Fine Art

 James McNeill Whistler

Also known as James  Abbott McNeill Whistler, his deft brushwork and mighty ego made him one of  London's best-known painters in the second half of the 1800s. Born in  Massachusetts, Whistler spent most of his adult life in England
and France, in  an era when an American artist in Europe was something of a rarity. He  specialized in landscapes and (especially later in his career) portraits;  stylistically he is often linked with Claude Monet and August Renoir,  though he was not exactly part of the Impressionist movement. His etchings also  are highly regarded. Witty, cranky and a bit of a devil,

Whistler was a regular  gadabout in British society. He had a famous long-running feud with the  playwright Oscar Wilde, each of them trying to outwit the other with cutting  public remarks. Some critics of the era considered Whistler's work to be smudgy  and too radical; after viewing Whistler's 1875 study of fireworks over the  Thames, Nocturne in Black and Gold: the Falling Rocket, John Ruskin  wrote: "I have seen, and heard, much of cockney impudence before now; but never  expected to hear a coxcomb ask two hundred guineas for flinging a pot of paint  in the public's face." Whistler successfully sued Ruskin for libel but was  awarded only a farthing in damages, and the legal fees helped drive Whistler  into bankruptcy in 1879. Among Whistler's other famous paintings are Symphony  in White #1: the White Girl (1862) and Arrangement in Grey and Black:  Portrait of the Painter's Mother (1871) which is more famously known as  Whistler's Mother. His 1890 collection of letters and essays was titled  The Gentle Art of Making Enemies.

For a complete listing of our current inventory with picture dimensions and pricing, please click here (pdf),

site design by MOO productions