Arrangement in Grey and Black, No. 2: Portrait of Thomas Carlyle
James McNeill Whistler · 1873
James McNeill Whistler
United States · 1834–1903
James Abbott McNeill Whistler was an American painter in oils and watercolor, and printmaker, based primarily in the United Kingdom. He eschewed sentimentality and moral allusion in painting and was a leading proponent of the credo "art for art's sake". His signature for his paintings took the shape of a stylized butterfly with an added long stinger for a tail. The symbol combined both aspects of his personality: his art is marked by a subtle delicacy, while his public persona was combative. He found a parallel between painting and music, and entitled many of his paintings "arrangements", "harmonies", and "nocturnes", emphasizing the primacy of tonal harmony.
Known works
Whistler's Mother
James McNeill Whistler · 1871
Musée d'Orsay
Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1, best known under its colloquial name Whistler's Mother or Portrait of Artist's Mother, is a painting in oils on canvas created by the American-born painter James McNeill Whistler in 1871. The subject of the painting is Whistler's mother, Anna McNeill Whistler.
Symphony in White, No. 2: The Little White Girl
James McNeill Whistler · 1864
National Gallery
Symphony in White, No. 2, also known as The Little White Girl is a painting by James McNeill Whistler. The work shows a woman in three-quarter figure standing by a fireplace with a mirror over it.
Sources
Invite James McNeill Whistler into your living room
