WHISTLER, JAMES ABBOTT McNEILL 1903), painter, was born at Lowell, Mass., U.S.A., in 1834, of Irish-American parents. His grandfather emigrated to America. He belonged to a family of soldiers. At the age of 17, after spending some time in St. Petersburg (Leningrad), where his father was acting as an engineer, the painter was entered at West Point Military academy, but left because his studies proved quite unsatisfactory. After trying to enter the Navy he became a draughtsman in the Coast Survey Department at Washington. The precision of the work was, however, more than he could bear, so in 1854 he sailed to England and thence to France, in 1855, where he studied for two years in the Paris atelier of the then prominent painter, Charles Gabriel Gleyre. He then came to the conclusion that nothing further could be learned in such academic surroundings. Gleyre, who maintained the Ingres traditions, was accounted by Whistler a "bourgeois Greek" and when, later, the pupil offered a picture for the judgment of the official Salon, it was promptly refused. Nothing daunted in his independent spirit, he sent it to the Salon des Refuses, where it scored an unqualified success. Recognition of his genius came very tardily, England especially being extremely unsympathetic, an attitude provoked by the American's delight in mystifying the English painters, critics and public and in returning their ridicule. His contempt for the prevailing fashion was reflected in his dress, which was immaculate almost to dandyism, whilst his unpunctu ality was a source of exasperation.
The art of Whistler was subjected to various influences, among them those of Courbet, Velasquez, Puvis de Chavannes, Hogarth and Tintoretto, but his own personality is always uppermost. The shops of Amsterdam provided the blue and white porcelain which before the days of eager collectors adorned his paintings. He was an admirer of Japanese colour-prints which, used as packing for other articles around the year 186o, were soon imported for their own decorative virtues. Whistler used them in such pic tures as "The Balcony," "La Princesse du Pays de la Porcelaine" and "The Golden Screen." The result is the perfect modification of Eastern influences by European traditions and ideals. Here was a step towards a more abstract conception of art.
Lithography, the discovery of Senef elder, was perfected by Whistler, whilst his etchings are marvels of delicacy and bear out his own contention that the area covered should be in ratio to the strength of the means employed. His condemnation of the large plate as an abomination may be regarded as an admission of his own limitations. During the greater part of his life, he produced an average of 12 etchings or lithographs each year; yet he found time to write charming prose, reflecting the meticulous care which he bestowed upon his person and surroundings. Whistler's "Ten o'clock" lecture was a statement of his convic tions concerning art, and, like his "Gentle Art of Making Ene mies," acted by its very brilliance as a goad to his adversaries. In 1883 Whistler exhibited 51 etchings and drypoints at the Fine Art Society, London, and in 1896, 7o lithographs were shown. During his lifetime he produced nearly 400 etchings and dry points and probably i5o lithographs. At the Grosvenor gallery, newly opened in 1877 by Sir Coutts Lindsay, his paintings in cluded some "nocturnes," and of the International Society he was the first president.