James McNeill Whistler an Evolution of Painting from the Old Masters: Identified By Two Missing Masterpieces

By Angelle M Vinet

The discovery of this masterpiece Whistler’s “Portrait of William Merritt Chase,” along with another important Whistler painting, “Harmony in Black, No10,” reveals exciting new discoveries on Whistler’s artistic methods, from the Old Masters and the artistic truisms of the Renaissance. Documented analysis including x-ray examination, forensics and recognized paintings by Whistler’s followers will confirm this portrait and “Harmony in Black, No10,” with x-ray revealing two lost paintings. These Whistler paintings connect scholarship and identify paintings worthy of merit and what makes a masterpiece a masterpiece.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
• Release date: Aug 16, 2017
• ISBN: 9781483471228

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James McNeill Whistler

an Evolution of Painting from the Old Masters

Identified by two missing masterpieces

Angelle M Vinet

Copyright © 2017 Angelle M Vinet

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means—whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic—without written permission of the author, except in the case of brief excerpts used in critical articles and reviews. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

Interior Graphics/Art Credit: James McNeill Whistler

ISBN: 978-1-4834-7123-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-7122-8 (e)

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Lulu Publishing Services rev. date: 09/04/2017

This book is

dedicated to my sister, Rhonda whose enduring belief in my ability gave me the courage to achieve it.

France no more taught Whistler to paint than it taught him to etch. His masters were older and greater than the art of France.

Arthur Jerome Eddy

‘All art constantly aspires towards the condition of music.’

Walter Pater

The proper place for Whistler’s oeuvre is in the Louvre between Veronese and Velazquez.

Quoted in Pennell 1919 by French Critic, Marcel Roland, 1886

Like Manet, Whistler invokes correspondence among the senses through visual harmonies augmented by aural signifiers that imply actual and imaginative listening. Painting, Poetry and Music—all represented in ‘La Lecture’—are analogues and interconnected modes of transport and reverie.

Whistler scholar, Robin Spencer and her book, Whistler, Manet, and the Traditions of the Avant Garde from James Mc Neill Whistler A Reexamination, Volume 19, Studies in the History of Art, edited by Ruth E. Fine

From a distance nothing will appear other than the illuminated parts (Urb.136V, L*A.26).On the other hand he was well aware of the efficacy of tonal contrast: White with black or black with white will appear more potent, one by the other, and thus adjacent opposites will always display themselves more perfectly (Urb.75v,L*A.27). If your figure is light set it on a dark ground (Urb. 136r, L*A.30)."

Leonardo Da Vinci, the Marvelous Works of Nature and Man, Martin Kemp

"Why have you withered people and stung them all your life? asked a lady. My dear, he said, I will tell you a secret. Early in life I made a discovery that I was charming; and if one is delightful, one has to thrust the world away to keep from being bored to death."

James McNeill Whistler

Whistler Stories, collected and arranged by Don C. Seitz

Acknowledgements

It is with deep gratitude to my family and their understanding of my passion to study art that I was able to achieve this effort. They have stood by me through it all and never gave up on me. My gratitude and love goes out to my sister, Rhonda, and my son, Alexander who have been with me every step of the way. I thank my mother for teaching me courage and determination to face and fight the challenges that have been placed before me. This book was the idea of my dear friend and Paris college roommate, Rosanne who after reading my research told me that I must write a book. Further gratitude goes out to my lifelong friend who has been so encouraging, Dr. Albert Tydings who assisted me with getting the x-ray of Harmony in Black, No 10. Thank you to Lakeview Regional Medical Center for allowing me to x-ray my paintings. I could not have accomplished this effort without my publisher’s help Sarah Smith, Thomas McQuade, and Carolyn Neal Lockridge at Lulu publishing whose valuable expertise patiently guided me through the process. A heart filled thank you to all my friends for listening to me confabulate about Whistler and helping me move forward in my studies, their loyalty and encouragement I will never forget.

As a child, I was a tomboy climbing trees, building forts and dreamt of becoming an archaeologist. It was the love of the hunt that has never left me and years of study and cultivating an eye for fine art. About age sixteen I found a black and white image of Whistler’s Self Portrait in a Hat,1857-58, and was completely captivated by his eccentric bohemian style. Looking back on this moment, I remember thinking that somehow I would be connected to this artist. Whistler fit well with my own self-image as a non-conformist always going against the grain. I was unaware when I left for art school in Paris that I would be walking in Whistler’s footsteps. Life is a journey and mine has been a blessing of opportunity, excitement, danger, failures, sadness, bad judgements, love, loss, winning, success, and my greatest gift my son, so basically more than any human could ask for in one lifetime. Whenever I felt discouraged I would recall my blessings as a mother and nothing else mattered. I am grateful for all the people who believed in me, taught me along the way, and even to the people who have hurt me. Please forgive me for not mentioning anyone personally.

Like Whistler, my education has been unconventional and includes four years of art school with an associate’s degree from Paris American Academy. My home holds a rich art library with many well-worn books. In the 1990’s, I completed the docent program at Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco, just prior to their move to the new building and developed a further appreciation for modern and contemporary art. My passion to study art history drives me to continue to develop my knowledge of art. I have developed an eye for paintings and throughout this pursuit have found a passion for researching art and educated myself on American/European nineteenth century painters with a focus on James McNeill Whistler and the artists associated with him. I live inside my own library of art history books where I can feed my passion on a daily basis. I am also an artist, afflicted with ADHD and dyslexia so writing a book was initially a frightening prospect. But nothing in life is impossible and perhaps my effort inspires others. I believe it is true that you must push yourself in life to the things you think you cannot achieve and in the process of doing so discover a renewed sense of self. My hope is to add to the rich scholarship that inspired this book on James McNeill Whistler.

A passion for all things French started at an early age, so I was eager and elated for the opportunity to study abroad. Like Whistler, Paris was always on my radar and my desire to be there was inevitable. It was a euphoric feeling after winning acceptance to La Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisian, and had I had a better understanding of French would have likely graduated from here but ended up leaving after my second semester. My travels and journeys in life have been either a blessing or a lesson. I feel fortunate to have found my passion in studying art history and the courage to pursue my goals without fear of rejection. The ‘art world’ has given me another education on how they operate if you are not someone with vast wealth, power and you happen to own something of value without a recorded provenance they control the outcome till its desirable for their interests. Not every painting has a recorded provenance some have a factious provenance, private or in the case of Whistler unknown; it’s all about who owns the painting. Numerous paintings in museums and private collections lent to museums and in private hands around the globe if one research’s could in some cases find out the truth of their provenance. These paintings are listed as Private Collection, Collection of a Lady or a Gentleman, so that the history of the painting and its owners are never disclosed. Academia and the institutions with money control everything that happens. James Mc Neill Whistler was considered a degenerate artist by Adolf Hitler so to make the claim that these were paintings taken by the Nazi party would be inaccurate. Paintings without a recorded provenance have been sold at auction and thru private sale for decades with the public having no knowledge of who owns them or their history. The portrait on the cover is James McNeill Whistler’s, Portrait of William Merritt Chase, 1885. Whistler stated that he was making the world wait" and then he put the painting into a hidden location. Because of historical documentation from Whistler in his own words, there is no question about the provenance on this portrait (front cover) and it is from Whistler to me, period. After presenting a painting to a certain auction house I received a letter from my bank telling me I was no longer able to send a wire to Europe. So at this point, even though I live in America, it was understood that I was no longer a free citizen able to live my dream as an art dealer and to support my family as a single mother. The organizations and institutions with money and power were shutting me down. As I stated to the experts when presenting my paintings if they are someone else’s property and there is viable proof then they will be returned. I have checked over the years and none of my paintings are listed on the lost art registry (www.lostart.de). I have not been able to trace any painting to any person or institution. I have inquired several times with the auction house where I purchased, Harmony in Black, No 10, (image on back cover of book), and was told that under French law they are not allowed to give the name of the consigner. The only information they disclosed is that the consigner was the family of an elderly lady who died and her estate was placed at auction. The images in the auction catalogue reveal dusts marks (see images in back of book) evidence of someone looking for a signature. Whistler’s signature in 1885, similar to his other paintings, was a butterfly, located ¾ down from the top and similar to other Whistler signatures married into the background of the painting.

I am in gratitude to Professor Dr. Margaret F. McDonald for her time and attention. I appreciate her taking the time for me in 2007, to visit her at the University of Glasgow in Glasgow, Scotland and her help in directing me. Her assistance with my knowledge of Whistler has helped me to develop a meaningful understanding of the artist. I am also thankful to Professor Daniel Sutherland and his communications with me on finding the answers I was seeking. Also I would like to thank all the noted Whistler scholars who have spent their lives studying Whistler and all their work, lectures and published literature on the artist. I have studied their books, listen to all of their videos and it has always been a pleasure for me to learn and to continue to learn from them. Their wealth of information has helped me gain a better knowledge of Whistler his students, followers, and artistic colleagues. They are Andrew McLaren Young, Nigel Thorp, Hamish Miles, Patricia de Montfort, Richard Dorment, Robin Spencer, Ruth Fine, Lee Glazer, John Siewert, Linda Merrill, David Park Curry, Sarah Walden, Ayako Ono, Philippa Abrahams, Patrick Chaleyssin, John Walker, Michael Howard, Ronald Anderson, Anne Koval, Anna Gruetzner Robins, Edgar Munhall, Peter Black, Katherine Lochnan, Arthur J. Eddy, Avis Berman, Frank Rutter, Theodore Duret, Robert De Montesquiou, Caroline Collier, Pierre Cabanne, Hilary Taylor, Stanley Weintraub, Roy McMullen, Elizabeth and Joseph Pennell, Otto H. Bacher, M.E. Chevreul, Frederick A. Sweet, Sadakichi Hartmann, Rebecca N. Mitchell, Sir Henry Thompson, Adrian Frazier, Lecoq de Boisdaudran, George Du Maurier, Mortimer Menpes, Hesketh Pearson, G. H. Fleming, Walter Sickert, Dorothy Menpes, Don C. Seitz, Elizabeth L. Cary, Jan Kinsman, Jacques E. Blanche, Haldane Macfall, John Lavery, Martin Hutner, Beatrice Webb, Tom Pocock, Elbert Hubbard, Campbell Dodgson, A. E. Gallatin, Burns A Stubbs, W. Graham Robertson, David Scruton, Walter Osborne, James Laver, Aimee Crane, T. R. Way, G. R. Dennis, Horace Gregory, Deanna Marohn Bendix, Kenneth J. Myers, Denys Sutton, Donald Holden, Francis Spalding, John Walker, Geoffrey F. DeSylva, Julian Halsby, Hugh Honour, John Fleming, Margaret M. Lovell, Roger Brown, Alfred Stevens, Charlotte Adams, Gary Levine, Robert R. Preato, Francine Tyler, Kenneth McConkey, The Havemeyer Collection, Lilian M.C. Randall, J. F. Heijbroek, Carole McNamara, Robert H. Getscher, Ann C. Gunter, Allen Staley, Frederick Keppel, Theodore Reff, Maria Naylor, David Fraser Jenkins, Avis Berman, Caldesi and Montecchi, Mervyn Levy, Eric Denker, Martha Tedeschi, Sir Edwin Arnold, Marc Simpson, Wanda Mcorn, Cody Hartley, Michael J. Lewis, Leo G. Mazow, Joyce H. Stoner, John Milner, Patrick Bade, Richard Thomson, Carol Armstrong, Denis Rouart, and Barbara Ehrlich White.

All the other art historians and scholars who have dedicate their lives in the study of art; I have spent the last ten years fully immersed in their literature and videos. Their passion and rich expertise on their artists of scholar has given me invaluable information for my studies. I plan to continue expanding my library as new information becomes available. I am grateful to have learned from the following scholars, Linda Nochlin, Sarah Faunce, Bridget Alsdorf, Michael Fried, Simon Schama, Waldermar Januszczak, Professor William Kloss, Professor Richard Brettell, Jan Marsh, Odette Bornand, James Stanley Little, Robyn Asleson, Tim Barringer, Elizabeth Hop Chang, John Rothenstein, William Gaunt, Arthur K.Whellock,Jr. Susan J. Barnes, Julius S. Held, William M. Rossetti, Ruskin Rossetti, Robert Bantens, William Rothenstein, Ann Galbally, Roger Billcliffe, Joanna Banham, Sally McDonald, Julia Porter, Daniel Thomas, Bradley Smith, Perez Sanchez Sayre, Jonathan Brown, Carmen Garrido, Antonio Dominguez Ortiz, Alfonso E. Perez Sanchez, Julian Gallego, Edmund and Jules De Goncourt, Gary Tinteron, Genevieve Lacambre, Deborah L. Roldan, Juliet Wilson-Bareau, Jose Lopez Rey, Norbert Wolf, Enrique Lafuent Ferrari, Leah Kharibian, John Marciari, Suzanne L. Stratton-Pruitt, Christopher Baker, David Howarth, Paul Stirton, Claudia Heide, Michael Jacobs, Hilary Macartney, Nicholas Tromans, Elaine Kilmurray, Erica E. Hirshler, Mary F. Burns, Stanley Olson, Jane Dini, Ilene Susan Fort, Stephanie L. Herdrich, Francesca Bardazzi, Carlo Sisi, Edward Lucie-Smith, Michelle Verrier, Bridget Alsdorf, Douglas Druick, Michel Hoog, Ambroise Vollard, Edward C. Strutt, David Alan Brown, Sylvia Ferino-Pagden, Frederick Ilehman, A. Paolucci, L. Lazzarini, G. Bortolaso, G.Benzoni, G. Romanelli, F. Valcanover, G.Nepi Scire, Frederick Hartt, David G. Wilkins, James H. Buck, Charles McCorquodale, Norbert Schneider, Pierre Descargues, Jan Roberts, Annick Born and Maximilliaan P. J. Martens, Norton Davis, Peter. C. Sutton, Christopher Brown, Jan Kelch, Otto Newman, William Robinson, Cynthia Von Bogendorf Ruprath, Marie de Winkel, Anna Tummers, Christopher D. M. Atkins, Martin Biji, Karolien De Clippel, Jonathan Gration, Jasper Hillegers, Sopie Rietueld, Michiel Roscantbbing, Filip Vermyelen, Christopher Wright, Arthur K. WHellock, Jr. Alison McNeil Kettering, Arie Wallert, Marjorie E. Wieseman, Walter Liedtke, Harry, B. Wehle, Margaretta Salinger, Anthony Bailey, Joseph Chiari, Mariet Westermann, Till Holger Borchert, Carola Hicks, Antia Albus, P. J. Martens, Eugene Fromentin, Hatje Cantz, Norbert Schneider, Eduard Pietzsch, Charles D. Cuttler, Jane Roberts, Sylvia Yount, William H. Gerdts, Alice A. Carter, Tara Leigh Tappert, Keith L. Bryant, Jr., Katherine Metcalf Roof, Jean-Dominique Rey, Charles F. Stuckey, William P. Scott, Suzanne G. Lindsay, Anne Higonnet, Germain Bazin, Julie Wilson-Bareau, David Degener, T. A. Gronberg, Brian Kennedy, Christopher Le Brun, Emile Zola, Gilles Neret, Antonin Proust, Beth Archer Brombert, Fritz Novotry, T. J. Clark, John House, Raymond Cogniat, Susie Hodge, Vanessa Potts, Cynthia Saltzman, Andrea Bayer, M. Cristina Rodeschini, Giorgio Bonsanti, Sybille Ebert Schifferer, Stefano Zuffi, Catherine Pugligi, William Barcham, Sylvia Ferino- Pagden, Lynn Federle Orr, Michael Baxandall, Madeline Hours, D. M. Field, Peter Humfrey, Arnoldo Mondadori Arte, Julia Davis,Rachel Annand Taylor, Robert Enggass, Sheila Hale, Marion Kaminski, Filippo Pedrocco, Cecil Gould, Pietro Zampetti, David Allen Brown, Mauro Lucco, John Berger, Esmee Quodbach, Simon Schnama, Ernest Van da Wetering, Volker Manuth, Marieke de Winkel, Christopher White, Quentin Buvelot, Auguste Breal, Michael Taylor, Anthony Bailey, Pascal Bonafoux, Svetlana Alpers, Madelynn Dickerson, I. F. Waltner, R. Meteger, Steven Naifeh, Gregory White Smith, John Richardson, Gilot and Lake, Bridette Leal, Christine Piot, Marie-Laure Bernadac, Sam Hunter, Charles Baudelaire, Giorgio Vaasari, Pierre Assouline, Nancy Mowll Mathews, Peter Trippi, Sue Roe, Eliza E. Rathbone, George T. M. Shackelford, Anita Brookner, and John Milner.

Preface

This contribution of James McNeill Whistler’s identifiable influence of the Old Masters is the result of a ten year project. Research and careful analysis of two lost major masterpiece paintings by James McNeill Whistler has yielded new discoveries on the artist. This text includes considerable extended quotes from academic scholars and many recognized experts in order to support my findings. It is from researching their material and the study of these lost paintings that has yielded further knowledge on James McNeill Whistler and all artists associated with him. I am not a recognized scholar, I am an artist, art dealer and a student with a passion for studying James McNeill Whistler and everything associated with the artist. In 1980, Yale Press published The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler, Text and Plates, a catalogue raisonne written by Andrew McLaren Young, Margaret MacDonald and Robin Spencer with assistance from Hamish Miles. This catalogue states in the ‘Introduction’ of the 559 paintings catalogued 213 are missing with the likelihood of 50 destroyed by the artist. I purchased both paintings at auction houses one in 2006 and the portrait in 2010 on two separate European buying trips in 2006, Harmony in Black #10 and in 2010,Whistler’s,Portrait of William Merritt Chase. It can be assumed that Harmony in Black, No 10, was sold after its exhibition at George Pettit’s gallery in 1887. Harmony in Black No10 1885, is listed as #357 in Whistler’s catalogue raisonne The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler, Text Andrew McLaren Young, Margaret MacDonald, Robin Spencer and Hamish Miles, Text and Plates. X-ray analysis reveals the two paintings under, Harmony in Black, No 10, the portrait of Lili Langtry listed, #227. Arrangement in Yellow: Portrait of Lily Langtry, 1883, and turning the x-ray over discovery reveals the first portrait on the canvas as, #97. Portrait Sketch of Frederick Leyland," 1870/73 all listed in the catalogue raisonne as ‘whereabouts unknown.’ This painting is one of two major masterpiece paintings known to be painted by James Mc Neill Whistler in a private collection. Harmony in Black, No10 1885 is the third painting in a series of paintings depicting the study of light and atmosphere the first being, Whistler’s Arrangement in Gray and Black No1, Portrait of the Artist’s Mother, 1872, then a further expression of atmosphere is revealed with Arrangement in Gray and Black No2: Portrait of Thomas Carlyle, 1872-73.

Whistler was at the height of his artistic expression in 1885 and during this time William Merritt Chase came to visit him, and they decided to paint each other’s portrait. Chase’s, Portrait of James McNeill Whistler, is housed in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Whistler’s most famous portrait is his masterpiece never before seen till now his, Portrait of William Merritt Chase, (front cover image) viewed only by William Merritt Chase and then Whistler placed the painting into a hidden location likely with an appointed entrusted custodian. Whistler was unhappy with Chase’s portrait of him calling it a monstrous lampoon, stating that he made [Chase] beautiful on canvas- the Masher of the Avenues. On September 1, 1885 in Whistler’s own words he stated that the world would have to wait to view his portrait of Chase. www.whistler.arts.gla.ac.uk/correspondence, System# 00594. Upon Chase’s return to America in 1885, he gave many lectures on art and praised Whistler and his influences of Velazquez. The painting was discussed amongst Whistler’s colleagues and referenced by Chase not only in his lectures but also in a number of portraits Chase painted inspired by Whistler’s portrait of him.

After years of researching Whistler, I purchased the portrait of Chase and as an unsigned 19th century portrait at auction in 2010. Although at the time of purchase I was not completely confident that the portrait was Whistler’s, Portrait of William Merritt Chase. During the time of purchase I had decided to start looking for portraits and it stood out as being a stunning portrait. My assessment in pondering the likelihood of finding this historical painting I was skeptical the painting was Whistler’s lost masterpiece. It was only until I undertook the research of carefully proceeding through a process of elimination, careful examination of every detail, research, with x-ray analysis and infra-red photographic examination. Initially my eye told me it was Whistler’s painting and then I had to prove it to myself even before I would think about presenting it with another important Whistler painting. Because of my careful analysis and complete examination the evidence is transparent, I have found Whistler’s Portrait of William Merritt Chase, Masher of the Avenues,1885.

These two paintings are the most important paintings in Whistler’s oeuvre that have yet to be recognized by the Whistler’s scholars. The manuscript will reveal a plethora of information on Whistler, his students, followers and all of Whistler’s colleagues. The discovery of these paintings opens ‘a window of opportunity’ discovering unknown information not only on James McNeill Whistler but on all other artists who lived before, during and after his lifetime. James McNeill Whistler was a pivotal nineteenth century artist who contributed a prodigious endowment to modern art and a harbinger of abstract expressionism. Whistler was not only a prominent aesthetic painter who seriously studied art history, but also a writer on art, a teacher of art, an actor, an interior decorator, product designer, fashion designer, furniture designer, a director of many exhibitions who single handedly remade the way we view art. The design of our museums and galleries is owed to Whistler’s influence and insistence of spacing pictures in exhibitions, museums and galleries.

The rich scholarship already acknowledged will be further explored and identified as to the source on Whistler’s influence of Leon Battista Alberti, Leonardo da Vinci, Albrecht Durer, Hans Memling, Hans Holbein The Younger, Lorenzo Lotto, Diego Velazquez, Titian, Tintoretto, Paolo Veronese, Rembrandt Van Rijn, Francisco Jose de Goya, Johannes Vermeer, Michael Sweerts, Hans Memling, Hans Holbein, Jean-Antoine Watteau, Eugene Delacroix and others. Whistler stated that he wished to copy the ways and means of the Old Masters and he did in his approach and methods. Contributions in this research disclose that Whistler was heavily influenced by the early Northern and Italian Renaissance and followed Leon Battista Alberti’s On Painting, (Albertism) and Leonardo da Vinci’s, Treatise on Painting. Whistler was inspired by major masterpiece paintings and the oeuvre of Titian and Tintoretto’s influence is comparable to that of Velazquez. Further research and study has made evident that Whistler’s harmony in black and white was inspired from his study of Albertism and Leonardo da Vinci’s, Treatise on Painting with his presentation of contrasts. Additionally, many of Whistler’s major paintings are constructed with Leon Battista Alberti’s musical consonances. This is clarified by the titles in Whistler’s paintings as he was quoted that they have a specific meaning for his paintings.

My research is substantiated and supported from the literature of noted art scholars, listed experts, colleagues, associates and students of James McNeill Whistler who I have quoted and with additional support from www.whistler.arts.gla.ac.uk/correspondence,the site address for correspondences of James McNeill Whistler and Whistler’s Photographs Special Collections at, www.gla.ac.uk the web address for University of Glasgow in Glasgow, Scotland. This endowment of research on James Mc Neill Whistler is presented in an effort to aid the information on scholarly study of Whistler in the expectation to further the understanding of his considerable contributions to art history. I agree with Whistler’s enormous influence of Asian aesthetics and his passion for all things Oriental and this influence is evident in his oeuvre and has already been discussed by numerous Whistler scholars. I am grateful to have had the time to study Whistler and all who influenced his artistry.

Whistler’s manifesto proclamation in his Ten O’clock lecture’ was based on his knowledge of art, in that masterpieces are timeless and throughout the centuries artists have inspired other artists who studied their paintings. Whistler’s lecture is divulging his knowledge that since antiquity artists’ works have influenced the artists who came after them. Confirmation of Whistler’s knowledge and assimilation of artistic ideologies from Leon Baptiste Alberti, Piero della Francesca’s, Treatise on Painting, Leonardo da Vinci’s, Treatise on Painting, Rembrandt’s writings on art and the many lectures by Charles Robert Leslie at the Royal Academy, and Sir Joshua Reynolds, Discourses on Art, is avowed in the examination of his paintings. As Whistler’s students and colleagues acknowledged Whistler took ideas from the most important masterpiece paintings in the history of art and synthesized them into his own expression of modernity. James McNeill Whistler had a photographic memory an ability to speak four languages and a visual capacity of a master artist. He was a pivotal artist in the history of art because of his intellectual understanding of art history and his ability to synthesis a plethora of artistic content into one painting in his unique interpretation of modernism. The source of Whistler’s ‘harmony’ was derived from Leon Baptiste Alberti. Quoting from Wikipedia on Leon Baptiste Alberti, The work of art is, according to Alberti, so constructed that it is impossible to take anything away from it without impairing the beauty of the whole. Beauty was for Alberti, ‘the harmony of all parts in relation to one another, and subsequently this concord is realized in a particular number, proportion, and arrangement demanded by harmony.’ Whistler’s determination on finding success as an artist was dauntless. He fastidiously studied the Old Master’s and took from them the ideas necessary in his "creation of the beautiful."

Part I

Whistler’s Ten O’clock Lecture, 1885

On February 20th, 1885, for a captive audience in Princes Hall, London, James Mc Neill Whistler delivered his Ten O’clock lecture declaring;

Ladies and Gentleman!-

It is with great hesitation and much misgiving that I appear before you, in the character of-The Preacher-

If timidity be at all allied to the virtue modesty, and can find favor in your eyes, I pray you, for the sake of that virtue, accord me your utmost indulgence-

I would plead for my want of habit, did it not seem preposterous judging from precedent, that ought save the most efficient effrontery, could be ever expected in connection with my subject-for I will not conceal from you, that I mean to talk about Art! Yes, Art- that has, of late become, as far as much discussion and writing can make of it, a sort of common topic for the Tea table.-Art is upon the Town!-to be chuckled under the chin, by the passing gallant! – to be enticed within the gates of the householder-to be coaxed into company, as a proof of culture and refinement!-

If familiarity can breed contempt, certainly Art, or what is currently taken for it, has been brought to its lowest stage of intimacy!-

The people have been harassed with Art in every guise-and vexed with many methods, as to its endurance-They have been told how they shall love Art! And live with it-Their homes have been invaded-their walls covered with paper-their very dress taken to task,-until roused at last, bewildered and filled with doubts and discomforts of senseless suggestion, they represent such intrusion, and cast forth the false prophets, who have brought the very name of the beautiful into disrepute,- and derision upon themselves,-

Alas ladies and gentlemen – Art has been maligned- she has nought in common with such practices – She is a goddess of dainty thought – reticent of habit – abjuring all obtrusiveness – proposing in no way to better others-

She is withal selfishly occupied with her own perfection only- having no desire to teach-seeking and finding the beautiful in all conditions, and at all times- As did her high priest Rembrandt, when he saw picturesque grandeur and noble dignity in the Jews’ quarter in Amsterdam – and lamented not that its inhabitants were not Greeks.-

As did Tintoretto and Paul Veronese, among the Venetians – while not halting to change the brocaded silks for the classic draperies of Athens.-

As did, at the Court of Philip, Velazquez, whose Infantas clad in aesthetic hoops, are as works of Art, of the same quality as the Elgin marbles-

No reformers were these great men – no improvers of the ways of others! – Their productions, alone were their occupation, and, filled with the poetry of their science, they required not to alter their surroundings – for as the laws of their Art were revealed to them they saw, in the development of their work, that real beauty, which to them, was as much a matter of certainty and triumph, as is to the astronomer, their verification of the result, foreseen, with the light given to him alone. – In all this, their world was completely severed from that of their fellow creatures, with whim, sentiment in mistaken for poetry, and for whom, there is no perfect work, that shall not be explained by the benefit conferred upon themselves – Humanity takes the place of Art – and God’s creations are excused by their usefulness –

Beauty is confounded with Virtue, and before a work of Art, it is asked: What good shall it do? –

Hence it is that nobility of action, in this life, is hopelessly linked with the merit of the work that portrays it – and thus the people have acquired the habit of looking, as who should say, not at a picture, but through it, at some human fact, that shall, or shall not, from a social point of view, better their mental, or moral state – So we have come to hear of the painting that elevates,- and of the duty of the painter – of the picture that is full of thought – and of the panel that merely decorates.-

A favorite faith, dear to those who teach, is that certain periods were especially artistic, and that nations, readily named, were notably lovers of Art.-

So we are told that the Greeks were, as a people, worshippers of the beautiful, and that in the fifteenth century, Art was engrained in the multitude –

That the great masters lived, in common understanding with their patrons – that the early Italians were artists – all!- and that their demand for the lovely thing, produced it.-

That we of today, in gross contrast to this Arcadian purity, call for the ungainly, and obtain the ugly –

That could we but change our habits and climate – were we willing to wander in groves – could we be roasted out of broadcloth, were we to do without haste, and journey without speed, we should again require the spoon of Queen Anne, and pick at our peas with the fork of two prongs! And so, for the flock, little hamlets grow, near Hammersmith, and the steamed horse is scorned.-

Useless! Quite hopeless and false is the effort! Built upon fable, and all because a wise man has uttered a vain thing and filled his belly with the East wind. –

Listen! There was never an artistic period! –

There was never an art loving nation –

In the beginning man went forth each day- some to do battle- some to do the chase – others to dig and to delve in the field- all that might gain, and live – or lose and die- until there was found among them, one, differing from the rest – whose pursuits attracted him not – and so he staid by the tents, with the women, and traced strange devices, with a burnt stick, upon a gourd.-

This man who took no joy in the ways of his brethren, who cared not for conquest, and fretted in the field- this designer of quaint patterns- this deviser of the beautiful, who perceived in nature about him, curious curvings,- as faces are seen in the fire-This dreamer apart- was the first artist.-

And when, from the field and from afar, there came back the people, they took the gourd and drank from out of it.

And presently there came to this man another – and, in time others- of like nature – chosen by the Gods – and so they worked together – and soon they fashioned, from the moistened earth, forms resembling the gourd – and, with the power of creation, the heirloom of the artist, presently they went beyond the slovenly suggestion of Nature – and the first vase was born, in beautiful proportion –

And the toilers tilled, and were athirst, - and the heroes returned from fresh victories, to rejoice and to feast – and all drank alike from the Artists goblets, fashioned cunningly – taking no note the while of the craftsman’s pride and understanding not his glory in his work – drinking, at the cup, not from choice, not from a consciousness that it was beautiful – but because, forsooth, there was none other! –

And time, with more state, brought more capacity for luxury, and it became well that men should dwell in large houses and rest upon couches, and eat at tables – whereupon that artist, with his artificers, built palaces, and filled them with furniture, beautiful in proportion, and lovely to look upon-

And the people lived in marvels of Art _ and eat and drank out of Masterpieces – for there was nothing else to eat and drink out of – and no bad buildings to live in – no article of daily life – of luxury, or of necessity that had not been handed down from the design of the Master, and made by his workmen –

And the people questioned not – and had nothing to say in the matter –

So Greece was in its splendor – and Art reigned supreme – by force of fact – not by election – and there was no meddling from the outsider – The mighty warrior would no more have ventured to offer a design for the temple of Pallas Athene, than would the ‘sacred’ poet have proffered a plan for constructing the catapult-

And the Amateur was unknown – and the Dilettante undreamed of –

And history wrote on – and conquest accompanied civilization- and Art spread – or rather its products were carried by the victors among the vanquished from one country to another- And the customs of cultivation covered the face of earth – so that all peoples continued to use what the artist alone produced –

And centuries passed in this using, and the world was flooded with all that was beautiful – until there arose a new class who discovered the cheap –

And foresaw fortune in the facture of the sham –

Then sprang into existence, the tawdry – the common- the gewgaw –

The taste of the tradesman, supplanted the science of the artist- and what was born of the million, went back to them – and charmed them for it was after their own heart – and the great and the small, the statesman and the slave, took to themselves the abomination that was tendered, and preferred it, and have lived with it ever since-

And the Artists occupation was gone – and the manufacturer and the huckster too his place –

And now the heroes filled from the jugs, and drank from the bowls, with understanding – noting the glare of their new bravery, and taking pride in its worth.

And the people, this time, had much to say in the matter – and all were satisfied- and Birmingham and Manchester arose in their might, and Art was relegated to the curiosity shop –

Nature contains the elements of color and form of all pictures-as the keyboard contains the notes of all music-

but the artist is born to pick and choose, and group with science, these elements, that the result may be beautiful- as the musician gathers his notes, and forms his chords, until he brings forth from chaos, glorious harmony.-

To say to the painter, that nature is to be taken, as she is, is to say to the player, that he may sit on the piano!-

That nature is always right, is an assertion, artistically, as untrue, as it is one whose truth is universally taken for granted – Nature is very rarely right, to such an extent even, that it might almost be said that Nature is usually wrong – that is to say – the condition of things that shall bring about the perfection of harmony worthy a picture, is rare, and not common at all –

This would seem, to even the most intelligent, a doctrine almost blasphemous – So incorporated with our education has the supposed aphorism become, that its belief is held to be part of our moral being – and the words themselves have, in our ear, the ring of religion! – Still, seldom does nature succeed in producing a picture - -

The sun blares – and the wind blows from the East _ the sky is bereft of cloud – and without, all is made of iron – The windows of the Crystal Palace are seen from all points of London – the holiday maker rejoices in the glorious day – and the painter turns aside to shut his eyes –

How little this is understood, and how dutifully the casual in Nature, is accepted as sublime, may be gathered from the unlimited admiration, daily produced, by a very foolish sunset –

The dignity of the snowcapped mountain is lost in distinctness- but the joy of the tourist is to recognize the traveler on the top – The desire to see, for the sake of seeing, is, with the mass, alone the one to be gratified – hence the delight in detail – and when the evening mist clothes the riverside with poetry, as with a veil – and the poor buildings lose themselves in the dim sky – and the tall chimneys become campanile – and the warehouses are palaces in the night – and the whole city hangs in the heavens, and fairyland is before us – then the wayfarer hastens home – the working man and the cultured one – the wise man and the one of pleasure- cease to understand, as they have ceased to see – and Nature, who for once, has sung in tune, sings her exquisite song to the Artist alone, her son and her master – her son in that he loves her, her master in that he knows her – To him her secrets are unfolded- to him her lessons have become gradually clear – He looks at her flower, not with the enlarging lens, that he may gather facts for the botanist, but with the light of the one, who sees, in her choice selection of brilliant tones and delicate tints, suggestions of future harmonies –

He does not confine himself to the purposeless copying, without thought, each blade of grass, as commended by the inconsequent – but, in the long curve of the narrow leaf, corrected by the straight tall stem, he learns how grace is wedded to dignity, how strength enhances sweetness, that elegance shall be the result.-

In the citron wing of the pale butterfly with its dainty spots of orange – he sees before him the stately halls of fair gold, with their slender saffron pillars – and is taught how the delicate drawing, high upon the walls, shall be traced in tender tones of orpiment, and repeated by the base, in notes of graver hue –

In all that is dainty, and loveable, he finds hints for his own combinations, and thus is Nature ever his resource – and always at his service – and to him is naught refused –

Through his brain, as through the last alembic, is distilled the refined essence of that thought which began with the Gods, and which they left him to carry out –

Set apart by them to complete their works, he produces that wondrous thing called the masterpiece, which surpasses in perfection, all that they have contrived in what is called Nature, and the Gods stand by, and marvel – and perceive how far away more beautiful is the Venus of Milos, than was their own Eve.-

For some time past the unattached writer has become the middleman in this matter of Art – and his influence, while it has widened the gulf between the people and the painter, has brought about the most complete misunderstanding as to the aim of the picture –

For him, a picture is more of less a hieroglyph or symbol of story – Apart from a few technical terms, for the display of which he finds as occasion, the work is considered absolutely from a literary point of view – indeed from what other can he consider it – and in his essays he deals with it, as with a novel, a history or an anecdote.- He fails entirely, and most naturally to see its excellences, or demerits, artistic, and so degrades Art – as supposing it a method of bringing about a literary climax-

It thus, in his hands, becomes mainly a method of perpetrating something further, and its mission is made a secondary one, even as a means is second to an end –

The thoughts emphasized, noble or other, are inevitably attached to the incident – and become more or less noble, according to the eloquence or mental quality of the writer, who looks, the while, with disdain, upon what he holds as mere execution- a matter belonging, he believes, to the training of the schools, and the reward of assiduity – So that as he goes on, with his translation, from canvas to paper, the work becomes his own – He finds poetry, where he would feel it, were he himself transcribing the event- invention, in the intricacy of the mise en scene – and modesty, or virtue suggested to him by the occurrence –

All this might be brought before him and appeal to his imagination, by a very poor picture – indeed I might safely say that it generally is –

Meanwhile, the painter’s poetry, is quite lost to him – The amazing invention that shall have put form and color into such perfect harmony that exquisiteness is the result, is without understanding – the nobility of thought that shall have given the artist’s dignity to the whole, says to him absolutely nothing.-

So that his praises are published, for virtue we would blush to possess – while the great qualities of that distinguish the one work form the thousand, that make of the masterpiece the thing of beauty that it is, - have never been seen at all—

That this is so, we can make sure of by looking back at old Reviews upon past Exhibitions, and reading the flatteries lavished upon men who has since been forgotten altogether,- but upon whose works the language has been exhausted in rhapsodies that left nothing of the National Gallery!-

A curious matter in its effect upon the judgement of these gentlemen, is the accepted vocabulary of poetic symbolism that helps them by habit in dealing with nature- A mountain to them, is synonymous with height – a lake, with depth – the ocean with vastness – the sun with glory-

So that a picture with a mountain, a lake and an Ocean, however poor in paint, is inevitably lofty – vast- ‘infinite’ and ‘glorious’ on paper –

There are those also, sombre of mien, and wise with the wisdom of books, who frequent museums and burrow in crypts – Collecting- comparing – compiling- classifying- contradicting.- Experts these- for whom a date is an accomplishment – a hallmark, success – Careful in scrutiny, are they, and conscientious of judgement –Establishing, with due weight,…unimportant reputations- discovering the picture, by the stain on the back – testing the Torso, by the leg that is missing – filling folios with doubts on the way of that limb-disputatious and dictatorial, concerning the birthplace … of inferior persons – speculating … in much writing, upon the great worth of bad work -.. True clerks of the collection, they mix memoranda with ambition – and reducing Art to Statistics, they ‘file’ the Fifteenth Century and pigeonhole the Antique! –

Then the ‘Preacher’ – appointed! – He stands in high places – harangues and holds forth – Sage of the Universities – learned in many matters, and of much experience in all save his subject – Exhorting – denouncing – directing – Filled with worth and Earnestness – Bringing powers of persuasion and polish of language to prove – nothing! –

Torn with much teaching – having naught to impart – Impressive- important – shallow

Defiant – distressed – desperate – crying out, and cutting himself while the Gods hear not – gentle-priest of the Philistine, withal, again he ambles pleasantly from all point,