James McNeill Whistler

A broad and comprehensive exploration of the work of the widely admired and beloved American artist.

Painter, etcher, draughtsman, lithographer, and watercolorist, Whistler was a leading proponent of the “art for art’s sake” movement and had immense influence on the art and aesthetics of his age.  

Known for incisive and sensitive portraits, dreamy views of Venetian palaces, and the subtle colors of northern skies and ever-changing seascapes, Whistler is a master of balancing tonal harmony and composition. His voluminous body of work and technical proficiency, along with his arguments with critics, disrupted the conventions of Victorian society in pursuit of truth, beauty, and progress. 

Illustrated with the artist’s world-famous paintings alongside rarely seen works, this book includes exquisite portraits, drawings, prints, and designs from Whistler’s teens to his enigmatic late self-portraits. An international selection of writers look afresh at this audacious artist, casting new light on his unsettled life and the way he redefined the special value of the artist in a shifting, materialist world. | Carol Jacobi is curator of British Art at Tate Britain and has published and broadcast widely on nineteenth- and twentieth-century British art, most recently “Picasso’s Portraits of Isabel Rawsthorne” in Burlington Magazine. She was curator of the major Tate exhibition, Van Gogh and Britain.