Art Institute of Chicago

The Artist in His Studio

James McNeill Whistler (American, 1834–1903)

Date

1865–66

Medium

Oil on paper mounted on panel

Culture

London

Department

Arts of the Americas

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

By the mid-1860s, the London-based, American artist James McNeill Whistler was increasingly fascinated with the aesthetics of Asian art. In The Artist in His Studio , Whistler stares out at the viewer with palette and paintbrush in hand, surrounded by works from his collection: three Japanese scrolls hang on the wall and Chinese porcelain adorns shelves on the left. He applied thin layers of paint in muted tones to evoke the flattened appearance of Japanese woodblock prints. The composition also recalls the work of the Spanish Baroque painter Diego Velázquez, who likewise included a self-portrait at his easel in Las Meninas (1656, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid). Whistler harmonized Western and Eastern artistic elements, placing himself at the center of such an enterprise.

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