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Written on March 2, 2010 – 5:14 am | by admin |

James Abbott McNeill Whistler

James Abbott McNeill Whistler (July 11, 1834 – July 17, 1903) was an American-born, British-based artist. Averse to sentimentality and moral allusion in painting, he was a leading proponent of the credo “art for art’s sake”. His famous signature for his paintings was in the shape of a stylized butterfly possessing a long stinger for a tail.
His most famous painting is the iconic Whistler’s Mother, the revered and oft parodied portrait of motherhood.
Whistler was born in Lowell, Massachusetts. He was the first child born to George Washington Whistler, a prominent engineer, and Anna Matilda McNeill (his father’s second wife). Beginning in 1842, his father was employed to work on a railroad in Russia. After moving to St. Petersburg to join his father a year later, the young Whistler took private art lessons, then enrolled in the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts at age 11. Beginning in 1842, his father was employed to work on a railroad in Russia. After moving to St. Petersburg to join his father a year later, the young Whistler took private art lessons, then enrolled in the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts at age 11.

Portrait of Whistler with hat, 1858
Oil on canvas,
▼ Freer Gallery of Art, Washington DC, USA

At the piano, 1859
Oil on canvas,
Taft Museum, Cincinnati, OH, USA ▼

Black lion wharf, 1859
Etching,
Tate Gallery, London, UK ▼

Brown and silver: old Battersea bridge, 1865
Oil on canvas,
Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, MA, USA ▼

Rotherhithe, 1860
Etching,
British Museum, London, UK ▼

The Thames in ice, 1860
Oil on canvas,
Freer Gallery of Art, Washington DC, USA ▼

Harmony in green and rose: the music room, 1861
Oil on canvas,
Freer Gallery of Art, Washington DC, USA ▼

Wapping, 1861
Oil on canvas,
Private collection ▼

The coast of Brittany, 1861
Oil on canvas,
Private collection ▼

Symphony in White No. 1: The White Girl, 1862
Oil on canvas,
▼ National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, USA

The last of old Westminster, 1862
Oil on canvas,
The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, USA ▼

Grey and silver: old Battersea beach, 1863
Oil on canvas,
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, USA ▼

Caprice in purple and gold No. 2 – The Golden Screen, 1864
Oil on wood,
Freer Gallery of Art, Washington DC, USA ▼

Symphony in White No 2: The Little White Girl, 1864
Oil on canvas,
Tate Gallery, London, UK ▼

Rose and Silver:
The Princess from the Land of Porcelain, 1864
Oil on canvas,
▼ Freer Gallery of Art, Washington DC, USA

Variations in flesh color and green: The balcony, 1870
Oil on wood,
Freer Gallery of Art, Washington DC, USA ▼

The artist’s studio, 1865
Oil on millboard,
Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland ▼

Symphony in white, No. 3, 1867
Oil on canvas,
Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Birmingham, UK ▼

Trouville, 1865
Oil on canvas,
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, USA ▼

Sea and rain, 1865
Oil on canvas,
The University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, MI, USA ▼

Harmony in blue and silver: Trouville, 1865
Oil on canvas,
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, MA, USA ▼

Symphony in gray and green: The ocean, 1866
Oil on canvas,
The Frick Collection, New York, USA ▼

Crepuscule in flesh color and green: Valparaiso, 1866
Oil on canvas,
Tate Gallery, London, UK ▼

Battersea reach from Lindsey Houses, 1860
Oil on canvas,
Hunterian Art Gallery, Glasgow, UK ▼

Portrait of F. R. Leyland, 1870
Oil on canvas,
▼ Freer Gallery of Art, Washington DC, USA

Speke Hall, 1870
Etching
Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, UK ▼

Portrait of
Mrs. Frances Leyland, 1873
Oil on canvas,
▼ The Frick Collection, New York, USA

Nocturne in blue and green. Chelsea, 1870
Oil on canvas,
Tate Gallery, London, UK ▼

Nocturne: Grey and Gold – Westminster Bridge, 1874
Oil on canvas,
Glasgow Museums and Art Galleries, Glasgow, UK ▼

Portrait of the artist’s Mother, 1871
Oil on canvas,
Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France ▼

Nocturne in blue and silver, 1872
Oil on canvas ▼

Portrait of the painter, 1872
Oil on canvas,
The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, USA ▼

Portrait of Thomas Carlyle, 1872
Oil on canvas,
Glasgow Museums and Art Galleries, Glasgow, UK ▼

Cremorne lights, 1872
Oil on canvas,
Tate Gallery, London, UK ▼

Miss Cicely Alexander, 1874
Oil on canvas,
Tate Gallery, London, UK ▼

Cremorne gardens, No. 2. c, 1877
Oil on canvas,
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA ▼

Old Battersea Bridge, 1875
Oil on canvas,
Tate Gallery, London, UK ▼

The velvet dress, 1873
Etching and drypoint,
Freer Gallery of Art, Washington DC, USA ▼

Maud Franklin, 1875
Oil on canvas,
Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA ▼

Arrangement in White and Black, 1876
Oil on canvas,
Freer Gallery of Art, Washington DC, USA ▼

The Gold Scab, 1879
Oil on canvas,
Fine Art Museum of San Francisco, USA ▼

The Lagoon, Venice, 1880
Oil on canvas. The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, USA. ▼

Portrait of Théodore Duret, 1884
Oil on canvas,
▼ The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

Mist – Lifeboat, 1884
Oil on wood,
Freer Gallery of Art, Washington DC, USA ▼

London bridge, 1885
Oil on canvas,
Freer Gallery of Art, Washington DC, USA ▼

Annabel Lee, 1890
Pastel on brown paper,
Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, USA ▼

Portrait of Arthur J. Eddy, 1894
Oil on canvas,
▼ Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, USA

The little blue girl, 1901
Oil on canvas,
Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, USA ▼

The little rose of Lyme Regis, 1895
Oil on canvas,
The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA ▼