Nocturne: Blue and Silver – Chelsea
| Nocturne: Blue and Silver - Chelsea | |
|---|---|
| File:James Abbott McNeill Whistler - Nocturne- Blue and Silver - Chelsea - Google Art Project.jpg | |
| Artist | James McNeill Whistler |
| Year | 1871 |
| Medium | Oil on panel |
| Dimensions | 50.2 cm × 60.8 cm (19.8 in × 23.9 in) |
| Location | Tate Britain, London |
Completed in 1871, Nocturne: Blue and Silver – Chelsea is a painting by James McNeill Whistler. It is the earliest of the London Nocturnes and was conceived on the same August evening as Variations in Violet and Green.[1] The two paintings were exhibited together at the Dudley Gallery.
The Nocturnes
Orientalism
The work provides an example of the Orientalism, specifically Japonisme which was a significant influence on Whistler and many other Impressionists during this period. The flattened, silhouetted forms are typical of contemporaneous Ukiyo-e[2] prints. More specifically, Whistler often drew composition inspiration from One Hundred Famous Views of Edo and other works by Hiroshige and Hiroshige II.[3] The monochromatic colour washes,[4] visible brushstrokes, and subdued composition echo sumi-e.[3] All this is underscored by Whistler's use of the 'butterfly' signature in the centre of the bottom edge of the painting, imitating a "chop" seal.
Provenance
Donated to the Tate in 1972 by Rachel and Jean Alexander, from the collection of their father William Cleverly Alexander, a banker and the son of noted abolitionist George William Alexander. W.C. Alexander was one of Whistler's earliest patrons, buying this first Nocturne in 1872 .[5]
References
- ↑ Tate. "'Nocturne: Blue and Silver - Chelsea', James Abbott McNeill Whistler, 1871". Tate. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
- ↑ Sachi NAKACHI and CHEN Min. "Looking into Exhibitions: Mimicry, Japonisme and Intermediality of Art." http://trail.tsuru.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/trair/777/1/Y021089.pdf(2017).
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Ono, Ayako (5 November 2013). Japonisme in Britain: Whistler, Menpes, Henry, Hornel and nineteenth-century Japan. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-136-62503-9.
- ↑ Hammond, Jeff Michael (15 January 2015). "Whistler: The misunderstood artistic rebel". The Japan Times. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
- ↑ Merrill, Linda. The Peacock Room: A Cultural Biography. Yale University Press, 1998.
External links
- Nocturne: Blue and Silver - Chelsea at the Tate Modern
- Variations in Violet and Green at the Musee D'Orsay