WHISTLES, hwis'Itr. James Abbott McNeill, American artist : h. Lowell, Mass.. 10 July 1834; d. London. 17 July 1903. In 1831 be was appointed to the West Point Military Academy, which he left in 1854; and in 1854-55 was a draughtsman in the Coast and Geodetic Survey. This employment he soon quitted. going to England and thence to Paris, where in 1855-57 be was a pupil in the studio of C G. Gleyre, an artist of Ingres' school, who 'never drew a line without having first assured him self bow Raphael would have proceeded.' Pre sinus to the series generally styled the 'French Set.• Whistler is known to have etched three plates, and other early attempts were made. The 'French Set,* renderings of figures, street scenes and interiors, appeared in 1858 (pub lished by Delatre) —12 plates, with an etched title. But few copies were printed. In 1863 Whistler went to London and settled in Chelsea. During his earlier days there be completed the 'Thames Set' of etchings, 16 in all, treating of the craft of that stream and the quaint build ings along its edge. Some rare prints of these, generally considered superior, were made be fore their publication in 1871. 'The Pool' and 'Black Lion Wharf' are among the best of them. He exhibited paintings frequently at the Royal Academy, one of the earliest being 'At the Piano,' purchased by the Scottish painter John Phillip for 30 guineas. In 1872 the 'Ar rangement in Gray and Black' ((The Painter's Ilfother'), now in the Luxembourg Gallery, was accepted by the Academy only on the insistence ep of Sir William Boxall. Whistler sent other Factures, such as 'The Last of Old Westmin ster,' and 'Symphony in V1/411ite III,' but he could not agree with the management of that institution, long before his death ceased to ex hibit there and was never made A.R.A. Some of his best work was shown at the Grosvenor Gallery, opened by Sir Coin's Lindsay in 1877, incluelmg famous portraits. 'Irving as Philip and the 'Arrangements.' 'Harmonies.' and 'Nocturne.' novel in title and character It was in 1.1577 that Ruskin wrote of the 'Nocturne, Mack and Gold' ('The Falling Rocket' 1, then at the Grosvenor: 'I has e seen and heard ends of cockney impudence before now, hut never expected to hear a coxcomb ask 200 guineas for flinging a pot of paint in the pub lie's face' ('Fors Clasigera'). Then ensued the diverting Ruskin suit, brought for libel by the artist and heard in November 1878. The verdict was for the plaintiff, and the farthing assessed for damages Whistler afterward wore on his watch chain. The costs against Ruskin, f.306 12s. 4d., were met by a public subscription. Whistler followed up the affair by his pamphlet. 'Art vs. Art-Critics,' in which he first proved his .cleverness in controversial satire. lie pre ferred to exhibit his works under conditions which he could himself direct and gave a spe cial exhibiticni in 1874. Others, of either prints or paintings. were held in the rooms of the Fine Arts Society in 1880, 1881, 1883, 1884 and 1886. At the International Society, Knightsbridge, he always had chief place. He became a member of the Royal Society of British Artists in 1884 and in 1886 some 'revolutionary members* made him its president. His administration im proved the artistic quality of the exhibitions, but was not commercially successful, and in 1889 he failed of re-election and many of his following resigned. His explanation was char acteristic: 'It is all very simple. The Royal Society of British Artists has disintegrated— the 'artists' have come out, the 'British re main.'' • lie failed for a long time of the recognition he merited; but latterly many dis tinctions were conferred upon him. He was a member of the Legion of Honor and the Ba varian Order of Saint Michael, member of the Munich, Rome, Dresden and other academies; in 1900 received the unusual award at the Paris Exposition of the gold medal for etching and also for painting; and in 1902 the gold medal of honor from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. By many Whistler's etchings have been ranked as the consummate product of his art, classed with those of Rembrandt and even said to surpass the world's greatest etcher in the process of selecting essentials and a cer tain subtlety in execution. He did nut keep a set of proofs or memoranda of his work and probably no complete list of his etchings. The first catalogue of them appeared in 1874. Wed more gave 214 in 1886, 268 in 11439; a supple ment to Wedmore increased the number to 372. It is probable that the total is more than 400 prints. It has been said that while Rem brandt chose greater subjects, only a com paratively small part of the total number of his plates is sought by collectors, but all of Whistler's are highly esteemed by connoisseurs. 'There are no failures,' declares one writer; some are sketchier than others, but all are genuine expressions of Whistler's art. Whistler
used an increasing economy of means; the 'First Venice Set,' published by the Fine Arts Society in 1880 (12 plates), and the 'Twenty six Etchings' (1886), principally of Venetian subjects, though including some English also, show in this respect great difference from the 'French' and 'Thames' sets. The unfailing characteristics of the etchings are precision and flexibility of line and remarkable picturesque ness in the rendering of shade and light. Their observation and their technical skill are alike roteaorthy. Of the single plates may he nu n tioned Joe,' `Little Putney," Battercea Bridge,' 'Old Chelsea' and 'Spoke Hall' Examples arc to be seen in many important public collections, including the Venice Acad emy, Bibliotheque Nationale, British Museum, the New York Public Library and the Dresden Gallery. In dry-point and lithography, too, Whistler was very successful. His first lith ographs were made in 1877 and he greatly improved the art. His London exhibition of 1883 contained, besides etchings, a number of dry-points; in 1896 about 70 lithographs were shown at the Fine Arts Society. The Way catalogue, no longer in print and claiming to include all those printed down to 1897, gave 130, to which at least eight must further he added. The list of nearly 400 etchings and dry-points and 138 lithographs, known to be in existence, reveals a large amount of work, even supposing that the artist had done noth ing else. In pastel and water-colors, Whistler wrought sparingly, although some of the Venetian pastels are the equals of anything yet attempted in that medium. His creed as a painter he stated in two series of 'Proposi tions,' and the lecture 'Ten o'Clock' first given in London 20 Feb. 1885. One of the proposi tions was that a painting had 'no mission to fulfil,' hut was a 'joy to the artist, a delusion to the philanthropist, a puzzle to the botanist.• Critics he thought a herd of ignoramuses; hut they had their utility—'they keep one always busy, always up to the mark, either fighting or proving them idiots." For a long time in Lon don he was better known for his pugnacity than for his art. His arrogance, his mordant wit, his sparkling bon-mots, his striking individuality — these were sooner recognized than his genius. His fondness for sarcasm and the severity and clearness with which be lambasted those he did not like — and they were many — qualified him as a past-master in 'the gentle art of making enemies.' It is to he regretted that his excep tional genius was thus marred. He had in oils a broad range of subjects. There are the nu merous portraits; marines ('Valparaiso Har bor': 'Blue Wave— Biarritz' ; 'The Ocean' ; and landscapes of many sorts, especially those interpretative of night. His method was to apply many coats of thin color instead of one or a kw of greater consistency' this guarantees to his work a superior permanence. He was abose all the colorist and in pure line and color harmonic.: has be> n called one of the supreme artist III, work has repeatedly been compared to that of Velasquez, but study shows very important dissimilarities and Whistler must re main unique. He borrowed somewhat from Oriental art, though always subordinating these element, to his own ends. Among portraits not rt f erred to is that of Carlyle, now in the (daseow Museum, of which the philosopher ob ,(ned, 'wed, man, you have given me a clean collar, and that is more than Meester Watts has (ion( • Whistler did some work in interior decoratin, such as the music-room of Sarasate (Paris' and the °Peacock-room° for Mr. Ley land (London ). Many fine examples of his patntirws a re in American galleries, public and prisate. Ills plact in the history of world art cannot )et e•ttrnated, hut he may safely be put amour; the great( .1 p.iititcri of the 19th century.
Bibliography.— 'Recollections and Impres sions,' by Eddy ( l'003) ; Menpes' 'Whistler as I Knew Him' (1904); Seitz, Don 0., 'Writ ings by and About Whistler' (New York 1910). and 'Whistler Stories' (New York (1913); Theodore, 'Whistler' (Paris 1904) ; Cary, E. L., 'The Works of James McNeill Whistler> (New York 1907); Bachcr. 0. H., 'With Whistler in Venice' (ib. 1908); Hart mann, Samuel, 'The Whistler Book' (Boston 1910); Rutter. Frank. 'Whistler' (New York 1911); Gallatin, A. E., 'Whistler's Portraits and Other Modern Profiles' (2d ed_. New York 1913); id., 'Portraits and Caricatures of James McNeil Whistler' (ib. 1913) ; id.. 'Notes on Some Rare Portraits of Whistler' (ib 1916); Kennedy, E. G., 'Etchings of Whistler' (ib. 1910); Way and Dennis, 'The Art of James McNeill Whistler' (ib. 1905); Wedmore. F. 'Whistler and Others' (ib. 1906); 'Masters in Art' (Vol. VIII, Boston 1907): 'Descriptive Catalogue of the Etchings and Drypoints of James A. McNeill Whistler' (Chicago 1909).