Whistler

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

JAMES ABBOT MC- NEILL, an American painter; born in Lowell, Mass., in 1834; studied for a time at the United States Military Academy; next went to Paris, worked for two years in the studio of Gleyre, and afterward settled in London. In 1884 he became a member of the Society of British Artists, of which he was president from 1886 to 1889. In France he received a medal (3d class) at the Salon of 1883, a gold medal at the Exposition of 1889, and was "Hors Concours" at the Salon in 1892; and he was made Chevalier (1889) and Officer (1891) of the Legion of Honor. In 1889 he was elected a member of the Munich Academy, and received the Cross of the Order of St. Michael; and in 1900 he took the highest prize at the Exposition Universelle, in Paris. In 1859 he began to exhibit in the Royal Academy, showing "Two Etchings from Nature," which were followed in 1860 by five dry-point portraits and etchings of Thames subjects, and an oil picture of a mother and child "At the Piano." He exhibited frequently in the Salon, the Academy, the Grosvenor Gallery, the Society of British Artists, and in 1874 and 1892 held exhibitions of his paintings in London. The finest of his oil pictures are "The Artist's Mother-an arrangement in Black and Gray," shown in the Royal Academy of 1872, awarded a gold medal in the Salon of 1884, and purchased for the Luxembourg Gallery in 1891; the "Portrait of Thomas Carlyle," shown in the artist's exhibition of 1874, and purchased by the Glasgow Corporation in 1891; and the "Portrait of Miss Alexander-Harmony in Gray and Green." In addition to many other portraits, such as those of Señor Sarasate, Miss Rosa Corder, Irving as Philip II., and Lady Archibald Campbell, he produced some fascinating figure subjects and views on the Thames, etc., in oils. He was also a skillful worker in pastels on tinted paper; while as a purely decorative artist he is known by the "Peacock Room," painted in 1877 in Mr. Leyland's house at Prince's Gate, London, and by the "Music Room," in Señor Sarasate's residence in Paris. His etchings include: "The French Set," (13) subjects, Paris, 1858); the "Thames Set" (16 subjects, London, 1871); the "First Venice Set" (12 plates, London, 1880); the "Second Venice Set" (26 plates, 1886). Whistler's art is original and individual. On Feb. 11, 1902, the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts ad awarded him its Gold Medal of Honor. Whistler was one of the greatest painters of the later 19th century. He died in London, England, July 17, 1903.