James M Whistler

Life and Times  James McNeill Whistler was born in Lowell Massachusetts. In 1842, his father, a well respected railroad engineer, gained work in St Petersburg, as a consultant to Czar Nicholas, advising on the newly planned St Petersburg – Moscow route. The whole family made the move to Russia. The young Whistler began his artistic education by attending the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts. In 1849, his father died, and the family moved back to the US. Whistler continued his education first at school, then later by following his father into West Point. Three years after joining the academy, he dropped out, for failing at a chemistry exam.

A year later, Whistler decided to move to Paris, with the ambition of becoming a professional artist. He studied under Charles-Gabriel Gleyre, a talented Swiss artist. After a period of concentrating on etchings, Whistler turned to oils. His first major painting, At the Piano, was rejected by the Paris Salon. In disgust, Whistler crossed the channel to London, which remained his base until 1892.

Through his formative years, Whistler began to think of painting and music and synchronous and parallel arts, so he began naming his works appropriately. His next well-know work, Symphony in White No 1 : The White Girl was painted in 1861. The painting, of his model and mistress Jo, has strong Pre-Raphaelite tones.

In 1876, one of Whistler’s most generous patrons, Frederick Leyland, commissioned the artist to decorate a dining room. The result was so despised by Leyland that the two fell out, leaving Whistler in financial difficulties.

Further controversy followed in 1877, when the art critic and thinker John Ruskin criticized a series of his paintings including, Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket by writing in a newspaper article ‘never expected to hear a coxcomb ask two hundred guineas for flinging a pot of paint in the public’s face.’ Whistler sued the critic, eventually winning a farthing damages. The trial, the outcome of which was perhaps not entirely in Whistler’s favor, was brilliant PR, making the artist considerably more famous. His financial troubles evaporated, as his paintings became more commercially successful.

In 1886, Whistler painted Harmony in Red: Lamplight. Portrait of Mrs Beatrice Godwin.. Beatrice’s husband died the same year. Two years later Beatrice and Whistler married. Beatrice was an accomplished painter in her own right – often Whistler turned to her for advice.

In 1903 Whistler died in London.