James McNeill Whistler

James McNeill Whistler
James McNeill Whistler
	Arrangement in Gray: Portrait of the Painter; (self portrait, c. 1872), Detroit Institute of Arts
Born	July 10, 1834; Lowell, Massachusetts, US
Died	July 17, 1903 (aged 69); London, England, UK
Nationality	American
Education	United States Military Academy, West Point, New York
Known for	Painting
Notable work	Whistler's Mother
Movement	Founder of Tonalism
Spouse	Beatrice Godwin (m. 1888; died 1896)
Parents	George Washington Whistler; Anna McNeill Whistler;
Awards	1884, elected honorary member, Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Munich, Bavaria, Germany; 1892, made an officer of the Légion d'honneur, France; 1898, charter member and first president of the International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers;

James Abbott McNeill Whistler RBA (/ˈwɪslər/; July 10, 1834 – July 17, 1903) was an American painter in oils and watercolor, and printmaker, active during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom. He eschewed sentimentality and moral allusion in painting and was a leading proponent of the credo "art for art's sake".

His signature for his paintings took the shape of a stylized butterfly with an added long stinger for a tail. The symbol combined both aspects of his personality: his art is marked by a subtle delicacy, while his public persona was combative. He found a parallel between painting and music, and entitled many of his paintings "arrangements", "harmonies", and "nocturnes", emphasizing the primacy of tonal harmony. His most famous painting, Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1 (1871), commonly known as Whistler's Mother, is a revered and often parodied portrait of motherhood. Whistler influenced the art world and the broader culture of his time with his aesthetic theories and his friendships with other leading artists and writers.

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