The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1898-01-29
JAMES A. M'NEILL WHISTLER.

Very rare is the artist with personality so
strong and go individual in it's expression
that the accident of his domicilo counts for
nothing. but such a one Is James Mcneil
Whistler. He Is eruinently cosmopolitan in
art. IL may count for good deal that he
Is son OF Massachusetts,, for something that
he was educated at West Point, and studied
art under Gleyre in Paris. but apparently for
nothing that lis manhood has been divided
between London and Paris. They have not
influenced him. IL Is in the direction of
Velasauez and Japanese art that one must
look for sources OF any outside impressions.
But for the most part his work, whether IN
oil, water-color, pastel. orayon. or etching,
reflects one man Whistler.
His is a personality OF extraordinary inter
est, exhausting "A whole gamut of characters
ties from devilry up TO subtlest spirituality
Perhaps the SIMPLEST analysis OF this com
plex equipment Is 10 regard il as IA dual
nature, compounded OF the artist and the
man. Tho real Whistler is the artist made
known by his works; the man OF tho world,
the cynic wit and caustic writer is tins
artificial shell which surroundes the other.
II is not unusual to find man Of tenderest
emotions erecting round them breastworS
of coarser material 10 keep an unsympathetic
world from prying too freely upon his secret
self. Whistler had much need a seltprotec-
tion. That part OF him which a true man in
any walk Of life holds most sacred, his ideal,
was one that very few at first could under
stand. He had no one 10 interpret HIM, as
Ruskin did Turner. and sensitive man
cannot interpret himself So he met the
ridicule and satire Of the world not by sulk-
ing or bowling TO it, but with the world ;
own weapons only that in his bands they
We're more finely tempered.
The difficulty Of apprecating much OF
whistler's work is due 10 our tendency to try
10 translate all art into words. what is 1T
all about-what does il meanY' But we do
not ask such questions about n delicious
scent, which makes subtle appeal 10 our
sense of.smell; nor OF one Of Caopins noe
turnes, which speaks directly to our ear in
its own language. Why. then, may not
painter blend color, as a musician blends
sound, to EXPRESS something which cannot be
adequately put into words, and call it, Tor
lack Of better term, "a symphony In
coorsY" or veil his coiors in that mysterious
luminous shade nigbt filings over nature and
call IL n nocturne2 We enjoy the fragrance
OF the scent without putting it into words
why may not our sense of sight be delighted
feel this delight il may be due to want of
color training. or of the habit of feeling color
in the abstract and the painter is entitled
to the benefit OF the doubt.
The strangest thing is that critics were
slow to zoe the beauty Of his etchings Per
haps IL was because they were not finished
pictures" in the popular sense, and so the
artist seemed poser or trihcr. But
Whistler does not propose 10 himself the
making of pictures in the ordinary accep-
tion OF the term. Color and line aad form
are to him the means OF expressing some
beauty that he sees or imagines; and just a
man who has absolute command of words
knowing not only their value but their limit
atiops will be ,atisfied 10 make his utteranco
suggestive. when more elaboration would
only render il involved SO Whistler's rule is
"Nover carry medium further than IL will
go" His later etchngs have comparatively
few lines, but ench one epitomizes the obser-
walton and experience of years Of study, and
the spectator must be wanting in imagna-
tion who cannot feel the atmosphere or dis
tance or whatever IL il which the ilinc was
meant to suggest. -Harper's Weekly.