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Arrangement in Blue and Black (The Blue Sea)
James Abbot McNeill Whistler • Painting, End XIX centuries, 14×23 cm
1.03:42Arrangement in Blue and Black — Arthive
Description of the artwork «Arrangement in Blue and Black (The Blue Sea)»
No doubt, you remember one of the most famous painting of this artist, the Whistler’s Mother as well as the adventures of the masterpiece together with Mister Bean in the known movie, fortunately, unreal. Less funny adventures happened in the artist’s real life.
Once James Abbott McNeill Whistler attended court as a plaintiff. When he was asked about his birthplace, the answer was “Russia”.
James Abbott Whistler was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, the USA. However, the artist Whistler was born in St. Petersburgh; his father was employed as an engineer to work on a railroad from St. Petersburg to Moscow and his mother took him to the Hermitage and sought teachers of painting for him. One of them was a Russian officer who studied at the Academy of Fine Arts. It is unclear but the teacher could be Pavel Fedotov, a caricaturist. Whistler had lived in Russia since his nine till fourteen years old. We cannot but suggest that famous Whistler’s wit was exported from Russia.
That time Whistler filed a suit against famous critic John Ruskin for libel after the critic condemned his painting and the artist’s reputation was damaged among his buyers. Frankly speaking, Ruskin had acted inadequately by that time. He recognized nobody but Pre-Raphaelites and Turner. He threw mud at the modern art by Whistler as well as, for instance, Rembrandt. That time the critic was outraged with the artworks by Whistler to his mind not revealing the work performed, with no the subject or morality implied. The trial was like a circus performance. The unlucky jury was demanded to investigate whether Whistler’s artworks were the pieces of art and at the same time they were unable to decide whether the painting was upside down or not. The Arrangement in Blue and Black was executed much later than this trial occured (collector Shchukin acquired it personally from the artist) though, it could be suited to demonstrate the problem the jury had faced.
Among other things the judge asked the artist to explain what was depicted in the painting, the painting was brought into the court and the audience burst into laughter. Whistler answered in his typical manner combining poison and elegance that it depended upon a person looking at it. For somebody it could embody everything what the artist wanted to express and the others could see nothing.
In general, his landscapes were intended not for discussions but for visual perception. In the book The 42nd Parallel by American writer John Dos Passes one of the characters said about Whistler’s artworks that if to look at his paintings for a long time and then look through the window everything around would have seemed as though it had been painted with pastel colors like the artist’s paintings. Let’s try to do the same.
Author: Natalia Kandaurova
Once James Abbott McNeill Whistler attended court as a plaintiff. When he was asked about his birthplace, the answer was “Russia”.
James Abbott Whistler was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, the USA. However, the artist Whistler was born in St. Petersburgh; his father was employed as an engineer to work on a railroad from St. Petersburg to Moscow and his mother took him to the Hermitage and sought teachers of painting for him. One of them was a Russian officer who studied at the Academy of Fine Arts. It is unclear but the teacher could be Pavel Fedotov, a caricaturist. Whistler had lived in Russia since his nine till fourteen years old. We cannot but suggest that famous Whistler’s wit was exported from Russia.
That time Whistler filed a suit against famous critic John Ruskin for libel after the critic condemned his painting and the artist’s reputation was damaged among his buyers. Frankly speaking, Ruskin had acted inadequately by that time. He recognized nobody but Pre-Raphaelites and Turner. He threw mud at the modern art by Whistler as well as, for instance, Rembrandt. That time the critic was outraged with the artworks by Whistler to his mind not revealing the work performed, with no the subject or morality implied. The trial was like a circus performance. The unlucky jury was demanded to investigate whether Whistler’s artworks were the pieces of art and at the same time they were unable to decide whether the painting was upside down or not. The Arrangement in Blue and Black was executed much later than this trial occured (collector Shchukin acquired it personally from the artist) though, it could be suited to demonstrate the problem the jury had faced.
Among other things the judge asked the artist to explain what was depicted in the painting, the painting was brought into the court and the audience burst into laughter. Whistler answered in his typical manner combining poison and elegance that it depended upon a person looking at it. For somebody it could embody everything what the artist wanted to express and the others could see nothing.
In general, his landscapes were intended not for discussions but for visual perception. In the book The 42nd Parallel by American writer John Dos Passes one of the characters said about Whistler’s artworks that if to look at his paintings for a long time and then look through the window everything around would have seemed as though it had been painted with pastel colors like the artist’s paintings. Let’s try to do the same.
Author: Natalia Kandaurova
