concept art
English art

English Concept Art James Abbott McNeil Whistler

  James Abbott McNeill Whistler

born: Lowell, MA, United States; 11 July 1834
died: London, England; 17 July 1903

Whistler was raised in the United States, went to West Point, worked as a cartographer for the US Navy, and then he went to Paris in 1855 (at 21 years old) to study painting. In 1859 he moved to London and settled there. He espoused the philosophy of art-for-arts-sake. His pictures of people are not portraits, not even the one of his mother; it is an Arrangement in Gray and Black. His pictures are Studies, Nocturnes, or Symphonies. In his day critics said he just threw paint at a canvas -- that what he did was not painting. Welcome to the start of 20th Century art.

Symphony in White	Symphony in White II
Study in Brown and Gold	Nocturne in Black and Gold
Nocturne in Blue and Gold about 1875 Tate Gallery, London	Study in Blue and Silver (Cremorne Lights)
Arrangement in Gray and Black (Whistler's Mother) 1871 Louvre, Paris	Study in Grey and Green
At the Piano

concept art
English art