In an era of great change and great beauty emerged the character of James McNeill Whistler.
Considered by some to be one of the great innovators of 19th century art, he was a contemporary of the Impressionists, much admired by Van Gogh and Manet. Boldly experimental and famously witty, Whistler disrupted the strict conventions of Victorian society in pursuit of a new cult of beauty, creating “art for art’s sake” and earning himself a place in the history of great art. He found a parallel between painting and music, and entitled many of his paintings “arrangements”, “harmonies” and “nocturnes”, emphasising the importance of tonal harmony in his work.
Tate Britain is holding the first major retrospective of Whistler in three decades (exhibition dates: 21 May- 27 September). This blockbuster exhibition promises to reawaken the world to just how important Whistler is to art history, uniting world-famous masterpieces with rarely seen works.
