Whistler: Art and Legacy

de Montfort, P. (2021) Whistler: Art and Legacy. [Exhibitions]

Abstract

This major Hunterian exhibition explored the art and legacy of American-born artist James McNeill Whistler (1834–1903). Born in Lowell, Massachusetts, USA, Whistler spent his working life in Britain and France. From a family of soldiers and engineers, he studied topography at United States Military Academy, West Point, as an officer cadet. This formative training and sympathy for technology shaped his work, together with an enduring interest in light and weather and its effects on the urban landscape. The exhibition explored the impact of Whistler’s cosmopolitan family background on his career, his relations with industry and the military and the influence of Japanese printmakers, together with that of important artistic contacts like the English decorative painter Albert Moore (1841-1893). It also explained how the University of Glasgow came to acquire this leading collection of his work through the generosity of his sister-in-law, Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873–1958). Rarely seen material such as his Venetian pastels, made during his artistic exile in the city in 1879-80, was a crucial feature of the exhibition. Another key section gave renewed focus to Whistler’s (lesser-known) late work and his life in Paris during the 1890s, drawing on the strengths of the Hunterian collection. The final section of the exhibition examined Whistler’s artistic legacy which has been carried forward by University of Glasgow researchers over the last few decades through innovative digital and technical art history projects. The Hunterian welcomed over 15k in-person visitors to the exhibition.

• Item Type: Exhibitions
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: de Montfort, Dr Patricia
• Authors: de Montfort, P.
• Subjects: N Fine Arts > N Visual arts (General) For photography, see TR; N Fine Arts > NC Drawing Design Illustration; N Fine Arts > ND Painting; N Fine Arts > NE Print media; N Fine Arts > NK Decorative arts Applied arts Decoration and ornament; N Fine Arts > NX Arts in general
• College/School: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Culture and Creative Arts > History of Art
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2021 The Hunterian, photography University of Glasgow
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced with the permission of the Publisher

Related URLs

• Exhibition

Project Code	Award No	Project Name	Principal Investigator	Funder's Name	Funder Ref	Lead Dept
309383		Lunder Consortium: Whistler Studies	Patricia de Montfort	Lunder Foundation (LUNDERFO)	N/A	Arts - History of Art