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James McNeill Whistler
American painter, printmaker, and designer, active in England and France
American,
(1834–1903)
He developed from the Realism of Courbet and Manet to become one of the leading members of The Aesthetic Movement and an exponent of Japonisme. He adopted non-specific or musical titles for his works the emphasis of which was often mood or the manipulation of paint across the surface, rather than the actual subject depicted. He is best know for his work "Arrangement in Grey and Black No 1: Portrait of the Artist's Mother" (1871), and his subsequent portraits using simple tonal colors. In 1877, his work "Nocture in Black and Gold: the Falling Rocket," caused a sensation for its blatant abstract qualitites that shocked art critics. In his later life, he created an ambitious series of etchings.
