Book Review Rating ♥♥♥♥♥
Published by Yale University Press
James Abbot Whistler (he would add his mother’s maiden of McNeill later
in his life) was born in the busy mill town of Lowell, Massachusetts, in 1834 (though
he would come to deny that place of birth in an attempt to remove, “the taint
of Lowell” from his life when writing his biographical sketch for the American Who’s Who) to a mother whose family came
from the plebeian North Carolina, (something else Whistler would deny stating
that his mother’s family came from the aristocratic South Carolina).
The Little Rose of Lyme Regis
His father George Washington Whistler was a West Point graduate and that
U.S. Military Academy made him an engineer. His excellence in the field of
railroad engineering brought him to the attention of Tsar Nicholas I who hired
him to build a railroad from St. Petersburg to Moscow. The young Whistler spent
five years in Russia and during that time his love of art bloomed. The renowned
artist Sir William Allan, who was in Russia to paint the history of Peter the
Great, told Whistler’s mother that her son had an “uncommon genius”.
Purple and Rose: The Lange Lijzen of the Six Marks
This ‘genius’ went on to become arguably one of the most influential
painters of the 19th century. Whistler was influenced over the years
by many artists, notably Velasquez and Courbet, and was also influenced by
Courbet’s Realism and especially Oriental art which continued to fascinate him
throughout his whole life. His style of realism became known as Naturalism.
However, over the years he easily moved through different styles of art and
also through different mediums of art becoming an expert and an innovator in
anything he done. Walter Sickert declared to a friend, “Such a man! The only
painter alive who has first immense genius, then conscientious persistent work
striving after his ideal”. But Whistler “espoused no doctrine, proposed no
laws, even though he spoke constantly the science of art.” The important factor
in art, for Whistler was ‘delicacy’ a tenderness, neatly and nicety.
Wapping
Not only is this the first Whistler biography in 20 years but it is the
first to make extensive use of the artist’s private correspondence. That ‘extensive
use’ shines through this book like light through stained glass. The author Daniel
E Sutherland has taken the chiaroscuro printed page of Whistler’s private correspondence
and thrown beautiful colours onto the page in the form of wonderful insights
and satisfyingly brought the artist to life to such an extent as one feels that
Whistler is the room as you read.
At The Piano
Being a lover of art I have to admit that like most people I believed
him as nothing more than a dandy, a dilettante,
an egoist who ‘stole’ from other artists and created only one masterpiece, An
Arrangement in Grey and Black colloquially and erroneously known as Whistler’s
Mother. Thanks to Mr Sutherland my mind has now filed that belief under ‘short-sightedness’.
Beach Scene
One of the main raison d’êtres of a literary or artistic biography is
to have today’s and future generations to not only re-evaluate the biography’s
subject but to instill a need to read the books or see the paintings. This
biography achieves that in the proverbial spades. I have already been searching
online to see which paintings can be seen in Edinburgh and Glasgow. The author
has achieved a wonderful biography that has been written in a clear,
comprehensive and entertaining manner. Mr Sutherland has managed to achieve
that difficult task of writing a biography that is at once both entertaining and
intelligent. This has to be the definitive biographical work on Whistler and I
pity and writer who attempts to write one in the future. I will leave you with
the words of Arthur Symons;
Nocturne, Blue and Silver, Chelsea.
“He talked of art, certainly for art’s sake, with the passionate
reverence of the lover, and with the joyous certainty of one who knows himself
loved.”
Number of Pages - 432
This was sent to me via Netgalley for an unbiased and honest review.
