. In the final seven years of his life, Whistler's style became
more and more minimalist. He died in 1903. After his death, his prolific
and sensitive paintings found a more appreciate audience. He was a pioneer
of simplification, clearing out Victorian clutter, expounding the use
of simple, plain colours. He left behind over 500 paintings, as well as
countless etchings, watercolours,
pastel drawings, and lithographs.
During his lifetime he influenced a generation of artists in the Realist,
Impressionist and Symbolist schools.
In some ways, Whistler's discreet, subtle
painting was the complete antithesis of his voluble, ostentatious personality.
Except it was founded on a radical doctrine: that art should exist for
its own sake rather than to propagate a moral or social idea. "Art
should be independent of all claptrap - should stand alone, and appeal
to the artistic sense of eye or ear." He remains one of the finest
painters of the modern art era.
Other Important Paintings
- Harmony in Green and Rose: The Music Room
(1860), Freer Gallery of Art, Washington
- Wapping (1861), National Gallery of Art, Washington
- Symphony in White No.2: The Little White Girl (1864), Tate Gallery,
London
- Crepuscule in Flesh Colour and Green: Valparaiso (1866), Tate Gallery,
London
- Variations in Flesh Colour and Green: The Balcony (1867), Freer Gallery,
Washington
- Harmony in Flesh Colour and Red (1869), Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
- Nocturne in Blue and Green: Chelsea (1871), Tate Gallery, London
Paintings by James Abbott McNeill Whistler
can be seen in many of the best art museums
throughout the world, like the Frick
Collection New York.
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