Brawler. Womaniser. Forever in debt. An untutored genius. James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) was one of the most controversial artists of the Victorian era. Once described as the best etcher since Rembrandt, he produced thousands of paintings, drawings, etchings and lithographs.
And now a major new exhibition at Tate Britain reveals the extent of his creativity ranging from sumptuous society portraits to the atmospheric, near abstract riverscapes of the Thames at Battersea.
Born in Lowell, Massachusetts, into a well-connected military family, Whistler was wilful, with a rebellious streak. He failed his final exams at West Point. But all the while he drew compulsively, sketching faces and painting in watercolours. He determined to become an artist and, using a small legacy from his father, travelled to Paris to copy the Masters in the Louvre and then to London, where his sister was living in Chelsea, close to the river.
For all his love of the Masters and the rural idylls many of them painted, Whistler was inspired by the modern landscapes of cities: shop fronts, back streets, the bustle of people going about their business, the rag-pickers and, most importantly for him in London, the panorama of the river.
Whistler lived for a time in the East End, where he produced several fine etchings now displayed in the new exhibition, and where he painted Wapping (1860-64). In this work, he deployed what was to become a familiar technique of his, using a few people to anchor a scene and guide the viewer’s gaze beyond the initial plane and on into the maze of ships, barges, lighters, wharves and docks.
Part of what drove the controversy around Whistler’s art was that he was not trying to tell a story in his paintings; not seeking to create a narrative that the reader needed to pick up through clues in order to interpret or understand the piece. Rather, he was interested in how, through a harmony of colours, he could capture the atmosphere of a moment. For him, art was the poetry of sight.
Settling in Chelsea, where he commissioned a purpose-built house complete with artist’s studio on Tite Steet, the Thames was to become his model. At around this time, several of the old wooden bridges, including the 90-year-old Battersea Bridge, were replaced with new ones.
Whistler made friends with a local boat builder and waterman who took him out and taught him how to navigate around Chelsea Reach so he could develop a deeper understanding of the movement of the ebb and flood tides.
At the Tate, a whole room is dedicated to his Nocturnes – his use of this musical term demonstrates his emphasis on atmosphere rather than story – which include those of the working river at Battersea. He captured a particular time of the day, twilight into nightfall, and the effects of mist and factory smoke on the river; a stillness, a timeless beauty.
Throughout his life, Whistler was embroiled in disputes with wealthy patrons and other artists, with the critic John Ruskin – which ended in a famous court case – and his many creditors. By the age of 45 he was bankrupt and had to sell his possessions and his beloved house. From then on he led a peripatetic life, travelling through the major cities of northern Europe, living off commissions and making etchings which were profitable for the growing middle-class art market.
He returned to Chelsea in the mid-1880s, living in a variety of rented accommodation. But around him all had changed. The re-building of the Embankment, the new bridges and roads, the increase in traffic and spreading urban development. He never again produced a painting or an etching of the area. Instead, he turned to society portraiture to pay his bills.
Whistler died in 1903 and is buried next to his wife at Saint Nicholas Parish Church in Chiswick. There is a statue of him on the north side of Battersea Bridge, palette and brushes in hand, looking down the Thames that inspired so much of his art.
The exhibition at the Tate takes you on a journey through Whistler’s art and life. It is beautifully hung, as he would have wanted, and includes some real gems. It is not to be missed.
Follow Richard Derecki on Instagram. Image: Whistler’s Nocturne: Blue and Silver – Chelsea and Wapping, from Tate Britain. The exhibition will continue until 27 September.
OnLondon.co.uk is funded by sales of publisher and editor Dave Hill’s twice-weekly newsletter On London Extra. To start receiving it, become a paying subscriber to Dave’s personal Substack. Thanks.
You must be logged in to post a comment.