James McNeill Whistler
(American, 1834-1903)
Whistler was one of the most controversial artists of the last part
of the
nineteenth century and delighted in puncturing the stuffiness
of the English
whose lifes he delighted in enlivening. Yet despite his
abrasive personality,
his art is among the most subtle of his times.
Whistler made it his mission in
England, where he spent the latter
part of his life, to attack the notion that
the artist must portray
the subjects upon which he worked recognizably,
prefering instead
to present the inner harmony that he felt when painting,
etching,
or making prints.
His work moves from Realism to Impressionism to
Symbolism to Abstraction.
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