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James McNeill Whistler and France: A Dialogue in Paint, Poetry, and Music is the first full-length and in-depth study to position this painter within the overall trajectory of French modernism during the second half of the nineteenth century and to view the artist as integral to the aesthetic projects of its most original contributors. Suzanne M. Singletary maintains that Whistler was in a unique situation as an insider within the emerging French avant-garde, thereby in an enviable position to both absorb and transform the innovations of others - and that until now, his widespread influence as a catalyst among his colleagues has been neither investigated nor appreciated.
Singletary contends that Whistler's importance rivals that of Manet, whose multi-layered (and often unexpected) interconnections with Whistler are the focus of one chapter. In addition, Whistler's pivotal role in linking the legacies of Baudelaire, Delacroix, Gautier, Wagner, and other mid-century innovators to the later French Symbolists has previously been largely ignored. Courbet, Degas, Monet, and Seurat complete the roster of French artists whose dialogue with Whistler is highlighted.
List of contents
Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Whistler's Dialogues
1. Crossing Thresholds: Baudelaire and Whistler
2. The Artist's Studio: Courbet and Whistler
3.
Voyage: Manet and Whistler
4. Holland and the Modern Interior: Degas and Whistler
5. Alliteration and Ellipses: Monet, Mallarmé and Whistler
6. Seurat's Butterfly: Seurat and Whistler
Conclusion: Whistler and France
Bibliography
Index
About the author
Suzanne M. Singletary is Associate Professor of Art and Architectural History at Philadelphia University. She has published on Eugène Delacroix, French Symbolism, and Francesco Goya, and contributed essays to
Impressionist Interiors (2008),
Perspectives on Manet (2012) and
Rival Sisters (2014).
Summary
James McNeill Whistler and France: A Dialogue in Paint, Poetry, and Music is the first full-length and in-depth study to position this painter within the overall trajectory of French modernism during the second half of the nineteenth century and to view the artist as integral to the aesthetic projects of its most original contributors. Suzanne M. Singletary maintains that Whistler was in a unique situation as an insider within the emerging French avant-garde, thereby in an enviable position to both absorb and transform the innovations of others – and that until now, his widespread influence as a catalyst among his colleagues has been neither investigated nor appreciated.
Singletary contends that Whistler’s importance rivals that of Manet, whose multi-layered (and often unexpected) interconnections with Whistler are the focus of one chapter. In addition, Whistler’s pivotal role in linking the legacies of Baudelaire, Delacroix, Gautier, Wagner, and other mid-century innovators to the later French Symbolists has previously been largely ignored. Courbet, Degas, Monet, and Seurat complete the roster of French artists whose dialogue with Whistler is highlighted.
Additional text
"Singletary has composed a beautifully written text (her prose at times rises to level of Mallarmé’s and Baudelaire’s) that may complement recent work into Whistler’s international connections."
- Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide
