Whistler And Nature review: From military map-maker to acclaimed artist

Although the show’s title, Whistler And Nature, doesn’t quite match the content, there is so much to see that Whistler wins through in the end

Whistler And Nature

Compton Verney, Warwickshire                                                          Until Dec 16

Rating:

Hear Whistler’s name and one work immediately comes to mind: the famous portrait of his mother painted in London in 1871. Whistler’s Mother is actually called Arrangement In Grey And Black, No 1 – but the egocentric artist was less interested in a maternal portrait than the way colours worked on canvas – and, of course, his own talent. 

Hanging on the wall to the left of the old lady’s head in the painting is Black Lion Wharf, Whistler’s 1859 etching of the Thames quaysides. Forget Mum, he says, look at me!

That picture within a picture is at Compton Verney, just one of a treasure trove of more than 90 works in a show that reveals Whistler’s multi-faceted talent. 

Black Lion Wharf, Whistler’s 1859 etching of the Thames quaysides. Through six rooms of etchings, lithographs, oil paintings and sketches we follow his career progress

Black Lion Wharf, Whistler’s 1859 etching of the Thames quaysides. Through six rooms of etchings, lithographs, oil paintings and sketches we follow his career progress

Through six rooms of etchings, lithographs, oil paintings and sketches we follow his progress from young military map-maker to the most acclaimed American artist of the 19th century – albeit one based in London.

That progress was stopped by the disastrous libel action Whistler brought against John Ruskin in 1877. 

The critic had accused him of ‘flinging a pot of paint in the public’s face’ after seeing Nocturne In Black And Gold: The Falling Rocket, a thrillingly abstract view of fireworks. 

IT’S A FACT

Whistler was ejected from West Point military school by Robert E Lee, future Confederate general in the American Civil War.

Looking at a sister piece here at Compton Verney, Nocturne, we see how wrong Ruskin was. It shows two barges on the Thames but is actually an intense inquiry into darkness itself.

The trial bankrupted Whistler yet his reputation got stronger with every passing year, while Ruskin’s would never recover. 

Although the title of this show, Whistler And Nature, doesn’t seem to quite match the content, with the Rembrandt-like lithographs of Parisian park scenes, spectral studio nudes of London models and Japanese-inspired views of Battersea, there is so much to see that we shouldn’t quibble. As ever, Whistler wins through in the end. 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk