Whistler in Washington
Published: 22 May 2014
Senior staff from the School of Culture and Creative Arts have been instrumental in a major exhibition of James McNeill Whistler's work in the United States.
Senior staff from the School of Culture and Creative Arts have been instrumental in a major exhibition of James McNeill Whistler's work in the United States.
Dr Patricia de Montfort and Professor Margaret MacDonald are co-curators of the exhibition ‘An American in London: Whistler and the Thames’ and participated in the launch of the exhibition at its third and final venue, the Freer Gallery of Art at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC.
The show was neatly summed up in a review by Marsha Dubrow on the examiner.com website: "The night time event at the Sackler and the adjoining Freer Gallery of Art evoked James McNeill Whistler's renowned "Nocturne" paintings. The American expatriate artist regarded his works as analogous to music, and called them nocturnes, symphonies, variations...
"Guests were given various stick-on mustaches and bowler hats to wear as they toured the stunning exhibit with its co-curators from Glasgow University...
"Two of Whistler's major Chelsea paintings are reunited for the first time in 100 years, noted co-curator Patricia de Montfort: "Variations in Pink and Grey: Chelsea" 1871-72, held by the Freer, and "Variations in Violet and Green: Chelsea" 1871, lent by Musée D'Orsay in Paris. The exhibit offers 20 important oil paintings of Chelsea and the Thames."
Dr de Montfort told the website: "One very important thing about Whistler is his precision, although we associate him with vagueness and fogginess like 'Nocturnes. He was very capable of being subtle, with great control of the paintbrush."
www.examiner.com/article/smithsonian-s-whistler-london-exhibit-opened-last-night-with-music-costumes
First published: 22 May 2014
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