An Etching by James McNeill Whistler

James McNeill Whistler (1834 - 1903) - La Vieille aux Louques, c. 1858
etching, plate signed (edition 1000, final state)

I passed again by the Galerie Lareuse in Georgetown on the M Street, again it was closed, I saw this etching on display at the window. It's a nice piece of art, with all that stuff gathered in the background, making the old woman the queen of the space.

(Galerie Lareuse)

The Peacock Room at Freer Gallery.

Though it looks like brought from China, this Peacock Room came actually from London. It was originally the dining room of Frederick Richards Leyland, a rich shipowner from Liverpool. It was designed by architect Thomas Jeckyll, and a painting by James Abbott McNeil Whistler (The Princess from the Land of Porcelain) was chosen to dominate the room.



The architect got ill and so he was not able to finish his work any more. Whistler took over and his decoration was considered remarkable by all accounts.

As Whistler started to feel like he was the master of the games there, his patron got angry and a bitter quarrel followed between them.

This led Whistler to paint on the wall opposite to the Princess two peacocks: the angry bird on the right is in reference to Leyland, the docile peacock is in reference to Whistler.

Now the Peacock Room is on permanent display at the Freer Gallery, near the Smithsonian Castle.

(Smithsonian Castle)

Symphony in White

James Abbott McNeill Whistler: White Girl (Symphony in White No 1), 1862

The White Girl is Joanna Heffernan. Whistler met her in London and felt in love: her beauty was great, her gold-red hair a marvel (The Whistler Journal).

The painting is now at the Washington National Gallery. It seems a bit strange, with this elongated form. You feel here the daybreak of modern approaches in painting. There is something abstract in the design of this work. Yet it communicates you a feeling of the voluptuous.



(Washington DC National Gallery of Art)