JAMES McNEILL WHISTLER
(1834-1903)
Whistler embarked on his first series of Thames views from 1859 to the early 1860s. During the 1870s he became interested in Japanese prints, which were to have a profound effect on his subsequent work. These later images of the Thames concentrate on the light effects rather then the minutiae of the bankside. ‘The evening mist’ he wrote ‘clothes the riverside with poetry as a veil, the poor buildings lose themselves in the dim sky…’.
During this period, bailiffs occupied the White House, Whistler’s home at Chelsea. By way of retaliation, Whistler persuaded them to act as liveried waiters at his dinner parties and was able to conceal all his copper plates (ref. Lochnan p.179).
Copyright © Trustees of Cecil Higgins Art Gallery, Bedford.
Extract taken from Prints, Cecil Higgins Art Gallery .