Exhibition Preview: Whistler &
His Followers, Mar 14 - Jun6, 2004, Detroit Inst. of Art
Tonalism and the "Nocturne"
Tonalism and the "Nocturne"
Whistler's
distinctive views of the river Thames in London were made from memory, in his studio, after time had
softened his initial impression of the scene. To downplay the significance of
subject matter, he gave the paintings a musical name: "nocturnes,"
after instrumental compositions with a dreamy, pensive mood. In
Whistler's time, the Thames riverfront was considered an unattractive scene of
industrial blight. Here, Whistler's foggy, dark veil transforms even an
industrial scene into a poetic vision of London.
Raised in Detroit and having briefly pursued an
art career in New York, Theodore Scott Dabo moved to France in 1905 where he
painted this dreamlike view of trees clustered on a riverbank, reminiscent of
Whistler's nocturnes. That autumn, in the exhibition at the Paris Salon,
his tonal landscapes garnered praise from several French art critics, including
one who went so far as to describe Dabo's work as "the realization of what
Whistler attempted."
Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling
Rocket, a nearly abstract painting of fireworks over London's Cremorne
Gardens at night, was Whistler's most misunderstood work. He never intended for
the painting to be a realistic depiction. Rather, like his other nocturnes, he
wanted it to convey the atmosphere and an impression of the place. When the influential art critic John
Ruskin derided the painting and its price of 200 guineas, accusing Whistler of
"flinging a pot of paint in the public's face," Whistler sued him for
libel. Whistler used the trial as a platform in defense of his ideas about art
and eventually won the suit, but was awarded the equivalent of only a few
pennies in damages. He later felt redeemed when an American collector bought
the painting for 800 guineas, gloating that "the pot of paint flung in the
face of the British public for two hundred guineas has sold for four pots of
paint, and that Ruskin has lived to see it!"
Birge Harrison's view down Fifth Avenue toward
St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City captures the atmosphere of a dark,
rainy night in the city, one of Whistler's favorite themes. Working primarily
in a narrow range of blues, Harrison punctuates his composition with warm
orange accents that suggest the glare of electric light and, like the sparkling lights of
Whistler's Nocturne in Black and Gold, charge the scene with urban
energy.
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