Artwork of the Day - 22 November 2004 - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

Mephisto2 · 11-21-2004, 03:20 PM

Symphony in White No. 1: The White Girl - James Abbott McNeill Whistler - 1862
Oil on canvas. National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, USA

Perhaps Whistler's second most famous painting and my personal favourite. The play of light on the white fabric almost reminds me of Vermeer (who we can look forward to in later posts).

Quote:

Whistler started painting The White Girl in December 1861, while he was living in Paris. The model was his mistress Joanna Heffernan, but the main subject of the painting is its subtle range of white color. Rejected by the Royal Academy, it was first shown in London in 1862, and then at the Salon des Refuses the following year, where it caused a furor. In London
the painting was seen as an attempt to illustrate Wilkie Collins' recent novel The Woman in White; in Paris it was interpreted as mourning lost innocence. But whistler denounced such specific interpretations, and later prefixed the original title with Symphony in White, No. 1.

Commentary: http://www.wetcanvas.com/Museum/Arti...hite_girl.html

Mr Mephisto