100 years have passed since an evening in london when a curious audience gathered to hear a lecture by James Mcneill whistler. [clock ticking] he began by saying that the artist stands in no relation to the moment at which he occurs. He is no more a product of his time than is a scientific truth newly asserted. The assertion requires man to make it but the truth itself exists independently. [clock strikes] James Mcneill whistler arrived in paris on november 3, 1855 resolved to be an artist having left america never to return. He was 21. His mother hoped he would follow a career at west point, as his father and grandfather had before him but his temperament was not suited to the discipline of army life. He failed out of west point. In paris whistler began his studies at the academy of charles gleyre, who had a reputation for providing solid groundwork in drawing and painting yet encouraging individuality. Following his admission to the academy whistler was issued a pass to the louvre, where he copied paintings and learned the history of art. Outside the louvre the young artist explored the delights of cospolitan life soon developing a wide circle of friends among the students and artists ofaris. Ruth fine, curator of prints and drawings National Gallery of art. Whistler first became interested in etching during his childhood when he was given as a present a book of william hogarths prints. He learned about the process firsthand after he failed out of west point and worked for a brief period for the coast and Geodetic Survey in washington. One of whistlers coastal elevations has sketches at the margin showing his restlessness with the job of mapmaking. His first serious etchings were done in london at the home of his halsister deborah and her husband seymour haden. Haden was a renowned surgeon and amateur etcher who had a fine collection of prints, including works by rembrandt and other 17thcentury dutch masters. Throughout the late 1850s, whistler traveled back and forth frequently between england and france. Whistler often sketched directly on the copper plate itself using a drawing needle to scratch through an acidrest ground. These early works reveal his mastery of the etching technique and, by the choice of subjects from everyday life show his connection with the Realist Movement led by courbet. In the summer of 1858, he made a trip through alsace and up the rhine skching picturesque scenes like those of the barbizon painters and etchers whose works were extremely popular at the time. Whistler was interested in the effects of light and shadow in his compositions. When he printed his etching of a saverne street, he left areas of hea ink on the plate to produce his first nocturne a term he used for many night scenes. At lutzelburg, whistler made a sketch for the kitchen, one of his finest early etchings. The framed figure was a device he would come to use often in his prints. The journey ended in cologne when money ran out but the young artist had gathered enough visual material toompletset of etchings for publicion. Titled twelve etchings from nature, it is better known as the fncset. [clock strikes] satisfied he had created a set of etchings which would launch his career, he moved to london. Whistler settled on sloane street with the haden family. His printer, auguste delatre soon followed him from paris to continue printing the french set. At this time he also completed his first major oil painting which he submitted to the paris salon of 1859. The subjects were Deborah Haden and her daughter annie. Although rejected from the salon the painting was greatly admired by courbet who recognized whistlers talent and saw him as a follower in the Realist Movement. In search of new material, whistler was drawn to the thames. The river was a strong contrast to the elegance of sloane street and presented new challenges in working with pictorial space. He spent his time in wapping and rotherhithe at the south end of london and painted a scene on the balcony of the angel inn. The woman is joanna heffn, whistlers mtress, and beside her s artiriend alphonse legros. In his next major series of etchings, whistlers interest in portraiture was matched by his concern for capturing the atmosphere of place. In these new etchings, whistlers use of space changed radically. So did his drawing style. He was particularly interested in the commercial and shipping aspect of the thames. His compositions featured working men whose lives were connected with the river. He became involved with the issues of focus calling attention to places in the background by drawing them in great detail, using short, tight strokes while drawing areas in the foreground in a much more freend open manner. The details of the buildings particularly attracted him. He became verynvolved with etchi surfaces in a variety of ways using a variety ks often compressing space by filling entire areas. Whistlers interest in the effects of light and dark and his use of the framed figures seen earlier in the french set etchings are again apparent. Mr. Jones, the lime burner the central figure in the composition is drawn in great detail while the wall behind him and the floor in front are left more open, so that light floods the central space. This kind of drawing typical of the thames set, is aanner oforking whistler didnt use again for many years. Just as the popularity of the etching revival was gaining momentum in the early 1860s whistler stopped working in the medium. R the next seven years he devoted himself to painting. Joanna heffernan was the model for two major works which he called symphonies in white. They began his move away from realism, transforming physical reality by emphasizing the intangible, symbolic aspects of mood. In 1863, whistleroved to lindsey row in chelsea ordistance fm the hous occupied by Dante Gabriel rossetti. A leader of the preraphaelite movement, rossetti advocated a philosophy of art for arts sake, which also interested whistler. While their work was very different whistler and rossetti shared an enthusiasm for blue and white oriental porcelain and japanese pris. Whistlers house was soon filled with orieal objects profoundly affecting the subject matter and structure of his paintings. When he painted a portrait of christine spartali, whistler prepared a japanese setting in his studio, where she posed in an oriental robe. The gloriously decorative oriental princess was not expected and her father refused to pay for the painting. Several years later, it was acquired by frederick yland, an english shipping magnate. Itece the centerpiece foatas tbe knownas whistro. Another oriental fantasy created on the banks of the thames is the balcony, a view from the artists own studio in chelsea a bizarre blend of exotic fashion with a factorylined river. With these stylish allegories on beauty, whistlers reputation was enhanced among londons patrons of the arts, but his personal feelings led in another direction. Abruptly in 1866 he left for south america, saying that, as a west point man, he was obliged to assist chile in the war against spain. He saw little more than a skirmish in the harbor at valparaiso when the spanish fleet fired on the town, but the experience resulted in one of his most provocative paintings, which he called noctur, blue and gold. On his return to england he painted a succession of nocturnes. His absence from artistic communities of london and paris seems to have played a role in his ability to liberate himself from realism. In these works he arranges forms asymmetrically foregrounds tilting up flattening the composition in the manner of japanese prints. Blurred forms increased the sense of abstraction. A decade later he spoke of his nocturnes, saying, when evening mist covers the riverside as with a veil and the poor buildings lose themselves in the dim sky nature sings her exquisite song to the artist alone. Whistleregan etching again during a vit to frederick leylands Country House near liverpool. Leyland was a selfmade man who sought to enhance his social position by collecting art. He was an exceptionally trusting patron and willingly advanced funds against commissioned work. Whistler made a number of prints of the leyland family, using the drypoint technique drawing directly on a clean copper plate rather than one covered with an acidresist ground. Compared with etched lines the drypoint line has a soft edge and looks velvety when printed. The previous years devoted toainting added a spontaneous and impressionistic quality to whistlers prints visible in the dry point of Fanny Leyland who posed in a manner whistler had used a year earlier for arrangement in grey and black, the painting of his mother and also for his portrait of thomas carlyle. In 1877, whistler looked again to the thames as a source of subjects for printmaking, when his fortunes took a turn for the worse. Just as leyland angry about the decoration of the peacock room ended his support, whistler was building a new house designed by e. W. Godwin, and john ruskin, englands most influential art critic, attacked whistlers nocturne in black and gold saying the artist was flinging a pot of paint in the publics face. Whistler filed a libel suit, although desperate for cash to meet expenses. It became imperative to produce etchings for the marketplace. Whistler worked from a photograph of the adam and eve, an old Waterfront Tavern that had been demolished creating one of his most popular images. He laterught of this print as a transition to the impressionist style of his venice etchings. Although the artist was trying to give the public what he thought it wanted recording a london about to be lost he continued to work at combining the Lessons Learned from japanese art with those from western traditions. Despite his efforts to earmoney from his etchings, whistlers financial problems led to bankruptcy. His house and all its contents were auctioned by the court. In september 1879, to avoid further embarrassment and with a commission from the Fine Art Society for a set of 12 etchings the artist left london for venice. [church bells ringing] whistler found modest rooms on the grand canal and set to work immediately, producing not only etchings to fulfill his commission, but pastel drawings as well. Views of venice had always enjoyed a healthy market in britain. Whistler was aware of the rich visual tradition with which he had to compete. He felt it was important therefore, to approach the subject in a different way. He avoided popular tourist attractions, focusing on qualities of texture and light and the unique watery atmosphere of the city. Here whistler again worked directly from nature. He carried copper plates and an etching needle with him each day as he set out by gondola or on foot in search of subjects. In his venice prints the spatial structure is quite different from that of the french or the thames sets. Whistler was much more involved with the overall sense of surface. He achieved a twodimensional decorative quality while simultaneously conveyi a sense of depth with views through open doorways. Combining etching and drypoint lines, he developed a networof tones anbecame increasingly selective in his use of detail suggesting rather than describing ements vital to his compositions. More than in his other etchings, in his venice prints whistler experimented with tonal wiping. While printing from the same etched plate by varying the color and amount of ink on the surface, each impression became unique in mood and atmospheric effect. These experiments derived from the tonal lithotints he had made before leaving for venice and from his study of rembrandts etchings, as well as from the artistic method of printing employed by delatre in the french set. For the rest of his life whistler was involved with the 12 plates of the first venice set, insisting on printing them himself, although a second set of 26 plates was published in 1886 by the london firm of dowdeswell and dowdeswells. The attention that whistler gave to printing the venice sets, seeing each impression as a rare and unique object, helped to raise the art of etching to a new level of importance. In london, whistler turned to the streets of chelsea, exploring the visual possibilities in rows of shop fronts. The subjects selected were intimate vignettes of everyday life most of his etchings just a few inches in size. He considered large prints which were generally popular to be vulgar displays of ignorance, he said. Sketching and etching had by this time become interchangeable. Delicacy seemed the keynote of everything. He traveled frequently to france and to the low countries. Etchings, suchs the palaces in brussels, were variations on old themes, but continued to move his work faher along the road to abstraction. In 1888, whistler married beatrix godwin, the architects widow, herself a capable artist. Their marriage began the happiest phase of whistlers life. Visiting amsterdam in 1889 the artist produced a series of etchings he felt to be the high point of his career. In them, he said he combined the fineness of detail seen in the thames set with the freedom and impressionism of the venice set. Although whistler continued to make etchings throughout his life, with these his last major contribution to the history of etching was complete. While exploring the possibilities of the medium, in his amsterdam etchings whistler came as close to pure abstraction as any artist of his time. By the 1890s settled in a comfortable domestic life centering on his wife and her family he enjoyed a growing acclaim. Although his reputation as one of the best artists of his day was well established he often felt compelled to defend himself against his critics by making public pronouncements. Among them is his famous ten oclock lecture, in which he set down a number of theoretical propositions. One of them stated simply that art is infinite and thus does not progress. He said, we need only wait for the gods to put their mark upon the artist, satisfied that even if he were never to appear, the beautiful is already complete. [clock ticking] hewn in the marbles of the parthenon and embroidered with the birds upon the fan of hokusai. Funding for this program [with captioning] was provided by additional funding is provided by and