The Artist in His Studio
By the mid-1860s, the London-based, American artist James McNeill Whistler was increasingly fascinated with the aesthetics of Asian art. In The Artist in His Studio, Whistler stares out at the viewer with palette and paintbrush in hand, surrounded by works from his collection: three Japanese scrolls hang on the wall and Chinese porcelain adorns shelves on the left. He applied thin layers of paint in muted tones to evoke the flattened appearance of Japanese woodblock prints. The composition also recalls the work of the Spanish Baroque master, Diego Velázquez. Whistler harmonized Western and Eastern artistic elements, placing himself at the center of such an enterprise.
American Art, Gallery 273
Oil on paper mounted on panel
Signed: Butterfly in cartouche, middle right
Friends of American Art Collection
Judith A. Barter et al., The Age of American Impressionism: Masterpieces from the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago/Yale University Press, 2011), no. 11.
Milwaukee Art Institute, Exhibition of Forty Paintings presented to the Art Institute of Chicago by the Friends of American Art, Mar 1–29, 1925, cat. 40.
Art Institute of Chicago, Summer Exhibitions, Jul 20–Oct 29, 1939, cat 1.
Milwaukee Art Institute, Nineteenth Century American Masters, Feb 20–Mar 28, 1948, cat. 12.
Durand Art Institute, Lake Forest College, A Century of American Painting: Masterpieces Loaned by The Art Institute of Chicago, Jun 10–16, 1957, cat. 2, as The Artist in the Studio.
Art Institute of Chicago, Whistler's Mother: An American Icon Returns to Chicago, Mar 4–May 21, 2017, no cat.
The artist, 1865/66; Dr. William Whistler, c. 1886; Goupil Gallery, 1896; Douglas Freshfield, 1896. Henry Reinhardt Galleries, 1911. Knoedler Gallery, August 1911; sold to P. D. Colganghi & Co., March 1912; to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1912.
A Sunday on La Grande Jatte — 1884, 1884/86
Paris Street; Rainy Day, 1877
Stacks of Wheat (End of Summer), 1890/91
The Child's Bath, 1893
At the Moulin Rouge, 1892/95
Arrival of the Normandy Train, Gare Saint-Lazare, 1877
Woman at Her Toilette, 1875/80
Distant View of Niagara Falls, 1830
Thomas Cole