Grace Glueck, New York Times
"[S]avvy."
Hilarie M. Sheets, New York Times Book Review
An engrossing study of the artist's obsession with clothes.
Book Description
Costume and fashion were a lifelong obsession for James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903). His exquisite depictions of women and the details of their clothing contributed to his career as one of the most accomplished and successful—if controversial—artists of the nineteenth century. This lavishly illustrated book focuses on fashion in Whistler’s art as a key to understanding his life and work and as a new means of exploring his relationship with women and his portraits of them. The book offers new insights into some of Whistler’s most beloved masterpieces in the context of art and fashion in the Victorian period. Illustrated with paintings, pastels, prints, and drawings by Whistler, the book also presents photographs of his sitters, contemporary costumes, works by other artists of the period, and artifacts from Whistler’s studio. These illustrations, with new material drawn from the Centre for Whistler Studies, illuminate the interaction between the artist and the women he portrayed during his fifty years in Paris and London—mistresses, family members, artists, actresses, aristocrats, and many others.
From the Publisher
This book accompanies an exhibition at The Frick Collection in New York City from April 22 to July 13, 2003. Published in association with The Frick Collection
About the Author
Margaret F. MacDonald is principal research fellow at the Centre for Whistler Studies at the University of Glasgow. Susan Grace Galassi is curator at The Frick Collection in New York City. Aileen Ribeiro is professor of history of art and history of dress at the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London. Patricia de Monfort is research fellow at the Centre for Whistler Studies at the University of Glasgow.
Whistler, Women, and Fashion FROM THE PUBLISHER
Costume and fashion were a lifelong obsession for James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903). His exquisite depictions of women and the details of their clothing contributed to his career as one of the most accomplished and successful - if controversial - artists of the nineteenth century. This lavishly illustrated book focuses on fashion in Whistler's art as a key to understanding his life and work and as a new means of exploring his relationship with women and his portraits of them. The book offers insights into some of Whistler's most beloved masterpieces in the context of art and fashion in the Victorian period.
FROM THE CRITICS
The New York Times
Whistler, Women, & Fashion is an engrossing study of the artist's obsession with clothes, a passion that, as Margaret F. MacDonald, Susan Grace Galassi and Aileen Ribeiro reveal, was anything but superficial. — Hilarie M. Sheets
Library Journal
A dandy who promoted himself through his own exaggerated dress and mannerisms, Whistler was fascinated by fashion as an indicator of social status and personality. It is appropriate, then, that this book, which accompanied a recent exhibition at the Frick Collection in New York, examines fashion in his art. Curators and Whistler scholars scrutinize various fashion influences in Whistler's portraits of women, among them Asian dress, Vel zquez's paintings, and classical draperies. In his picture of Mrs. Frances Leyland, for example, Whistler designed the dress himself as a simple, aesthetic tea gown with an 18th-century Watteau pleat at the back. On the other hand, while painting the two portraits of Lady Valerie Meux, the artist borrowed from more contemporary couture traditions to reinvent the image of this lady as a grande dame and seductress. The illustrations (40 black-and- white, 140 color) include paintings, drawings, other artists' work, and photographs of Whistler's subjects and objects from his studio. While not a core title on the artist, this volume is recommended for academic libraries that collect books on art and libraries that support programs in fashion and costume.-Sandra Rothenberg, Framingham State Coll. Lib., MA Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Art & Photography
Book Info
