Something Whistler Said…
Posted on: June 28, 2012
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Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket (The Detroit Institute of Arts) by Whistler, 1875
I’ve greatly enjoyed watching Tim Marlow‘s “Great Artists 2” series on our Netflix instant cue. In one episode, Tim Marlow profiles the great artist James Abbott McNeill Whistler, including a segment about Whistler’s filing charges of libel against an English art critic for the critic’s comments about Whistler’s 1875 painting, “Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket.”
Something Whistler said struck me as important regarding the life and work of an artist (or the effort and expereince anyone can put into what they do, elevating the work to an art). As described by Tim Marlow, the critics attorney asked Whislter about the price he has put on the work of art in question (commenting on the time and labor he put into creating it, basing his ideas of “value” on time and labor alone), saying “The Labor of 2 days? Is that for which you ask 200 guineas?”
Whistler’s response is important, because it stresses the intangible but indispensable value of artistic experience and skill by saying, “No. I ask it for the knowledge I’ve gained in the work of a lifetime.”
It would be a mistake to undervalue artistic experience and the knowledge, wisdom, skills and innovation which come from year of hard work.
The case was over this
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Other Works by Whistler
Symphony in White 1, (National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC) by Whistler, 1862
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At the Piano (The Taft Museum, Cincinnati, Ohio) by Whistler, 1858-59
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Peacock Room at Freer Gallery in Washington, DC by Whistler, 1876 and 1877
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