Today’s featured American painter is Whistler.

Born in the United States, Whistler attended West Point Military Academy, where, of all things, he excelled in art.  When he turned 21, he left America for Europe to pursue his artistic studies and he never returned.  So, let me pose the question:  what is American about Whistler?  Not much, as it turned out, except that his parents and his birth were both American.  This is a constant tension in the field of American art history.  What is American about American art?  I’ll return to this issue in later blogs.

In Europe, Whistler was exposed to all the new, contemporary art of the late 19th century.  He also encountered Japanese prints for the first time. Japonisme was all the rage in avant-guarde art circles.  Soon he was painting canvases such as the one above.

Even this painting of a London bridge was influenced by Japanese prints.  Whistler was also highly influenced by music in Europe and started painting “nocturnes” as above.  This canvas is further informed by French Impressionism.

 If we compare Whistler’s work with some of the famous Hiroshige prints as this one, above, we see that bridges like this one were a favorite motif in Japanese prints and many late-19th century Western artists utilized bridges as subject matter.  Not only do we see it here in the Whistler Nocture, but look back to my post of April 9 and see that Winslow Homer used the motif of a bridge as well.  He was also aware of the Japanese woodblock prints.

And yes, he painted this famous portrait of his mother.  If Americans know one painting, perhaps it is this one.  And I am 100% sure people don’t know why this painting is important in the development of Western art.  You can’t understand how revolutionary this work was without knowing something about French painting at the fin de siecle, as well as recognize what aspects Whistler borrowed from Japanese prints.

Like many late 19th century artists, Whistler was interested in the arts of interior design as well as oil paintings on canvas. Here is a shot of the “Peacock Room” which was created for a mansion in England, but saved and moved to the Freer Gallery in Washington, D.C.

Here’s another shot of that incredible interior.  Check out the sunflower andirons, as well as the full-length portrait above the fireplace, which is the same picture shown 3rd  in my blog today.  I adore this room.  It is surprising to recognize how versatile peacock blue/green is for decorating.  I have used it in art museum galleries to give great drama to paintings and other objets.

But really, isn’t Whistler amazing!  I may blog another day about the law suit that he filed against the famous and influential British art critic, John Ruskin. Whistler charged that Ruskin committed liable in his criticism of Whistler’s entry in an exhibit.  Modern art didn’t have an easy birth.  There was much consternation and frustration in the “delivery room” if you will.  Anyhow, you can Google this legal battle between Whistler and Ruskin (and the playwright, Oscar Wilde as well)  if you need to know now!

Au revoir!