The Freer Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. is the host of a surprising exhibitions, dedicated to the small masterpieces created by James McNeill Whistler (1834 - 1903) in the 1880s. And by small, the artist really meant small, as these works have only several inches in size, no more than nine (which was already too much by the artist's standards). Whistler, one of the most important and original of the American artists, gained his fame with large oil portraits and night landscapes, impressive compositions that really atracted art-lovers. Yet, after 1879, the painter gave up this larger works in favor of creating small, almost miniaturial compositions, in a wide range of media. Dubbed by some critics as "pygmy pictures" and considered to be at that time a sign of defiance, these works have rarely been seen in public exhibitions, most of them being known only to privileged experts.
The curators at the Freer Gallery of Art have chosen 23 of these small paintings, of the estimated 140, most of them on wood panels, produced by Whistler after 1880. At that time these works were met with disdain by most critics, yet some of Whistler's admirers justly noticed that although these works were small in size, they were "artistically as a large as a continent". Adapting his detailed and grandiose style to much smaller surfaces, Whistler managed compositions which were artistically valuable, yet at the same time rather sketchy and abstract. Many voices claimed that these were mere unfinished sketches, not worthy to be displayed in public, but the works had a special beauty.
Some of the works presented to the public are sea and village scenes, created by the artist during his visits in Cornwall and Dorset or in northern England, but others were inspired by his visits to France. Also, at the end of 1884 Whistler continued this series of small paintings. Working in his studio in Chelsea, he abandoned landscape painting in favour of several figure small oils on wood and drawings, depicting young female models, often nudes, in poses that expressed the ideal beauty.
Whistler also painted small studies of the streets and shops in the Chelsea neighorhood, such as "Chelsea Shops" (considered to be one of the best representantions of architectural facades) and several small nocturnes in oil, linked to the larger compositions with the same subject.
June 2007
