Whistler, James

New England (1834-1842)

James Whistler was born in Lowell , Massachusetts on July 11, 1834 ^{[6] [7] [8]} , becoming the first child of Anna Whistler , a housewife, and George Washington Whistler , a railway engineer. James lived the first three years of his life in a modest house number 243 on Worten Street, in the city of Lowell ^[9] , which now houses the Whistler Museum of Art ^[10] . But, once, during a lawsuit against the philosopher Ruskin, he said that his birthplace is St. Petersburg in Russia : “I should have been born whenever and wherever I wanted, and I would not have chosen Lowell” ^[11] .

In 1837, the family moved from Lowell to Stonington in Connecticut , where James's father worked on the Stonington Railroad . It was a difficult period for the family - three children died in infancy ^[12] . In 1839, the Whistlers financial situation improved significantly when the family father received the position of chief engineer of the Boston-Albany railway ^[13] . The family built a house in Springfield (now the Museum of the History of Wood is open in the house), where she lived before leaving for Russia ^[14] . Moving to St. Petersburg took place in the winter of 1842/1843, after Emperor Nicholas I , learning about the inventiveness of George Whistler in designing the Boston and Albany railways, offered him the position of engineer of the Nikolaev railway ^[15] .

As a child, James Whistler was a moody child. His parents found that drawing fascinated him and helped to focus his attention ^[16] . In later years, he used his mother’s connection with the American South, representing himself as the impoverished southern aristocrat ^{[17] [18] [19]} .

Russia and England (1842-1849)

After moving to Russia in 1842, the young Whistler took private painting lessons, including from the artist Alexander Koritsky , and then, at the age of 11, he entered the Imperial Academy of Arts ^{[20] [21]} . In 1844, the work of James was seen by the famous artist William Allan , who came to Russia, having received an order to draw the life story of Peter the Great . Whistler’s mother noted in her diary: “The great artist said:“ Your boy has an extraordinary genius, but do not force him to go beyond his inclinations ”” ^[22] .

In 1847-1848, the family spent some time in London with relatives, while his father worked in Russia. Whistler's son-in-law, Francis Hayden , a doctor who was also an artist, supported his interest in art and photography. Hayden drove James to meetings with collectors, to lectures on art and gave him a set of watercolor paint. Young Whistler was already planning a career as an artist - he began to collect books on art and learn the methods of other artists. When in 1848 the artist William Boksall painted his portrait, Whistler exclaimed that the portrait is “very beautiful and bright” ^[23] .

At the age of 15, James became stronger in his desire to become an artist and in a letter informed his father about it: “I hope, dear father, you will not mind my choice” ^[24] . However, in 1849, at the age of 49, George Washington Whistler died of cholera in St. Petersburg, and the family returned to his mother’s hometown - Pomflet ( Connecticut ). This influenced, albeit temporarily, Whistler's career plans. The family began to live very modestly, while in St. Petersburg there was always a servant in the house, now James and his brothers were forced to do without her. The family needed money and the mother wanted James to choose a more stable profession than the profession of an artist ^[25] .

Studying at the United States Military Academy (1849-1854)

The mother, hoping that her son would become a clergyman , sent him to Christ Church Hall School ^[26] , in which Whistler became famous among classmates for drawing cartoons ^[27] . But it soon became clear that his religious career did not suit him, so he applied to the US Military Academy at West Point, where his father taught drawing, and some relatives were graduates of it ^[28] .

Despite the strong myopia and poor health, in July 1851 he was admitted there, largely due to his surname ^[29] . Nevertheless, during his three years at the academy, his performance was hardly satisfactory, it was painful to look at him in training, he received the nickname “Curly” for the length of his hair that exceeded the norm. In addition, Whistler often did not obey his superiors and sarcastically ridiculed the orders of the academy ^[26] .

Colonel Robert Lee , West Point Superintendent, was somewhat lenient to Whistler. So, he let him go on a small vacation to say goodbye to his mother before sailing from New York to Europe. In the spring of 1853, when Whistler was seriously ill with rheumatism , and doctors also suspected tuberculosis , he was allowed to skip exams and pass them later ^[30] . But his academic performance was extremely low: after the August exams, he was 37th in mathematics, 13th in French, but 1st in drawing. And as a result - 32nd in overall performance ^[31] .

The reason for the expulsion from the academy was a failure in a chemistry exam when, when asked about silicon , Whistler replied: "Silicon is a gas." As he himself later put it: “If silicon were a gas, then one day I would become a general” ^[32] . Whistler appealed the re-examination, citing the fact that the other two cadets with lesser points were not expelled, but Superintendent Lee rejected her, although he tried very hard to find formal reasons for the re-examination. In a letter to General Totten, On July 8, 1854, he wrote that despite the fact that the other two cadets had worse academic performance, they had a tendency to improve, while that of Whistler, on the contrary, went down ^[33] , which Lee regretted ^[34] .

Whistler was expelled in June 1854. The main thing that Whistler learned at West Point is drawing and cartography from the American artist Robert Weir ^[26] .

First work (1854–1855)

After West Point, Whistler got a job as a coast mapper at the US Coast Survey ^[35] . The work was boring, and he was often late or absent, spending most of his free time in idleness and playing billiards ^[36] . After it turned out that he was drawing on the margins of maps of sea snakes, mermaids and whales, Whistler was transferred to the engraving department. But there he lasted only two months, although he mastered the etching and engraving technique, which later came in handy for him ^[26] .

At that moment, Whistler firmly chose art as his career path. For several months he lived in Baltimore in the house of a wealthy friend Tom Wynans, who provided him with a studio and gave some money. The young artist made some useful contacts in the art community, and also sold several of his early paintings to Winansu.

Whistler rejected all the requests of his mother for choosing other, more practical professions and informed her that with the money of Vinens he was going to continue his artistic studies in Paris . After leaving for Paris, Whistler no longer returned to the United States ^[37] .

Studying in Paris (1855-1858)

Whistler arrived in Paris in 1855, rented a studio in the Latin Quarter and quickly took over the life of a bohemian artist. Soon he had a French girlfriend, a dressmaker named Eloise ^[38] . For some time he studied traditional painting techniques at the Ecole Impériale and in the studio of Charles Gleyre . The latter was a big fan of Ingres' works and struck Whistler with two principles that he used until the end of his career: the line is more important than color, and black is the main color of tonal harmony ^[39] . Twenty years later, the Impressionists would largely reject this philosophy, banning black and brown as “forbidden colors” and emphasizing the superiority of color over form ^[40] Whistler preferred to study independently (including copying paintings in the Louvre ) and enjoy life ^{[26 ]} . While the letters from the house reported the difficult financial situation of the mother, in the first year of his stay in Paris, Whistler freely spent money, did not really try to sell paintings and was in debt. To ease the financial situation, he began selling copies made in the Louvre, moved to a cheaper quarter. Luckily, the arrival in Paris of George Lucas, another wealthy friend, for some time corrected the financial affairs of Whistler. Despite this “respite,” the winter of 1857 was not easy for him. Poor health, exacerbated by excessive smoking and alcohol consumption, undermined it ^[41] .

But matters, both financial and health, improved slightly by the summer of 1858. Whistler got better and traveled with another artist Ernest Delanno in France and the Rhine region. Later, with the help of the French master-printer Auguste Delatre , created a series of etchings known as the “French Set”. During that year, he painted his first self-portrait, “A Portrait of Whistler with a Hat, ” a dark work in the style of Rembrandt ^[42] . But the most significant event of this year was his friendship with Henri Fantin-Latour , whom he met in the Louvre. Through him, Whistler entered the circle of acquaintances of Gustave Courbet , which included Carolus-Duran (later a teacher of John Sargent ), Alfons Legros and Eduard Manet ^[26] .

Also in this group was the poet Charles Baudelaire , whose ideas and theories of "contemporary" art had a great influence on Whistler. Baudelaire challenged artists: to carefully study the cruelty of life and nature, and portray it with faith, avoiding the old themes of mythology and allegory ^[43] . Theophile Gauthier , one of the first to study transitional qualities in art and music, may have inspired Whistler to consider visual art from a musical point of view ^[44] .

London (1858–1861)

In 1858, under the influence of the realism of his new acquaintances, Whistler wrote his first exhibition work, Mother of Girard ( French: La Mere Gerard ). And in 1859, in London, where he spent more and more time, he created the painting “At the Piano”, which depicts his niece, Annie Hayden, and her mother in her London house in the music room. The critic wrote: “despite the recklessly bold manner and schematics of the most wild and rude appearance, [he] has a genuine sense of color and magnificent power of composition and design, which demonstrate an understanding of nature that is very rare among artists” ^[45] . The work is not sentimental and effectively contrasts the mother in black and the daughter in white, while other colors are preserved in the manner recommended by his teacher Glair. The work was exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts the following year, and, later, at many other exhibitions ^[44] .

In a second painting, performed in the same music room in his brother’s house, Whistler demonstrated his natural inclination for innovation and novelty, creating a genre scene with an unusual composition and perspective. Later it was renamed “Harmony in Green and Pink: A Music Room” ^[46] . This picture also demonstrated Whistler's working style (especially with portraits): a quick start, major changes, a period of neglect, and then finalization, often in an emergency mode, finalization ^[45] .

In 1860, after a year in London, as a contrast to his 1858 French Set, he created a set of etchings called Thames, and also wrote a number of impressionist works, including Thames in the Ice. At this stage in his life, he began to consolidate his tone harmony technique based on a limited, predefined palette ^[47] .

In 1861, when he returned to Paris for a while, Whistler wrote his first famous work, Symphony in White No. 1: A Girl in White . The portrait of his mistress and art agent Joanna Hiffernan was created in the form of a simple sketch in white. However, the audience reacted to this picture in a different way. The critic Jules-Antoine Castagnari considered the painting an allegory of the bride's lost innocence. Others linked this to Wilkie Collins’s popular novel of the time, Woman in White, or other literary works. In England, some believed that this painting was painted in the Pre-Raphaelite manner ^[48] . In the picture, Hiffernan holds a lily in his left hand and stands on a rug made of wolf skin (which some interpret as masculinity and lust), and the head of the wolf looks menacingly at the viewer. The portrait was rejected for an exhibition at the conservative Royal Academy, but was shown in a private gallery called "Woman in White," by the name of the novel by Wilkie Collins. In 1863, the work was shown in the Paris Salon of the Les Miserables , an event organized by Emperor Napoleon III to exhibit works rejected from the Salon ^[49] .

Whistler’s canvas was widely known, despite the scandal with another, more shocking picture of Mane's “ Breakfast on the Grass .” Contrary to criticism from traditionalists, Whistler's supporters insisted that the painting was “a phenomenon with a spiritual content” and that it embodied his theory that art should mainly relate to the arrangement of colors in harmony, rather than a literal image of the natural world ^[50] .

Two years later, Whistler painted another portrait of Hiffernan in white, this time showing interest in Asian motifs, which he called " Symphony in White No. 2: The Girl in White ." His “Lady of the Lijsen Manor” and “The Golden Curtain,” both completed in 1864, again portray Joe in an even more expressive Asian dress and setting ^[51] . During this period, Whistler became close to Gustave Courbet , one of the founders of French realism . But their relationship began to collapse after he learned that Hiffernan posed naked for Courbet ^[52] . In January 1864, Whistler's mother arrived in London, a very religious and moral woman who was extremely upset when she saw her son's bohemian life. This led to tension in the family. Whistler wrote to Henri Fantin-Latour: “Extraordinary shock! I had to clean my house and clean it from the cellar to the roof. ” He also relocated Hiffernan to another location. ^[53]

Nocturnes

In 1866, Whistler decided to visit Valparaiso in Chile , a trip that puzzled many, although Whistler claimed to have done so for political reasons. Chile fought with Spain , and perhaps the artist considered this an act of heroic struggle of a small nation against a large one, but there is no evidence of this theory ^[53] . During the journey, he painted the first three nightly paintings - paintings of "moonlight" and later called them "nocturnes" - night scenes of the harbor in a blue or light green palette. Returning to London, over the next ten years he wrote several more nocturnes, most of which depicted the Thames and the gardens of Cremorne, an amusement park known for its fireworks shows, which in turn posed a new challenge for the painters. In his marine nocturnes, Whistler used highly diluted paint as soil, but also objects - ships, lights, and the coastline - also painted with diluted paint ^[54] . Some paintings of the Thames show compositional and thematic similarities with the Japanese works of Hiroshige ^[55] .

In 1872, Whistler thanked his patron Frederick Leyland , an amateur musician who adored Chopin , for his musically inspired names of paintings ^[56] .

Then Whistler wrote another self-portrait and called it “Arrangement in Gray: Portrait of an Artist” (c. 1872) ^[57] , and also began to rename many of his early works using musical terms such as “ nocturne ”, “ symphony ” , “ Harmony ”, “ etude ” or “ arrangement ” to emphasize tonal qualities and composition, and level the narrative element of the paintings ^[56] . Whistler's nocturnes became one of his most innovative works. In addition, showing several nocturnes to art dealer Paul Duran-Ruelle after the Franco-Prussian war gave Whistler the opportunity to explain his developing “theory in art” to artists, buyers and critics in France ^[58] . His good friend Henri Fantin-Latour , who became more reactionary in his opinion, especially regarding his negative views on the new impressionist school, found Whistler's new works unexpected and embarrassing. Fantin-Latour admitted: “I do not understand anything there; it’s strange how a person changes. I don’t recognize him anymore. ” By that time, their relationship had almost ceased, but they continued to share their views in correspondence ^[59] . When Edgar Degas invited Whistler to take part in the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874, Whistler, like Manet , declined the invitation, and some critics attributed this, in part, to the influence of Fantin-Latour on both of them ^[60] .

Portraits

The Franco-Prussian War of 1870 divided the French art community. Many artists took refuge in England, joining Whistler, including Camille Pissarro and Monet, while Manet and Degas remained in France. Like Whistler, Monet and Pissarro focused on urban landscape works, and it is likely that Whistler fell under the influence of the style of these impressionist artists, and this was reflected in his nocturnes ^[61] . Ultimately, Whistler moved away from Courbet's “damned realism,” and their friendship wilted, as did his connection with Joanna Hiffernan ^[53] .

Whistler's Mother (1871)

By 1871, Whistler returned to portraits and soon created his most famous painting, an almost monochrome full-length figure entitled “ Arrangement in Gray and Black, ” but it is usually called “Whistler's Mother”. According to his mother’s letter, once, one of the models didn’t come to the appointed session and Whistler suggested that the mother write her portrait. At first she posed while standing, but it was too tiring for her. The painting took dozens of posing sessions ^[62] .

The portrait turned out simple and strict, with a limited palette. But the deceptively simple design actually harmoniously balances the various forms in the picture: the rectangle of the curtain, the pattern on the wall and the floor - and the lines of the face, dress and chair. Whistler noted that the narrative aspect of the picture was not very significant ^[63] , but the picture pays tribute to his pious mother. After the initial shock from her son’s lifestyle, she helped him a lot, calming his behavior somewhat, taking care of his inner needs and creating an aura of conservative respectability that helped win patrons ^[62] .

The audience reacted negatively to the picture, mainly because of its anti-Victorian simplicity, but in those days in England, sentimentality and bright colors were in fashion. Critics believed that the picture - an unsuccessful "experiment", but not art. The Royal Academy rejected the painting for exhibit, but then reluctantly accepted it after lobbying by Sir William Boxall , hanging it in an unsuccessful place of the exhibition ^[64] .

From the very beginning, “Whistler's Mother” evoked various reactions, including skits, ridicule and admiration, which continue to this day. Some considered the painting “a tribute to old age”, “a heavy feeling of grief” or “a perfect symbol of motherhood”, others used it in various parodies: on greeting cards, in magazines, and even cartoons about Donald Duck and Elk Bullwinkle ^[65] . Whistler made a significant contribution to the popularization of the picture, often exhibiting it and allowing him to make reproductions that were well sold out ^[66] . The painting barely escaped a fire during train delivery ^[64] . It was ultimately bought by the French government, and became Whistler's first work in a public collection. Now located in the Musee d'Orsay in Paris ^[67] .

During the Great Depression, the painting was valued at one million dollars and was a great success at the Chicago World Fair in 1933 . The public, which was not familiar with Whistler's aesthetic theories, resolutely recognized the canvas as a symbol of motherhood ^[68] .

In 2015, New York critic Peter Schjöldahl wrote that the painting "remains the most important American work outside the United States" ^[69] . Marta Tedeschi writes ^[70] :

Other Portraits

Other significant portraits of the artist’s brush include portraits of his mistress Maud Franklin (1876), historian Thomas Carlyle (1873), the daughter of London banker Cecily Alexander (1873), Lady Mieu (1882), and critic Theodore Dure (1884). In the 1870s, Whistler painted full-length portraits of Frederick Leyland and his wife Francis. Subsequently, Leyland instructed the artist to decorate his dining room, which was called the Peacock Room ^[71] .

Whistler was disappointed with the irregular acceptance of his work for exhibitions at the Royal Academy and the poor placement of paintings in the halls of the exhibition. And in 1874, Whistler organized his first solo exhibition. The exhibition aroused public interest, including the unusual for that time decoration of the premises, which were stylized and in harmony with the paintings in accordance with his theories of art. The critic wrote: “At the entrance to the gallery, the visitor will be struck by a strange sense of harmony and physical form, and this general effect is perhaps even more interesting than each work individually” ^[72] .

Whistler was not as successful a portrait painter as another famous American John Sargent . In part, this was due to Whistler's economical technique and his reluctance to flatter his models. Also, he worked for a very long time and required extremely long posing sessions. William Chase, whose portrait Whistler painted, complained: “He turned out to be a real tyrant, every day posing until dusk, my limbs ached from fatigue, and my head was spinning from all this. "Do not move! Do not move! “, He shouted whenever I wanted to rest” ^[73] . By the time Whistler was widely recognized in the 1890s, his time as a portrait painter had already passed ^[74] .

Technique

Whistler's approach to portraiture, in his later work, was described by one of his models, Arthur Eddie, who posed for the artist in 1894 ^[75] :

Etchings

Whistler created numerous etchings , lithographs, and dry needle work . The amount of his lithography, some of which were executed on stone, others directly on lithographic paper, is probably half that of etchings. On lithographs, the artist depicted various objects and landscapes: some of them have slightly draped drawings, other Thames landscapes, among which there are two or three of his best works, including the Nocturne in Limehouse, while others depict Faubourg Saint-Germain in Paris and the Georgian churches in Soho and Bloomsbury in London. Etchings include portraits of family, lovers, and street scenes in London and Venice. ^[76]

Over time, Whistler gained an excellent reputation as an engraver. Martin Hardy wrote: “There are some who place him next to Rembrandt , perhaps even taller than Rembrandt, as the greatest master of all time. Personally, I prefer to consider them Jupiter and Venus, the largest and brightest engraving among the planets in heaven ” ^[77] . Whistler was very kind to printing etchings and choosing paper. At the beginning and at the end of his career, he paid great attention to the purity of the line, although in the middle period of his work he experimented more with ink and tone ^[78] .

Signature Monogram Butterfly

Whistler's famous butterfly first appeared in the 1860s due to his interest in Asian art. He studied pottery signatures on porcelain, which he began to collect, and decided to depict a monogram from his initials. Over time, it turned into an abstract butterfly shape. By 1880, he added a sting to the image of a butterfly, as a symbol reflecting his tender, sensitive nature and his impudent, irritable spirit. He was very attentive to the proper placement of the signature both in his paintings and on his custom frames. His attention to the importance of balance and harmony extended from the framework to the placement of his paintings in the exhibition space, as in the Peacock Room ^[58] .

Peacock Room (1876-1877)

“Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Peacock Room” ^[79] - Whistler's masterpiece in the field of interior decorative painting. Whistler decorated the room in a single, rich palette: blue-green glazed panels and gold leaf . The painting, executed in 1876-1877, is considered one of the greatest surviving aesthetic interiors and the best example of the Anglo-Japanese style. Dissatisfied with the first design, created by Thomas Jekyll (1827-1881), Frederick Leyland , at that time Whistler's patron, entrusted him with the restoration of the room. It was planned that he would make minor changes in order to "harmonize" the room in which the collection of Leyland porcelain was exhibited. On the north side - above the fireplace was a painting of Whistler Princess from the country of china ^[3] and served as the central component of the room. However, Whistler unleashed his imagination. He completely painted over the 14th century leather wallpaper previously owned by Catherine of Aragon , for which Leyland paid £ 1,000, and made significant changes to the design of the room. Leyland was shocked by the "improvements." The artist and the philanthropist quarreled over the room and proper compensation for the work ^[80] .

In 1904, Charles Freer , an American industrialist and art collector, acquired the Princess from the country of china , and anonymously bought the whole room from Leyland's heirs, including the daughter of Leyland and her husband, British artist Val Princep . Freer moved the Peacock room to his Detroit mansion, and after his death in 1919, it was installed at the Freer Art Gallery at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. ^[81]

Court with John Ruskin (1877-1878)

In 1877, Whistler sued the critic John Ruskin for defamation after the critic condemned his painting Nocturne in Black and Gold. The falling rocket . " The work was exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery , an alternative to the Royal Academy exhibition, along with the works of Edward Burne-Jones and other artists. Ruskin, who was a supporter of the Pre-Raphaelites and William Turner , criticized Whistler's work in his letters to Fors Clavigera on July 2, 1877, although he praised Burne-Jones's work ^[82] :

Whistler wrote to his friend George Boughton: "This is the most humiliating criticism I have ever encountered." A sharp criticism of Ruskin, a leading Victorian art critic, caused a storm of indignation among the owners of Whistler's other works. Quickly enough, the artist’s works became unpopular, which affected his financial well-being ^{[6] .} Together with a lawyer, he drafted a libel lawsuit, which was presented to Ruskin. Whistler was hoping to get compensation of £ 1,000 plus legal costs. Due to Ruskin’s bouts of mental disorders, the case was not brought to court until next year, while Whistler’s financial condition continued to deteriorate ^[83] .

The lawsuit was heard in the Treasury Department of the High Court on November 25 and 26, 1878, before Baron Huddleston and a special jury. ^[84] Sir John Holker, John Ruskin's solicitor , interrogated Whistler ^[85] :

Whistler hoped that many artists would witness in his defense, but they refused, fearing for their reputation. His other witnesses were unconvincing, and the jury’s reaction to the picture was mocking. Against the more convincing witnesses of Ruskin, including Edward Burne-Jones, and with the absence, due to illness, at many meetings of the art critic himself, Whistler's counterattack was ineffective. Nevertheless, the jury delivered a verdict in favor of the artist, but awarded a nominal compensation of one farthing , and the legal costs were divided between the parties to the lawsuit ^[86] . Legal costs, together with huge debts from the construction of his residence (White House on White Street in the Chelsea area of ​​London, according to a project by Edward Godwin, 1877-1878), led Whistler to bankruptcy by May 1879, as a result of which auction for the sale of his collection and property, including the house.

In December 1878, Whistler published his trial report in the pamphlet Whistler v. Ruskin: Art and Art Criticism ^[87] , later included in the book Fine Art to Create Enemies for Yourself (1890). Whistler’s hope that the publicity of the trial would save his career was ruined because he lost his patrons due to the trial. One of them was Frederick Leyland , also his creditor ^[88] , with whom they quarreled over the Peacock Room . Whistler always blamed Leyland for his financial collapse ^[89] .

Trip to Venice (1878–1879)

After the trial, Whistler received an order from Venice for twelve prints. He readily accepted the offer and arrived in town with his girlfriend Maud, having rented rooms in a dilapidated palazzo , which they shared with other artists, including John Sargent. ^[90] Despite the longing for London, he got used to Venice and set about “revealing” her character. Whistler did his best to distract from thoughts about his financial affairs and the upcoming sale of all his paintings and things at Sotheby 's . The artist was a regular guest at parties at the American Consulate and charmed guests with speech turnovers, such as “the only positive virtue of the artist is idleness, and there are so few talented in it” ^[91] .

However, his new friends noted that Whistler got up early and worked all day ^[92] . He wrote to a friend: “I learned to recognize Venice in Venice, which others seem to have never perceived, and which I will“ bring ”upon return, as I suppose, will serve as more than good compensation for everything that irritates the spirit, delays and troubles” ^[93] . A three-month appointment in Venice lasted fourteen months. In this extremely productive period, Whistler completed more than fifty etchings, several nocturnes and watercolors, and more than 100 pastels, depicting both the mood of Venice and its beautiful architecture ^[90] . In addition, Whistler influenced the American art community in Venice, especially Frank Duvenek (and Duvenek's “boys”) and Robert Blum , who imitated the vision of the city of Whistler, and then spread its methods and influence in America ^[94] .

Return to London (1879-1903)

Upon returning to London, Whistler sold pastels especially well, about which he said: “They are not as good as I expected. They are for sale! ” ^[95] . Despite active participation in exhibitions, success was small. Although Whistler was still in a tight financial situation, he was encouraged by the attention and admiration that he received from the young generation of English and American artists who made him their idol and universally used the title "student of Whistler." Many of them returned to America and spread stories about Whistler's provocative egoism, wit and aesthetic utterances - creating a legend, to his great satisfaction ^[95] .

In 1885, Whistler published his first book, Lecture at Ten, which is the main exposition of his concept of “ art for art's sake .” At that time, the opposite, Victorian, point of view prevailed, namely, that art has a moral or social function. For Whistler, however, art was an end in itself, and the artist’s responsibility was not before society, but before himself, to interpret nature through art and not reproduce what he saw ^[96] . In addition, he stated: “Nature is very rarely right and should be improved by the artist with the help of his own vision” ^[97] . The poet and writer Oscar Wilde , despite discrepancies with Whistler on a number of issues, including Wilde's conviction that poetry is a higher form of art than painting ^[98] , was generous in its praise and considered the book “Lecture at ten o’clock” a masterpiece ^[96] :

However, Whistler considered himself ridiculed by Wilde, and began public correspondence with him, which led to the termination of their friendship ^[99] . Later, Wilde again pricked Whistler, making him a prototype of the murdered artist in his novel “ Portrait of Dorian Gray ” ^[100] .

In January 1881, the mother of the artist Anna Whistler died. After that, in honor of his mother, Whistler took her maiden name McNeil as his middle name ^[101] .

In 1884, Whistler joined the Society of British Artists, and on June 1, 1886 was elected its president. The following year, during the golden jubilee of Queen Victoria, , Whistler presented to the queen on behalf of the Society a skilfully made album, including a three-dimensional performance and illustrations that he made. Queen Victoria was so admired by the "beautiful and artistic work" that she ruled "that the Society should be called royal." This achievement was highly appreciated by the members of the Society, but it was soon overshadowed by the dispute that inevitably arose with the Royal Academy of Arts. Whistler invited members of the Royal Society to leave the Royal Academy. This caused controversy in the ranks of the Society, which overshadowed all other affairs and achievements of Whistler and in May 1888 nine members spoke in favor of his resignation. And on June 4 he was removed from office by 19 votes in favor, 18 against, with 9 abstentions. Whistler and twenty-five of his supporters resigned ^[102] , while most of his opponents, in his opinion, got rid of his “eccentricity” and “non-English” origin ^[103] .

Breaking relations with Maud, Whistler unexpectedly married Beatrice Godwin (also called Beatrix or Trixie), a former student and widow of his friend, architect Edward Godwin. It was thanks to his friendship with Godwin that he became close to Beatrice, and painted her portrait under the title “Harmony in Red: Lamp Light” ^{[104] [105]} . In the summer of 1888, Whistler and Beatrice appeared in public as a couple. At one of the dinners, Louise Jopling and Henry Labusher insisted that they get married as soon as possible ^[106] . The wedding ceremony was quickly arranged. As a member of parliament, Laboucher negotiated with the chaplain of the House of Commons ^[106] . Due to fear of breaking the ceremony of the enraged Maud Franklin, the wedding was not public ^[106] and took place on August 11, 1888. But the news of the marriage was published in the Pall Mall Gazette, whose reporter was present at the event. Shortly after this, the couple left for Paris to avoid any scandal with Maud ^[106] .

Whistler's reputation in London and Paris grew, and he received positive reviews from critics and new orders for paintings ^[107] . His book "The Fine Art of Making Enemies for Himself" was published in 1890 with mixed success, but became, in a way, an advertisement for his work ^[108] .

In 1890, he met Charles Freer , who became his patron in America and, ultimately, his most important collector. ^[109] Around the same time, in addition to portraiture, Whistler experimented with early color photography and lithography, creating a series that depicted London architecture and a human figure, mostly women in the nude style ^[110] . In 1891, with the assistance of his close friend Stefan Mallarmé, the painting Mother of Whistler was bought by the French government for 4,000 francs. It was much less than what an American collector could pay, but it was much more prestigious according to Whistler ^[111] .

After the cool reception of his solo exhibition in London, which mainly featured his nocturnes, Whistler decided that he had enough of London. And in 1892, he and Trixie moved to Paris, settling in Nue 110 Rue du Bac with his studio at 86 Notre Dame in Montparnasse ^{[112] [113]} . He closely interacted with Monet, Auguste Rodin, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Stefan Mallarmé. Whistler was at the top of his career when it turned out that Trixie had cancer. They returned to London in February 1896, having rented rooms at the Savoy Hotel while they were undergoing medical consultations. He made drawings on lithographic carbon paper overlooking the Thames from the hotel window or from the balcony while he was courting her ^[114] . Beatrice died a few months later ^[115] .

In 1899, Charles Freer introduced Whistler to his friend and business colleague Richard Albert Canfield (1855–1914), who became a close friend and patron of the artist. Canfield owned several gambling houses in New York, Rhode Island, Saratoga Springs and Newport, and also had a refined taste in art. His collection included early American furniture and Chippendale furniture, tapestries, Chinese porcelain and Bari bronze. Soon, Canfield collected and owned the second largest and most important Whistler collection in the world. A few months before his death, Canfield sold his collection of etchings, lithographs, drawings and paintings of Whistler to an American art dealer Roland Knodler for $ 300,000. Three paintings by Canfield Whistler hang in the Frick Museum in New York. In May 1901, Canfield commissioned a portrait of Whistler. He began to pose for the Portrait of Richard A. Canfield (YMSM 547) in March 1902. According to Alexander Gardiner, Canfield returned to Europe on New Year's Day in 1903, and posed every day until May 16, 1903. However, Whistler was already sick and weak at that time, and the work became his last completed portrait. The deceptive atmosphere of respectability that the Canfield portrait endowed made Whistler call him "Your Reverend." Two men corresponded from 1901 until the death of Whistler ^[116] .

In the last seven years of his life, Whistler made several watercolor minimalist seascapes and the last self-portrait in oil. He corresponded with his many friends and colleagues. In 1898, together with Carmen Rossi, he founded an art school called the Carmen Academy , but, due to worsening health, was forced to close it on April 6, 1901 ^[117] .

Demise

Whistler died in London on July 17, 1903, six days after his 69th birthday. ^[118] He was buried with his wife in the old Chisik cemetery in the western part of London, near the Church of St. Nicholas ^[119] . All of the artist’s property was left to his sister-in-law Rosalina Birni Philip, who spent the rest of her life defending his reputation and managing his collection, most of which was ultimately donated to the University of Glasgow ^[120] .

Personality

Whistler's cousin wrote that in his youth, James was “thin, with a thoughtful, thin face, soft brown curls ... he had a somewhat foreign appearance and manners that, thanks to his innate abilities, made him very charming even at that age” ^{[121 ]} .

Whistler had a characteristic appearance, short and thin, with piercing eyes and a curly mustache, often with a monocle and in a luxurious dandy outfit ^[122] . He was often arrogant and selfish in relation to friends and patrons. A freethinker and an egoist, he enjoyed the shock of friends and enemies. Although he could be ignorant and frivolous in social and political issues, he was always serious about art and often provoked public disagreements and debates, defending his decisive theories ^[123] .

Whistler had a high, viscous voice and a unique manner of speech, full of prudent pauses. One of his friends said: “After a second, you will find that he is not talking - he sketches words, creating an impression in the sound and sense that should be interpreted by the listener” ^[124] .

Environment

Whistler was well known for his keen mind, especially in disputes with his friend and rival Oscar Wilde. Both were prominent figures in the secular society of Paris, and often acted "like the voice of the city." To their mutual fun, they often did cartoons in Punch. Once, a young Oscar Wilde, at Whistler’s dinner, hearing his master make some brilliant remark, loudly said, “I would like to say this,” to which Whistler replied, “You will say, Oscar, you will say!” in fact, Wilde did publicly repeat the many witties uttered by Whistler ^[96] . Their relationship deteriorated by the mid-1880s, when Whistler opposed Wilde and the aesthetic movement. And in 1895, when Wilde was publicly recognized as homosexual, Whistler openly taunted him. Whistler enjoyed the preparation and organization of his receptions, exhibitions and social events. As one of the guests noted ^[125] :

In Paris, Whistler was friends with members of the circle of symbolist artists, writers and poets, among whom were Stefan Mallarmé ^[126] and Marcel Schwob ^[127] . Schwob met Whistler in the mid-1890s through Stefan Mallarmé, and they had other common friends, including Oscar Wilde (until they quarreled) and Whistler’s son-in-law, Charles Whibley. In addition to Henri Fantin-Latour , Alfonso Legros and Courbet Whistler was friends with many other French artists. He illustrated the book Les Chauves-Souris with Antonio de la Gandara . He also knew the Impressionists, in particular Eduard Manet , Monet and Edgar Degas . As a young artist, he maintained a close friendship with Dante Rossetti , a member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. His close friendships with Monet and the poet Stephen Mallarmé, who translated the Lecture at ten o'clock into French, helped to strengthen Whistler's reputation among the French public. ^[128] Whistler was friendly with his fellow students at the Gleer studio, including Ignas Schott, whose son Leon Dabo later became his student ^[129] .

Joanna Hiffernan and Maud Franklin

Whistler's lover and model for “Girl in White,” Joanna Hiffernan , also posed for Gustave Courbet. Historians suggest that Courbet used it as a model for his erotic picture of the Origin of the World , which may have led to a gap between Whistler and Courbet ^[130] .

During the 1870s and most of the 1880s, Whistler lived with his mistress Maud Franklin . Her ability to endure his long, repetitive posing sessions helped Whistler develop portrait skills ^[125] . He not only made some excellent portraits of her, but she was also a useful assistant for other sitters.

Mother

Anna McNeill Whistler (1804–1881) was born in Wilmington, North Carolina , in the family of physician Charles Daniel McNeill (1756–1828) and Martha Kingsley McNeill, daughter of Sophony Kingsley Sr. (one of the founders of the University of New Brunswick) and the youngest sister Sophony Kingsley Jr., a slave and plantation owner, as well as her husband Ana Mudgin Jai ^{[5] .}

Father

George Washington Whistler (1800-1849) - American railway engineer . He graduated from the US Military Academy at West Point ( 1819 ), was a military topographer. For a long time he worked in Russia on the construction of the Nikolaev railway . He died of cholera in 1849 in St. Petersburg.

Siblings

Stepbrothers, from the father’s first marriage, with Mary Swift ( Mary R. Swift ;? - 1827):

• George William (1822–1869), half-brother, from his father’s first marriage, became a Russian railway engineer, lived and worked in Russia until his death in 1869 ^[131] .
• Deborah Delayn Hayden (1825-1908) - half-sister, married Sir Francis Hayden , an English artist and philanthropist.
• Joseph Swift (1824-1840) - half-brother.

Siblings:

• William McNeill Whistler (1836-1900) - brother, a member of the US Civil War , who served as a field surgeon in the Confederate Army in the 1st South Carolina Rifle Regiment, which is also known as the Orr Rifles (One of the regiments of the McGowan Brigade). After the war, he worked as a doctor in London. was president of the British Association of Laryngologists , Rhinologists and Otologists .
• Kirk Butt (1838-1842) - brother, was named after Kirk Butt, an American industrialist.
• Charles Donald Whistler (1841-1843) - brother.
• John Buttats Whistler (1845–1846) - brother, was named after his father’s friend, Russian architect Ivan Fedorovich Buttats ^{[7] .}

Beatrice Godwin

In 1888, Whistler married Beatrice Godwin (1857-1896), whom he called Beatrix or Trixie. She was the widow of architect Edward Godwin, who designed Whistler’s White House. Born in the family of sculptor John Byrne Philippe ^[132] and Francis Black. Her sisters Rosalind Philip ^[133] and Ethel Wibley posed for many of Whistler's paintings and drawings. For example, Ethel posed for the painting " Mother of Pearls and Silver: Andalusian" (1888-1900) ^[134] . The first five years of their marriage were very happy, but after finding cancer in Beatrice, hard times came. Toward the end of her life, Beatrice spent most of her time in half-oblivion, taking morphine to relieve pain. Her death in 1896 was a strong blow for Whistler, which he could not bear ^[135] .

Children

Whistler had several illegitimate children, of which Charles Hanson is the only documented one ^[136] . Joanna Hiffernan helped raise Whistler's son, Charles James Whistler Hanson (1870–1935) ^[137] , from a romance with the maid, Louise Fanny Hanson ^[138] . Another of his mistresses, Moder Franklin Whistler had two daughters: Ion (born c. 1877) and Maud McNeill Whistler Franklin (born 1879) ^[139] . Sometimes she called herself “Mrs. Whistler,” and in the 1881 census she is recorded as “Mary M. Whistler” ^[140] .

Whistler, drawing inspiration from many different sources, including Rembrandt, Velazquez, Japanese art and ancient Greek sculpture, developed his own, very influential and individual style. He was an expert on many artistic techniques, creating more than 500 paintings, as well as etchings, pastels, watercolors, drawings and lithographs ^[141] . Whistler was the leader of aesthetics , promoted, wrote and lectured on the philosophy of “ art for art's sake ”. With his students, he advocated simple design, cost savings, avoiding overly time-consuming techniques and tonal harmony of the final result ^[142] . Whistler's paintings have been featured in many major museum exhibitions, research, and publications.Like the impressionists, he used nature as an artistic resource. Whistler insisted that it was the artist’s duty to interpret what he saw, not to be a slave to reality, and “bring out wonderful harmony from chaos” ^[142] .

За свою жизнь он повлиял на два поколения художников, в Европе и в Соединённых Штатах. Уистлер обменивался идеями с художниками-реалистами, импрессионистами и символистами. Его знаменитыми протеже были Вальтер Сикерт и писатель Оскар Уайльд. Его тонализм оказал глубокое влияние на многих американских художников, включая Джона Сарджента, Уильяма Чейза и Уиллиса Адамса, с которым он подружился в Венеции. Другое значительное влияние он оказал на Артура Мэтьюса , которого Уистлер встретил в Париже в конце 1890-х годов. Мэтьюс распространил тонализм Уистлера в Сан-Франциско, породив широкое использование этой техники среди калифорнийских художников начала века. Как американский критик Чарльз Каффин писал в 1907 году ^[96] :

Во время поездки в Венецию в 1880 году Уистлер создал серию офортов и пастелей, которые не только улучшили его финансовое положение, но и улучшили способ, которым художники и фотографы интерпретировали город — сосредоточившись на задних переулках, боковых каналах, входных путях и архитектурных деталях — и улавливая тем самым уникальную атмосферу города ^[94] .

В 1940 году Уистлер был изображён на почтовой марке США, в рамках серии из 35 марок, посвященных знаменитым американским авторам, поэтам, педагогам, ученым, композиторам, художникам и изобретателям: «Серия знаменитых американцев» ^[143] .

Gilbert and Sullivan 's operetta “Patience” makes fun of aesthetics, and the main character, Reginald Banthorn, is often associated as a parody of Oscar Wilde, although Banthorne most likely represents a collective image of several prominent artists and writers. For example, he wears a monocle and his hair is dark and gray, like Whistler's ^[144] .

On October 27, 2010, Swann Galleries set a record price for Whistler etching. Etching "Nocturne" (1879-1880) was sold for $ 282,000. Apparently, this was one of the first etchings made by Whistler for the Society of Fine Arts upon arrival in Venice in September 1879, as well as one of its most famous views of the city ^{[145] [146] [147]} .

• 1884 - Elected Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Munich .
• 1892 - awarded the Order of the Legion of Honor of France ^[148] .
• 1898 - became a founding member and first president of the International Society of Sculptors, Artists and Engravers.

• In 2005, a statue of James Whistler by Nicholas Dimbleby was erected at the north end of the Battersea Bridge on the Thames in London ^[149] .
• In 2014, a documentary film was made: James McNeill Whistler and the Case for Beauty (dir. Norman Stone)
• The house in which Whistler was born now houses the Whistler Museum of Art .
• In 1908, Whistler’s friends, who became his biographers, wife printer Joseph Joseph Pennell and art critic Elizabeth Pennell published a biography of the artist. The extensive Pennell library of Whistler was bequeathed to the Library of Congress. ^[150]

•  

  Thames in ice , 1860; canvas, oil

•  

  Princess from the country of china , 1863–65; canvas, oil

•  

  Valparaiso Harbor , 1866; canvas, oil

•  

  Variations of pink and gray - Chelsea , 1870–71; canvas, oil

•  

  Nocturne in gray and gold - Westminster Bridge , 1874; canvas, oil

•  

  Nocturne , 1870–77; canvas, oil

•  

  Fishing boat , 1879–80; engraving

•  

  Portrait of Lady Mieu , 1881; canvas, oil

•  

  Amsterdam Nocturne , 1883–84; watercolor on brown paper

•  

  Orange Note , 1884; canvas, oil

•  

  Green and Silver - Buley, Turen , 1888; watercolor

•  

  Canal in Amsterdam , 1889;

•  

  Embankment, Brittany , 1893; wood oil

•  

  Harmony in Blue and Gold - A Girl in Blue , 1894-1902

•  

  Blue and coral - a small blue hat , 1898; canvas, oil

• Carmen Academy

• Anderson, Ronald; Koval Anne. James McNeill Whistler: Beyond the Myth. — New York, NY: Carroll & Graf, 1995. — ISBN 978-0-7867-0187-2 .
• Freeman, Douglas Southall. RE Lee: A Biography. — New York City: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1934.
• Hardie, Martin. The British School of Etching. — London: The Print Collectors Club, 1921.
• Kosinski, Dorothy M. Gustave Courbet's "The Sleepers." The Lesbian Image in Nineteenth-Century French Art and Literature // Artibus et Historiae. — 1988. — Т. 9 , вып. 18 . — С. 187 . — ISSN 0391-9064 . — DOI : 10.2307/1483342 .
• MacDonald, Margaret F. Whistler's Mother: An American Icon. — London: Lund Humphries Pub Ltd, 2003. — ISBN 978-0853318569 .
• MacDonald, Margaret F. Whistler for President! // Dorment, Richard; MacDonald, Margaret F. James McNeill Whistler. — New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1994. — ISBN 0-89468-212-1 .
• Miccoli, Kendall. Camille Corot: Paintings . — Kendall Miccoli, 2015. — 108 с. — ISBN 9786050354843 .
• Pennell, Elizabeth; Pennell, Joseph. The Life of James McNeill Whistler. — London: William Heinemann, 1911.
• Peters, Lisa N. James McNeil Whistler. — New York, NY: Smithmark, 1996. — ISBN 978-0-7651-9961-4 .
• Snodin, Michael; Styles John. Design & The Decorative Arts, Britain 1500–1900. — V&A Publications. — 2001. — ISBN 1-85177-338-X .
• Spencer, Robin. Whistler. — London: Studio Editions, 1994. — ISBN 1-85170-904-5 .
• Spencer, Robin. Whistler: A Retrospective. — New York: Wings Books, 1989. — ISBN 0-517-05773-5 .
• Weintraub, Stanley. Whistler. — New York, NY: EP Dutton, 1983. — ISBN 0-679-40099-0 .

• Artcyclopedia entry
• Artchive entry
• Уистлер Джеймс Эббот Мак-Нейл картины (Ghirlandajo)
• Галина Андреева. Уистлер и Россия // Журнал «Третьяковская галерея», Специальный выпуск 1. 2011.