Whistling Beauty
An important, and sparkling, presentation at the Freer.

By Melissa Seckora, NR editorial associate
May 19-20, 2001

he Freer Gallery of Art houses the world's largest collection of works by the American artist James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903). The Gallery's founder, Charles Lang Freer, was a near-fanatical admirer — he wound up collecting nearly 1300 of Whistler's works. While the Freer is one of the most intimate and serene galleries in Washington, D.C., the limited exhibition space unfortunately allows only for a handful of Whistler's works to be displayed at any given time.

In this latest show, the Freer has selected a radiant collection of the artist's paintings in order to follow his evolution in style from 1860 to 1900. The ten works on display are among Whistler's most important contributions, including his early realistic paintings, his decorative works, and several of his moody night scenes, or "nocturnes."

The selection includes: "The Thames in Ice" (1860), an example of early realism; "Harmony in Green and Rose: The Music Room" (1860-61, pictured above), a painting that combines Whistler's decorative touch with portrait-like figures; "Variations in Flesh Colour and Green: The Balcony" (1864-70, pictured below, top), one of his most inventive decorative works, inspired by Asian porcelain and Japanese prints; and "Symphony in Green and Violet" (1868, pictured second below), an impressionistic rendering of what appears to be two women dancing.

Although Whistler's most famous portrait, "Arrangement in Grey and Black: Portrait of the Painter's Mother" (1871), hangs in the Musée d' Orsay, Paris, the Freer presents two of his better-known portraits, including the striking "Arrangement in Black: Portrait of F.R. Leyland (1870-1873, pictured below). Whistler painted this portrait some time before he had a falling out with Leyland, an English millionaire who had commissioned the artist to decorate his dining room — later to be called the Peacock Room. Embellished with peacock feathers painted in Dutch metal (imitation gold leaf), and embroidered with Whistler's painting "La Princesse du pays de la porcelaine" (1863-64), the entire room, which had been constructed to show off Leyland's large collection of Chinese porcelain, is now on display at the Freer. As the Freer notes, while working on the magnificent space, Whistler wrote to Leyland to say that the dining room was "really alive with beauty — brilliant and gorgeous while at the same time delicate and refined to the last degree." Whistler had gone above and beyond his call of duty, and Leyland, furious that Whistler had taken it upon himself to be so extravagant, insulted Whistler by paying him much less than what he was owed. In retaliation, Whistler painted the valuable leather panels of the room with Prussian-blue paint, and added two peacocks facing each other. The mural of the peacocks was aptly entitled "Art and Money; or The Story of the Room."

Whistler's portraits made him famous, as did his "controversial" nocturnes. Two of the night scenes are on display here, "Nocturne in Blue and Gold: Valparaiso Bay" (1866-ca1874), and "Nocturne: Grey and Silver — Chelsea Embankment, Winter" (1879). The nocturnes are superb examples of aesthetic quality and refinement. They also embrace the ideal of "art for art's sake." John Ruskin (1819-1900), one of the most influential art critics ever, detested the nocturnes' impressionistic quality, and quipped that Whistler was "flinging a pot of paint in the public's face." Whistler sued Ruskin for libel and won. Ruskin, who was borderline crazy, eventually had a breakdown, and during the last 11 years of his life he never wrote another word. No doubt to Whistler's great delight.

Whistler's paintings will remain on view indefinitely at the Freer Gallery of Art.

All images courtesy of the Freer Gallery of Art.