Symphonies and Nocturnes on Canvas

The James McNeill Whistler exhibition at Tate Britain is big, probably a bit too big, but it's packed with beautiful pictures and it's not in the least bit boring. 

That's not surprising as Whistler led a colourful life, never shying from controversy and confrontation -- notably pursuing a high-profile libel case against John Ruskin -- and he produced art that was groundbreaking, hugely influential and enormously atmospheric. Including, of course, probably one of the most recognisable paintings in art history, that of his mother in profile, dressed in black. It's in this show, and we'll be taking a look at it shortly. 

But we start in Whistler's studio, where the artist has painted himself at work, palette and brush in his hands, and looking out directly at us, the viewers. This is the first picture you see in the show, and we're told that for Whistler, the studio was a place for public performance, as well as making art. So here he is, making a statement, making an impression.  

This performance is taking place in Chelsea, where the artist lived and painted for many decades, just a short way along the Thames from Tate Britain in Millbank. Models Joanna Hiffernan and Emelie Jones lounge in front of a display of East Asian porcelain, the whole scene reflected in the gold-framed mirror at the back. 

This introductory room gets you into the spirit of that studio, with Whistler's palette and paints, Japanese prints and ceramics, a decorated screen and a couple of the sort of paintings that give a hint as to what he was striving to create -- not so much portraits and landscapes as impressions: creations with musical names like arrangements and harmonies, symphonies and nocturnes. 

The curators take you through Whistler's early years -- part of his childhood in Russia, where his father was a railway engineer, the US Military Academy at West Point, and the Bohemianism of being an aspiring artist in Paris -- in quite a lot of detail. There are innumerable drawings, and it's perhaps best not to linger too long over them; you don't want to fill yourself up on the starters before the main courses come along. 

But here is Whistler in those Paris years in his early 20s -- hat at a jaunty angle and with a rather snazzy dotted cravat and very long hair. Perhaps overplaying the role of the emaciated genius struggling in a garret, but very much observing us, sizing us up.

It's fair to say Whistler had yet to find the touch that would make him famous. An early, large landscape of The Coast of Brittany, done in 1861 when he was recuperating from illness, is certainly striking, but has a much more solid feel than his later work. 

It's not long before we come to what must be the most recognisable and famous of all Whistler's paintings, made a decade later; we all know it as Whistler's Mother, though it's actually entitled Arrangement in Grey and Black, No. 1.  

Whistler's mother Anna arrived in London in 1863, fleeing the American Civil War, and in this painting she's still wearing mourning, even though it's 20 years since the death of her husband. She is an old woman, relatively, but painted in a new style, using veils of thin paint and a restricted colour range. Amid this simple setting, your eye is able to wander over all the beautiful detail: the pattern on the lower part of the curtain, the precisely placed feet and paintings on the wall -- that certainly looks like a wispy grey Whistler to her left -- and best of all the white lace and her face.

From the old to the young, and much more grey (but what a variety of greys). Miss Cicely Alexander was eight (and dressed up to the nines) when Whistler began this commission from her banker father, who'd been impressed by Whistler's portrait of his mother.

The original plan was for the elder daughter Mary (or May) to have her likeness done first, but Whistler's sudden inspiration to depict Cicely in clothes and pose similar to Edouard Manet's Lola de Valence changed his schedule. In reference to the banker's collection of Japanese lacquerwork and blue-and-white china, Whistler kept the background plain and simple, adding a gold-edged black dado and wall divider, white daisies and butterflies (his trademark on the left and two others fluttering). 

In the event, young Cicely had to model 70 times for the picture, sometimes for hours. She recalled that Whistler "used to stand a good way from his canvas, and then dart at it". She "often finished the day in tears". After many sittings herself, May became ill and her portrait was left unfinished. 

In some of these works, you can also see how the poses, colours and loose brushwork recall Velázquez's portrayals of Spanish royalty and courtiers.

For another wealthy patron, Frederick Leyland, Whistler took over the decoration of his dining room, which was intended to display his collection of paintings and ceramics. But Whistler went off on a tangent, transforming the space extravagantly and filling it with peacock motifs without Leyland's permission. The Peacock Room, now in Washington, has been recreated here, and as you immerse yourself in its magnificence, you can also hear a (rather overloud) dramatisation of the Whistler-Leyland quarrel over the affair.

But back to the pictures, and the music. Here's one of the symphonies: The Little White Girl depicts Hiffernan leaning against the mantelpiece at the home she shared with Whistler in Chelsea, because she was more than just his model. She's wearing a wedding ring, though they never married. 

She's holding a fan with the design of a print by Utagawa Hiroshige; like so many painters of his era, Whistler was hugely influenced by Japanese art, perhaps most notably of all in Nocturne: Blue and Gold -- Old Battersea Bridge painted in the early 1870s. 

So eye-catching, it's no wonder it's been used by the Tate as the lead image on its promotional material for the exhibition. Tiny figures can be made out against the sky crossing the bridge, while a barge drifts along in misty blue below, looking for all the world as if a junk had made it up the Thames. Dots of light appear on the bank, and what seem to be fireworks explode in the distance.

Another Nocturne: Black and Gold presents a giant Catherine Wheel in Cremorne Gardens in Chelsea. And while the bridge was a hazy harmony, this Fire Wheel really is just a fleeting impression, almost an abstraction. 

It was one of these black-and-gold nocturnes (not on show at the Tate) that led Ruskin to accuse Whistler of "flinging a pot of paint in the public's face". Whistler sued for libel; he won, but was bankrupted by the costs. 

There's more to come in this show, but a lot of it consists of very small works indeed, such as the etchings made by Whistler when he left for Venice after losing his home and studio as a result of the libel case. We didn't feel we had the energy to concentrate very much on these so late on after all the paintings, to be frank.

For the most part, though, this exhibition is extremely absorbing and informative -- you learn a lot about Whistler's background and the techniques he used. And you get taken home to meet his mother.  

Practicalities

James McNeill Whistler is on at Tate Britain until September 27 and is open daily from 1000 to 1800. Full-price tickets cost £24, and you can book online here. We spent almost two hours in this show. The nearest London Underground station to Tate Britain is Pimlico on the Victoria Line, about five minutes walk away.

The exhibition goes on to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam under the title Whistler: Dandy and Disruptor from October 16 to January 10. 

Images

James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), The Artist in His Studio, 1865-66, Art Institute of Chicago
James McNeill Whistler, Whistler Smoking, 1856-60, Private collection
James McNeill Whistler, Arrangement in Grey and Black, No. 1, 1871, Musée d’Orsay, Paris
James McNeill Whistler, Harmony in Grey and Green: Miss Cicely Alexander, 1872-73, Tate. Photo © Tate
James McNeill Whistler, Symphony in White, No. 2: The Little White Girl, 1864. Tate
James McNeill Whistler, Nocturne: Blue and Gold -- Old Battersea Bridge, 1872-75, Tate

James McNeill Whistler, Nocturne: Black and Gold -- The Fire Wheel, 1875-77, Tate