什麼是惠斯勒

Whistler, James (Abbott) McNeill

美國出生的英國畫家、銅版畫家和石版畫家。作品風格獨特，線條與色調和諧，富於裝飾性與東方趣味。少年時曾入美國軍事院學習，但不久即放棄轉而從事藝術。1855年來到巴黎，學習繪畫並且過著波希米亞人的生活。1863年定居倫敦，因其才華和常在公開場合曝光，使得他在當地頗為知名。對於將現代法國繪畫和日本藝術引進英國，他的貢獻頗多。1860年代和1870年代創作的許多作品都冠以音樂的標題，如《交響曲》、《協奏曲》等，理論依據則是「為藝術而藝術」。自1870年代起開始主要從事肖像畫的創作，《藝術家的母親》（1871～1872）是他最著名的畫作之一。1870年代末去義大利威尼斯，在那裡創作了許多油畫、水彩畫和銅版畫，回英國後其銅版畫在倫敦展出，立即獲得聲譽。

1834～1903年

Whistler, James (Abbott) McNeill

U.S.-British painter, etcher, and lithographer. Born in Lowell, Mass., he attended West Point but soon abandoned the army for art. In 1855 he arrived in Paris to study painting and adopted a bohemian lifestyle. In 1863 he moved to London, where he had considerable success, becoming widely famous for his wit and large public presence. An articulate theorist, he expounded on the “correspondences” between the arts, especially painting and music, and helped introduce Britain to modern French painting and Japanese art. From the 1870s on he concentrated on portraits. His most famous work is Arrangement in Grey and Black, No. 1: The Artist's Mother (1871-72), known as Whistler's Mother. In 1877 he brought a libel suit against John Ruskin for attacking his Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket (1875); he won his case but received damages of only a farthing, and the costs of the suit bankrupted him. A commission for etchings took him to Venice in 1880, and the 50-odd works he produced there won him success again in London on his return.