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    Whistler
    Whistler
    Whistler
    Ebook136 pages57 minutes

    Whistler

    By Jp. A. Calosse

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    About this ebook

    Whistler suddenly shot to fame like a meteor at a crucial moment in the history of art, a field in which he was a pioneer. Like the impressionists, with whom he sided, he wanted to impose his own ideas. Whistler’s work can be divided into four periods. The first may be called a period of research in which he was influenced by the Realism of Gustave Courbet and by Japanese art. Whistler then discovered his own originality in the Nocturnes and the Cremorne Gardens series, thereby coming into conflict with the academics who wanted a work of art to tell a story. When he painted the portrait of his mother, Whistler entitled it Arrangement in Grey and Black and this is symbolic of his aesthetic theories. When painting the Cremorne Pleasure Gardens it was not to depict identifiable figures, as did Renoir in his work on similar themes, but to capture an atmosphere. He loved the mists that hovered over the banks of the Thames, the pale light, and the factory chimneys which at night turned into magical minarets. Night redrew landscapes, effacing the details. This was the period in which he became an adventurer in art; his work, which verged on abstraction, shocked his contemporaries. The third period is dominated by the full-length portraits that brought him his fame. He was able to imbue this traditional genre with his profound originality. He tried to capture part of the souls of his models and placed the characters in their natural habitats. This gave his models a strange presence so that they seem about to walk out of the picture to physically encounter the viewer. By extracting the poetic substance from individuals he created portraits described as “mediums” by his contemporaries, and which were the inspiration for Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. Towards the end of his life, the artist began painting landscapes and portraits in the classical tradition, strongly influenced by Velázquez. Whistler proved to be extremely rigorous in ensuring his paintings coincided with his theories. He never hesitated in crossing swords with the most famous art theoreticians of his day. His personality, his outbursts, and his elegance were a perfect focus for curiosity and admiration. He was a close friend of Stéphane Mallarmé, and admired by Marcel Proust, who rendered homage to him in A La Recherche du Temps Perdu. He was also a provocative dandy, a prickly socialite, a demanding artist, and a daring innovator.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherParkstone International
    Release dateDec 22, 2011
    ISBN9781781606063
    Whistler

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      Book preview

      Whistler - Jp. A. Calosse

      Author: Jp. A. Calosse

      Cover: Julien Depaulis

      ISBN 978-1-78160-606-3

      © Confidential Concepts, worldwide, USA

      © Parkstone Press International, New York, USA

      All rights reserved. No part of this may be reproduced or adapted without the permission of the copyright holder, throughout the world.

      Unless otherwise specified, copyright on the works reproduced lies with the respective photographers. Despite intensive research, it has not always been possible to establish copyright ownership. Where this is the case, we would appreciate notification.

      Jp. A. Calosse

      James McNeill

      Whistler

      TABLE OF CONTENT

      Born Under a Wandering Star (1834-1863)

      Japanese Influence, The Mists of Valparaiso, Nocturnes on the Thames and Cremorne Gardens (1863-1874)

      Harmony of Gold and Anger, The Peacock Room, The Ruskin Trial (1872-1880)

      The Portraits

      Marriage, Honors, The Gentle Art of Making Enemies (1888-1890)

      Handsome Praise (1897-1903)

      Biography

      LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

      1. James A. McNeill Whistler,

      after a drypoint by Paul-César Helleu.

      Whistler suddenly shot to fame like a meteor at a crucial moment in the history of art, a field in which he was a pioneer. Like the Impressionists, with whom he sided, he wanted to impose his own ideas. Whistler's work can be divided into four periods. The first was a research period in which the artist was influenced by the realism of Gustave Courbet and by Japanese art.

      Whistler then discovered his own originality in the Nocturnes and the Cremorne Gardens series, thereby coming into conflict with the academics who wanted a work of art to tell a story. When he painted the portrait of his mother, Whistler entitled it Arrangement in Gray and Black and this is symbolic of his aesthetic theories. When painting the Cremorne Pleasure Gardens it was not to depict identifiable figures, as did Renoir in his work on similar themes, but to capture an atmosphere. He loved the mists that hovered over the banks of the Thames, the pale lights, the factory chimneys which at night turned into magical minarets. Night redrew landscapes, effacing the details. This was the period in which he became a precursor and adventurer in art; his work, which verged on abstraction, shocked his contemporaries.

      The third period is dominated by the full-length portraits which brought him his fame. He was able to imbue this traditional genre with his profound originality. He tried to capture part of the souls of his models and placed the characters in their natural habitat. This gave his models a strange presence so that they seem about to walk out of the picture to come amongst us. By extracting the poetic substance from individuals he created portraits described as mediums by his contemporaries, and which were the inspiration for Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray.

      Toward the end of his life, the artist began painting landscapes and portraits in the classical tradition, strongly influenced by Velasquez. Whistler proved to be extremely rigorous in constantly ensuring that his paintings coincided with his theories. He never hesitated in crossing swords with the most famous art theoreticians of his day.

      His personality, his outbursts, and his elegance were a perfect focus for curiosity and admiration. A close friend of Stéphane Mallarmé, admired by Marcel Proust who rendered homage to him in A La Recherche du Temps Perdu, a provocative dandy, a prickly socialite, a demanding artist, he was a daring innovator.

      2. Wapping. 1860-1864.

      28 x 39 in. (71.1 x 101.6 cm). Signed and

      dated

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