James Abbott Mcneill Whistler

James Abbott McNeill Whistler born on July 11, 1834 and died July 17, 1903. He was an American-born, British-based artist.  His famous signature for his paintings was in the shape of a stylized butterfly with a long stinger for a tail. Finding a parallel between painting and music, Whistler entitled many of his paintings "arrangements", "harmonies", and "nocturnes", highlighting the primacy of tonal harmony. His most famous painting is Whistler's Mother (1871), the revered and oft parodied portrait of motherhood. Whistler influenced the art world and the broader culture of his time with his artistic theories and his friendships with leading artists and writers.






On my visit to the Tate Britain I found this painting by Whistler of 
Battersea Bridge but painted what used to look like at the time it was painted in 1872-1875. Battersea Bridge does not look like this any more hence the name of the painting being 'Old Battersea Bridge'. Whistler used blue and gold in this oil on canvas painting of Battersea bridge using the blues as more tonal aspects and the gold paint to highlight parts of the painting for example the lights from buildings and the sky. I find this piece interesting because I have lived next to this bridge nearly all my life and I never knew there used to be a bridge there before the one we have now I had assumed that bridge had always been there and had looked the same. Chelsea Church and the lights of the newly-built Albert Bridge are visible in the distance, also there are fireworks in the sky and one rocket ascends as another falls in sparks.

Whistler preferred the calm of the river at night to the noise and bustle of the Thames by day. He would set off at twilight and sometimes remain on the river all night, sketching and memorising the scene. He thinned his paint with copal, turpentine and linseed oil, creating what he called a 'sauce', which he applied in thin, transparent layers, wiping it away until he was satisfied.
                                                                                                                   Battersea Bridge today

Whistler created a set of these paintings and called them his 'Nocturnes' because he would sit up all night and paint them, he never painted his 'Nocturnes' on the spot but from memory in his studio, employing a special medium devised for painting swiftly in oils. 'Nocturne' painting is a term used by Whistler to describe a painting style that depicts scenes of the night or subjects as they appear in a veil of light, in twilight, or in the absence of direct light. In a broader usage, the term has come to refer to any painting of a night scene, or night-piece, such as Rembrandt's The Night Watch.

This is another of Whistler's 'Nocturne' paintings  painted in the same style as 'Old Battersea Bridge' using blue's and Gold.