An American artist based primarily in the United Kingdom, James McNeill Whistler was active during the Gilded Age (ca. 1870s to 1900). This guide provides links to primary and secondary sources, in both print and digital formats, about the artist.
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Author:
Laura Berberian, Reference Librarian, Researcher & Reference Services Division
Created: April 11, 2020
Last Updated: February 5, 2021
Introduction
This research guide offers links to biographies, criticism, exhibition catalogs, online resources, manuscripts, prints, and photographs regarding the American artist James McNeill Whistler (1834–1903). Famous for Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1, also called Portrait of the Artist's Mother or Whistler's Mother, Whistler also made lithographs and etchings.
After being expelled from the United States Military Academy at West Point, Whistler travelled to Paris, where he attended the Ecole Imperiale et Speciale de Dessin and the Academie Gleyre. Later, Whistler moved to London, where he painted his "Nocturne" series of the Thames.
In 1898, Whistler was elected president of the International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers.