
An American in London
Whistler and the Thames
Philip Wilson Publishers Ltd
Published on 30. September 2013
Book
Hardback
160 pages
978-1-78130-006-0 (ISBN)
Description
In the 1860s and 1870s Whistler produced a body of work based on the Thames. Pivotal to his career, this beautiful group of paintings, prints and drawings permits a detailed examination of his approach to composition, subject and technique. The earliest paintings, notably Brown and Silver: Old Battersea Bridge, produced soon after his arrival in London, mark one of his most profound and successful challenges to the art establishment of the time. As well as allowing a detailed study of the evolution of an artist, these works show the Thames under contrasting climatic conditions, from Chelsea in Ice to the lovely Nocturne: Grey and Gold - Westminster Bridge, which depicts the deep blue of warm summer evenings. They bring to life Victorian London: the workers and women who frequented the Thames-side wharves and pubs, the shipping that thronged the Pool, the barges that navigated the perilous passage under the bridges, and the steamboats and ferries crowded with daytrippers.
The Nocturnes of the 1870s mark an important breakthrough in Whistler's art: his shift from French Realism to sophisticated harmony, based on mood and atmosphere, but still rooted in a literal rendering of the Thames waterside. The famous Blue and Gold - Old Battersea Bridge is the culmination of his bridge paintings; here the influence of Japanese prints reached its fullest form. This comprehensive and handsomely illustrated study presents the definitive examples of Whistler's radical new aesthetic approach to the time-honoured subject of the city and river. In addition, the works reveal to us his world - the exhibitions, the personalities, the buildings, the style, and the atmosphere which inform his art and root this American cosmopolitan securely in the ranks of artists inspired by London and the Thames.
The Nocturnes of the 1870s mark an important breakthrough in Whistler's art: his shift from French Realism to sophisticated harmony, based on mood and atmosphere, but still rooted in a literal rendering of the Thames waterside. The famous Blue and Gold - Old Battersea Bridge is the culmination of his bridge paintings; here the influence of Japanese prints reached its fullest form. This comprehensive and handsomely illustrated study presents the definitive examples of Whistler's radical new aesthetic approach to the time-honoured subject of the city and river. In addition, the works reveal to us his world - the exhibitions, the personalities, the buildings, the style, and the atmosphere which inform his art and root this American cosmopolitan securely in the ranks of artists inspired by London and the Thames.
Reviews / Votes
"Margaret F Macdonald working with Patricia de Montfort has put together an outstanding exhibition, accompanied by a catalogue that will continue to be read long after the show has closed."- Richard Dorment, Telegraph, 21 October 2013More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Illustrations
130 (105 colour, 25 bw)
Dimensions
Height: 289 mm
Width: 245 mm
Thickness: 22 mm
Weight
1323 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-78130-006-0 (9781781300060)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Margaret F. MacDonald is Professor Emerita and Honorary Professorial Research Fellow (History of Art) in the School of Culture and Creative Arts, University of Glasgow. She is Project Director of a recently completed research project to produce an online catalogue raisonne of Whistler's etchings. Dr Patricia de Montfort is lecturer in History of Art at the University of Glasgow. Her teaching and research interests include the life and work of James McNeill Whistler, nineteenth-century women artists and the nineteenth-century London art market.
Content
> Director's Foreword > Curator's Acknowledgements > Introduction: An American in London > Whistler and the Thames/ Margaret F. MacDonald > 'Painting river pictures': Whistler's Chelsea subjects/ Patricia de Montfort Catalogue > Etching and Drypoint > The Thames set > The Oil Paintings: Whistler's 'Daylights' > Chelsea > Lithographs and Lithotints: from Limehouse to Old Battersea Bridge > Nocturnes > Old Battersea Bridge > Japonisme > Photographs > List of Works > Notes > Bibliography > Chronology > Chronology of Whistler's Thames Subjects > Copyright and Photographic Credits > Index