An artist abroad

• University Art Museum, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD | 5 August – 1 October 2006
• Lake Macquarie City Art Gallery, Booragul, NSW | 15 December 2006 – 21 January 2007
• Geelong Gallery, Geelong, VIC | 7 June – 19 August 2007
• Queen Victoria Museum & Art Gallery, Launceston, TAS | 1 September – 4 November 2007

James McNeill Whistler (born United States 1834) was a key figure in the European art world of the 19th century. Early in his career in Paris, Whistler had befriended some of the artists who were to dominate the French art scene, including Edvard Manet, Fantin-Latour and the writer, critic Charles Baudelaire. The influence of the French Realist tradition, along with Rembrandt and the Dutch school are clearly apparent in the so called the French Set of 1858. A series of twelve beautiful etchings of figure studies and village scenes – it was a remarkable testimony to a talented young artist. The stylistic development over the next twenty years saw Whistler move, however to depicting the more ethereal rather than the everyday.

Whistler then went on to produce an evocative series of sixteen etchings of the Thames and its surrounds: its people, its haunts – the land, water and cityscapes. While living in England, Whistler became embroiled in legal proceedings with the noted artist and aesthetician John Ruskin. In reference to Whistler’s unconventional Nocturne paintings Ruskin accused him of ‘flinging a pot of paint in the public’s face’. Incensed Whistler took him to court for libel in November 1878. Though Whistler won the case, he was awarded a pittance - one farthing in damages. With this legal slap in the face and faced with huge lawyer’s fees Whistler he was in dire financial straits.

Whistler’s solution to avoid bankruptcy in mid-life was to set off for Venice to spend many months working on a commission making etchings of the city whose palaces and seascapes were made famous by JMW Turner. This first set of etchings, known as the Venice set along with a later Venice series are notable for their beautiful painterly, poetic qualities – sublime visions rather than depictions of the everyday.

Japanese art, particularly the tradition of the ukiyo-e woodblock print was particularly influential in this transition, providing an aesthetic basis for Whistler’s composition, such as asymmetry, languid or delicate poses, unusual viewpoints, genre subjects, rich patterning and linear qualities and a concern for special Japanese papers. Whistler’s great admiration for the Venetian Masters also shaped his growing interest in creating impressionist city and seascapes, or moody figure studies.

In 1855 at the age of 21 James McNeiIl Whistler (1834—1903) set off from his native America for Europe, determined to become an artist. He was never to return to his country of birth. Instead he became a significant figure in the art worlds of France and England in the second half of the 19th century as a painter and printmaker. Whistler’s legacy as a printmaker is demonstrated through his series of remarkable etchings and later lithographs which he made from the 1850s to the turn of the century. The exhibition An artist abroad will showcase a selection of about 100 prints drawn from the Gallery’s rich collection of some 260 works.

Many of the prints in the Gallery’s Whistler collection have an interesting provenance. In 1978 the Gallery purchased a major group of prints from the important American collector Charles C Cunningham. He, in turn, obtained these works from the collection of the wealthy, free-spending American art lover George Washington Vanderbilt (1862—1914). In 1980 the Gallery acquired a further group of works from the artist’s own collection that had originally been bequeathed to the University of Glasgow by Whistler’s sister-in-law Rosalind Birnie Philip. Following the death of his wife, Beatrix Whistler, in 1896 Whistler became increasingly become reliant on her younger sister Rosalind. On Whistler’s death she became his executor and heir of the artist’s estate, and it is from this source that these important works came into the collection following her death in 1958.

On arrival in Europe Whistler travelled first to London and then to Paris, the city that would become the centre of the Western art world as the century progressed. By November 1855 he was undertaking studies at the Ecole impériale et spéciale de dessin and, in the following year, at the atelier of the Swiss-born artist Charles Gleyre.

Whistler was not a good student and found the café and street-life of bohemian Paris on the Left Bank more inspiring than the Classroom. A visit in 1857 to the exhibition Art treasures of the United Kingdom collected in Manchester introduced Whistler to the wonders of Dutch 17th-century artists including Rembrandt van Rijn, along with the Spanish master Diego Velazquez, Rembrandt, in particular, remained an inspiration for Whistler throughout his career. Admiration for this Dutch artist by Whistler and others was to renew interest in the art of etching in the second half of the 19th century. Whistler himself was to become a key figure in this etching revival, although his loosely worked painterly style, known as ‘artistic printing’, came to be criticised by purists.

In Paris Whistler met the artist Henri Fantin-Latour, who introduced him to the bohemian haunts of Paris, most notably the Café Voltaire, where the young American befriended some of the emerging artists including Edouard Manet, Felix Braquemond and Alphonse Legros, who later became key players in the French art scene. It is likely that Whistler would have been aware of the art of the leading French Realist, Gustave Courbet, who was a controversial figure in French art circles owing to his choice of contemporary settings that dispense with the reliance on historical, classical or allegorical themes. The influence of French Realism is apparent in Whistler’s first major exercise in printmaking, Twelve etchings from nature 1858, also known as the ‘French set’, that consist of a series of views of Paris and the surrounding countryside.

During 1858, eager to see more of Rembrandt’s art, Whistler set off with the artist Ernest Delannoy on a trip to Amsterdam. But the journey was cut short because Whistler ran out of funds. His intention was to tour northern France, Luxembourg and the Rhineland taking sketchbooks and copper plates to etch with him. Though he failed to reach the Dutch capital, a selection of rural views drawn in situ in the careful and unglamorous manner of the French Barbizon artists also formed part of the ‘French set’. These were in contrast to the figure studies of urban Paris drawn from life. In this way the ‘French set’ conformed to the influential poet and critic Charles Baudelaire’s call for ‘modern’ subject-matter — a demand that increasingly gained support among younger artists.

In 1859 Baudelaire disparaged the many tired and dull landscapes he saw at the Salon of that year. Instead of rural scenes he urged artists to choose alternative subjects, including cityscapes, ‘a genre which I can only call the landscape of great cities’.¹ Whistler again took up the call. In May 1860, he decided to live in London as he was keen to begin a series of etchings of the city. Conscious of Baudelaire’s remarks and inspired by Charles Meryon’s captivating views of the hidden Paris in his series of etchings, Faux-fortes sur Paris 1850—54, Whistler sought to capture the essence of a little-known London and its docklands with a series of etchings Sixteen etchings of scenes on the Thames, which came to be known as the ‘Thames set’ 1861. To this end he spent two months living in the East End and exploring that part of the city. At the time the river Thames was virtually a quagmire of dirt and disease, framed by derelict and overcrowded buildings. While the influence of French Realism was still apparent in the ‘Thames set’, other influences came into play at this time and these are especially evident in his choice of social subject matter. He had long admired the paintings and prints of the l8th-century English artist William Hogarth, whose works provided powerful commentaries on the social life of his age. Hogarth’s depictions of down and out people in London proved to be an inspiration for Whistler’s London studies.

Another influence was the art of China and Japan, in particular Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock prints. It is most likely that Whistler became familiar with these prints through the proselytising of the French artist Felix Braquemond. Whistler’s growing admiration for Japanese art can be seen in his adoption of a flatter space, and the silhouetting and cropping of subject matter in several of the ‘Thames set’ etchings. During the mid 1870s and while living in England, Whistler had become embroiled in legal proceedings with the noted artist and aesthetician John Ruskin after the older artist had accused Whistler of ‘flinging a pot of paint in the public’s face’² in reference to the recently exhibited Nocturne paintings, in particular Nocturne in black and gold: the falling rocket of 1875 which was remarkable for its almost formless subject and painterly quality. Whistler was incensed by these comments and in November 1878 took him to court for libel. Although Whistler won the case, he was awarded a pittance — one farthing in damages. With this legal slap in the face and faced with huge lawyers’ fees Whistler found himself in dire financial straits.

As a result Whistler faced bankruptcy with debts of £4550 and was stripped of his assets by the bailiffs. The ignominy of the whole experience and the damage to his reputation as an artist took its toll. His solution to avoid financial disaster was to make plans to travel to Venice — the city that had inspired so many artists and whose palaces and seascapes were immortalised by the English artist JMW Turner in the first half of the 19th century, a painter Whistler had admired since he was a child.

Whistler intended to make some 20 etchings in Venice, which he hoped would bring him the artistic and financial success that the ‘French set’ and the ‘Thames set’ had done. But unfortunately, delayed by illness and the coldest winter for a long time, he missed his deadline of December 1879 to complete the Venetian series. Early in the following year, Whistler wrote to his sister-in-law, Nellie Whistler, Complaining that he still could not work successfully: ‘The cold has simply been quietly getting into my bones ... As to the etchings they are far away beyond the old ones — only I am barely able to touch a plate ... it is like ice ... No winter like this known for at least thirty years.³

Despite the difficult conditions Whistler set out to capture the essence of Venice. Just as he had for the ‘Thames set’, he depicted little-known haunts as well as familiar sites often from unusual Viewpoints. Whistler described his drawing methods in an account he gave to the Australian artist and printer Mortimer Menpes after returning from Venice. It was there, he believed, that the ‘secret of drawing’ had been revealed to him: ‘I began first of all by seizing upon the chief point of interest. Perhaps it might have been the extreme distance — the little palaces and the shipping beneath the bridge. If so, it would begin drawing that distance in elaborately, and then would expand from it until I came to the bridge, which I would draw in one broad sweep. In this way the picture must necessarily be a perfect thing from start to finish’.⁴ Because he wanted to achieve great variation along with subtle inking, Whistler often applied the acid to the plate by dabbing it on with a feather, rather than immersing the plate in an acid bath. With deft inking of the plate, sometimes leaving a plate covered in a thin film of ink and not just in the etched lines, Whistler aimed for results that came to be described as ‘artistic printing’ and were characterised by uneven inking, delicate nuances and more painterly printing. But traditional etchers, including Whistler’s brother-in-law Francis Seymour Haden, were highly critical of these innovations. The ‘Venice set’ was finally completed and exhibited in December 1880, twelve months late, to a generally favourable response. During his time in Venice Whistler had completed 60 etchings along with a large group of pastels. He later published a selection of a further 26 etchings that came to be known as the ‘Second Venice set’, printing them in variant states.

Whistler’s scenes of Venice were criticised for his adoption of ‘picturesque’ compositions which included signs of everyday habitation and decay. This approach contrasted with Ruskin’s ‘ideal’ that edited out references to everyday life and the real state of decrepitude of some of the buildings, in favour of presenting an eternal and idealised city. Whistler’s Venice, however, would become the adopted interpretation of the next generation of artists who sought to capture the essence of the city. In 1909 his biographers Joseph and Elizabeth Robins Pennell recounted that: ‘when two or three artists gather together of an evening at Florian’s, or the Quadri, or the Orientale, it is of Whistler they talk. When the prize student arrives and has sufficiently raved, they say, “Oh, yes, but you will have to do it better than Whistler!” when a new discoverer of the picturesque brags, Whistler’s old friends tell him of Whistler’s discovery of ‘a courtyard, you know, that no one has ever seen, a most wonderful courtyard, amazing!’⁵ During his career as an American artist abroad, Whistler drew on European historical traditions from the 17th century onwards: participating in emerging 19th-century movements such as French Realism and traversing ensuing developments to evolve a singular and influential aesthetic.

Whistler’s style and subject matter became inspirational for many important artists of his day, including Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro. Of particular consequence for these artists was the acceptance of the cityscape as an appropriate subject for art – and in the case of Monet, for his own observations of the River Thames and Venice.

Jane Kinsman
Senior Curator International Prints, Drawings and Illustrated Books

The Thames set

The influential French poet and critic Charles Baudelaire called for ‘modern’ subject matter in art — an idea that increasingly gained support amongst younger artists. In 1859 Baudelaire disparaged the many tired and dull landscapes exhibited in Paris at the Salon that year, and he urged artists to choose alternative subjects, including cityscapes, ‘a genre which I can only call the landscape of great cities’. Conscious of Baudelaire’s remarks – and inspired by Charles Meryon’s captivating series of etchings of ‘the hidden Paris’, of 1850–54 – Whistler began making etchings of London, seeking to capture the essence of little known aspects of the English capital. In 1860 he decided to stay in London to continue his work, and he spent two months living in the East End, exploring that part of the city. The River Thames at that time was virtually a quagmire of dirt and disease, framed by buildings, sometimes derelict, sometimes overcrowded. Whistler produced evocative images of the Thames and its surrounds, its people and its haunts — land, water and cityscapes. His series of Sixteen etchings of scenes on the Thames, which came to be known as the ‘Thames set’, was completed in 1861.

The French set

In 1858 Whistler set out to see the paintings of Rembrandt in Amsterdam, but lack of funds cut short his journey. Instead he toured northern France, Luxembourg and the Rhineland, taking his sketchbooks and etching plates with him. These small copper plates were easy to carry and he could draw spontaneously and directly from nature.

The technique of etching involves first covering the plate with an acid-resistant waxy coating. The artist composes the image by scratching into this waxy ground with a special needle. The plate is then immersed in a bath of acid, leaving the scratched lines exposed. A buttery ink is rubbed into the incisions and the plate wiped clean. Damp paper is placed on the inked plate and then it is passed through an etching press, where pressure forces the softened paper into the inked incisions, making an impression.

Though Whistler failed to reach the Dutch capital, a selection of rural views from his travels – drawn from nature in the careful and unglamorous manner of the French Barbizon artists – was included as part of his series of prints, the ‘French set’. The rural views complement the other images in the series, which are figure studies of urban Paris drawn from life and inspired by the caricatures of Honoré Daumier and Gavarni. As with all his prints, Whistler made a careful selection of papers for his impressions, and in the case of the ‘French set’ these were printed on chine collé, a laid oriental paper.

The Venice sets

In the late 1870s Whistler became embroiled in legal proceedings with John Ruskin, the noted English aesthetician and critic. Ruskin had accused him of ‘flinging a pot of paint in the public’s face’— referring to a painting of Whistler’s exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery, London, in 1877. In response Whistler took Ruskin to court on a charge of libel. He won the case, but was awarded just one farthing in damages – a legal slap in the face. With huge lawyers’ fees, he found himself in dire financial straits, and was stripped of his assets by the bailiffs, including his house in Chelsea.

The ignominy of the whole experience and the damage to his reputation as an artist took its toll. Whistler’s solution to avoid further disaster was to travel to Venice, the city that had inspired so many artists, and whose palaces and seascapes had been immortalised by the English artist J.M.W. Turner (1775–1851) – a painter admired by Whistler since childhood. He arrived in Venice in September 1879 and, despite the cold weather and his ill health, pursued his aim to capture the essence of Venice. Just as he had done for the ‘Thames set’, Whistler depicted little known haunts as well as familiar sites, often from unusual viewpoints.

Unconventional compositional devices, such as high horizon lines, are a feature of many of the prints Whistler made in Venice. We have his own description of his drawing method there:

I began first of all by seizing upon the chief point of interest. Perhaps it might have been the extreme distance – the little palaces and the shipping beneath the bridge. If so I would begin drawing that distance in elaborately, and then would expand from it until I came to the bridge, which I would draw in one broad sweep. In this way the picture must necessarily be a perfect thing from start to finish.

Whistler also sought great variation in his etching technique, sometimes leaving a plate covered in a thin film of ink rather than just retained in the etched lines, He aimed for results that came to be described as ‘artistic printing’ – characterised by uneven inking, nuance and painterly qualities.

Whistler’s scenes of Venice were criticised at the time because of his adoption of ‘picturesque’ compositions that included details of everyday habitation and signs of decay. Yet these images were to become the adopted interpretation of the next generation of artists – including the French Impressionists, Camille Pissarro and Claude Monet – who sought to capture the essence of a city, its cityscapes and river views.