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James Abbott McNeill Whistler

American art • Wikipedia: James Abbott McNeill Whistler
986 artworks found

James Abbott McNeill Whistler was an American artist who worked mainly in the United Kingdom. His birthplace in Massachusetts is now a museum dedicated to him. His father was a talented train driver and the family moved to St. Petersburg in 1842, because of a good job offer. As a child, Whistler struggled with violent episodes, fits of illness, and periods of extreme fatigue - drawing helped him stay alert. He received private art lessons and attended the Russian Academy of Arts at the age of eleven. In 1844 he met the Scottish painter Sir William Allan, who called him a "rare genius". His brother-in-law, surgeon and painter Sir Francis Seymour Haden, spurred him on to a career in painting and gave him his first set of watercolours. After the death of his father, the family returned to the United States and Whistler applied to the United States Military Academy, where he became more known for his sarcastic comments and aversion to authority. However, it was there that he learned how to map, which helped him get his first job: pattern draftsman for military and maritime purposes.

In 1855 he travelled to Paris and studied there briefly, but he preferred to study on his own and copy works of art in the Louvre. There he also met the French painter Henri Henri Fantin-Latour, who in turn introduced him to Gustave Courbet, leader of the realism movement, and his circle. Among them were Charles Baudelaire, whose theories strongly influenced Whistler, and Théophile Gautier, who inspired him to see music in art. Many of his works bear names like "arrangements", "harmonies" and "nocturnes". Among his most famous works is "Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1", better known as "Whistler's Mother", which is exhibited at the Louvre Abu Dhabi. At the time, the work was received negatively because of its lack of sentimentality. Whistler is generally considered to be averse to sentimentality and moral innuendo in paintings; he is an advocate of "art for art's sake. The artist was also particularly interested in Asian art, he studied ceramics and this is how his characteristic signature, reminiscent of a butterfly, came about.

After the death of his mother in 1881, he took his maiden name as his middle name. He became a member, and later president, of the Society of British Artists, even Queen Victoria expressed her admiration for the artist's illustrations. He made further important friendships with Monet, Rodin and Toulouse-Lautrec. All in all, he counts as the inspiration of several generations of artists in Europe and the USA and had a lively exchange with impressionists, realists and symbolists. © Meisterdrucke

Arrangement in Grey and Black No.1 (Portrait of the Artists Mo...

James Abbott McNeill Whistler

1871 | Oil on canvas

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Arrangement in Grey and Black No.1 (Portrait of the Artists Mo...

James Abbott McNeill Whistler

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James Abbott McNeill Whistler