James Abbott McNeill Whistler
James Abbott McNeill Whistler Biography
James McNeill Whistler was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, USA, in 1834. He spent five years of his childhood (1843-1848) in St. Petersburg, Russia, where his father, George Washington Whistler (1800-1849), a railroad engineer, was employed in the building of the St. Petersburg-Moscow railroad. The artist’s mother, Anna Matilda McNeill, was a devout Christian, whom he admired all his life. In his early manhood he exchanged his middle name ‘Abbott’ for her maiden name ‘McNeill’. In St. Petersburg young James received his first art lessons in the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts and also learnt French.
James Abbott McNeill Whistler 81 Most Important Paintings and Artworks
- Head Of A Peasant Woman.
1855-58. Oil on wood. Hunterian Art Gallery, Glasgow, UK.
- Portrait Of Whistler With Hat.
1857-58. Oil on canvas. Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, USA.
- Head Of Old Man Smoking.
c.1858. Oil on canvas. Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France.
- At The Piano.
1858-59. Oil on canvas. Taft Museum, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
- Black Lion Wharf.
1859. Etching. Tate Gallery, London, UK.
- Brown And Silver: Old Battersea Bridge.
1859-65. Oil on canvas. Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, MA, USA.
- Finette.
1859. Drypoint. British Museum, London, UK.
- Rotherhithe.
1860. Etching. British Museum, London, UK.
- The Thames In Ice.
1860. Oil on canvas. Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, USA.
- Harmony In Green And Rose: The Music Room.
1860-61. Oil on canvas. Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, USA. Read Note.
- Wapping.
1861. Oil on canvas. Private collection. Read Note.
- The Coast Of Brittany.
1861. Oil on canvas. Private collection.
- Symphony In White No. 1: The White Girl.
1862. Oil on canvas. National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, USA. Read Note.
- The Last Of Old Westminster.
1862. Oil on canvas. The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, USA.
- Blue And Silver: The Blue Wave, Biarritz.
1862. Oil on canvas. Hill-Stead Museum, Farmington, CT, USA.
- Grey And Silver: Old Battersea Beach.
1863. Oil on canvas. Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
- Caprice In Purple And Gold No 2 - The Golden Screen.
1864. Oil on wood. Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, USA. Read Note.
- Symphony In White No 2: The Little White Girl.
1864. Oil on canvas. Tate Gallery, London, UK. Read Note.
- Purple And Rose: The Lange Lijzen Of The Six Marks.
1864. Oil on canvas. Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA, USA. Read Note.
- Rose And Silver: The Princess From The Land Of Porcelain.
1864. Oil on canvas. Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, USA. Read Note.
James Abbott McNeill Whistler Bibliography
Whistler, by Robin Spencer. Studio Editions. London. 1990.
Whistler, by Frances Spalding. Phaidon Press Ltd. 1994.
Whistler's Venice by Alastair Grieve. Yale Univ Pr, 2000.
James McNeil Whistler by Lisa N. Peters. Todtri Productions Ltd, 1998.
Palaces in the Night: Whistler in Venice by Margaret F. MacDonald, James McNeill Whistler. University of California Press, 2001.
James Abbott McNeill Whistler: Pastels by James McNeill Whistler, James Abbott McNeil, Robert H. Getscher (Introduction). George Braziller, 1991.
Whistler and Holland by Margaret F. MacDonald, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Jan Frederik Heijbroek. Waanders Pub, 1999.
Whistler on Art: Selected Letters and Writings of James McNeill Whistler by James McNeill Whistler, Nigel Thorp (Introduction). Smithsonian Institution Press, 1995.
