James McNeill Whistler

James McNeill Whistler 
at Tate Britain 
21 May – 27 September 

This summer Tate Britain are mounting an exhibition which they describe as ‘the first major European exhibition of Whistler’s work in 30 years’ – and as such it will be one to visit, with a far larger scope and scale than has been seen in recent, smaller exhibitions. 

It is perhaps a mark of how the world has changed that the earliest works by this ‘American’ artist were created in St Petersburg, and that he spent much of the remainder of his life in Paris and the United Kingdom. Enormously innovative, his work was both admired by his colleagues and derided by the press, with Ruskin famously accusing him of ‘cockney impudence’ (itself a curious retort, given his nationality/ies), and of charging ‘two hundred guineas for flinging a pot of paint in the public's face’. All this was about the Nocturne in Black and Gold, which is now seen as the epitome of his work. Clearly Whistler was not without his faults! Notably, he decorated Frederick Leyland’s Peacock Room way beyond the original requirements, and opened the room to the public without permission while Leyland was at his country home outside Liverpool – Leyland learnt about it from the press! 

And of course, Whistler painted his own mother – the official name of the portrait (if it is a portrait) being Arrangement in Black and Grey No. 1. Although a much overused word, this truly is one of modernism’s iconic paintings, instantly recognisable, and, as a sign of its ‘status’, it is one of the most frequently caricatured works in the history of art.

Mentioning just three of his works illustrates, I hope, what a powerful force in the world of art Whistler was, and in this talk I will introduce what promises to be one of the most successful exhibitions in London this year. 

Please remember, I do not record my talks.