American painting and its tradition - as represented by Inness, Wyant, Martin, Homer, La Farge, Whistler, Chase, Alexander, Sargent (1920) (14776389155)

"Nocturne, Gray and Silver, Chelsea Embankment" by James McNeill Whistler
Identifier: ameng00vand (find matches)
Title: American painting and its tradition : as represented by Inness, Wyant, Martin, Homer, La Farge, Whistler, Chase, Alexander, Sargent
Year: 1920 (1920s)
Authors: Van Dyke, John Charles
Subjects: American Painting
Publisher: Charles Schribner's Sons
Contributing Library: Whitney Museum of American Art, Frances Mulhall Achilles Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Metropolitan New York Library Council - METRO



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g so, he strove to graft the Eastern shootupon the Western stock, to take what was bestof Japanese art and blend it w^ith French art,thus harmonizing the two traditions. Repre-sentative figures from the Western world wereput into an Eastern pattern and made to dodecorative service. The Thames was turned intonocturnes, portraits were changed to arrange-ments in grays or browns or blacks, and Londongenre became so many symphonies or harmoniesin gold, blue, or old rose. The result was a rarebouquet of orchids which the English public,reared on primroses and daisies, did not findin its botany book and could not understand.No wonder there was confusion, misunderstand-ing, and denunciation. With his Oriental gospelWhistler in London was scoffed at and reviled.He had brought a new faith to English art, butno one believed in it or would receive it. Therewas nothing to do but stone the evangelist.The stoning roused his ire. though young he was a TartarAnd not at all disposed to prove a martyr.
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Xoctiinic. (iray and Silver. Chelsea Enihaiikment,by James A. MeXeill Whistler. lu the Kreer ((illection, Suiithsoiiiaii Iiistitiitiou. JAMES ABBOn^ iMcNEILL WHISTLER 150 And so the quarrel began and ran on for fortyyears, until the painter died, and tlie Britishpublic bought his pictures and hung them in itsnational galleries, and the incident was declaredclosed. The story is old in art but this one pos-sesses distinctly modern variations. Whistler had probably begun the study ofJapanese art before 1860, and there is equalprobability that in Paris he saw not the bestexamples of it, but only its latter-day manifes-tations in the color prints of Hokusai, Utamaro,and Hiroshige. However that may have been,he saw enough to change his ideas about patternand to turn him half-way round, at least, fromthe representative to the decorative. That wasthe beginning of the misunderstanding. Time outof mind artist and public had been consciousthat painting possessed the dimensions of heightand bread