Nocturne / James McNeill Whistler
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About this Item
Record Details
- Accession Number
- 1954/1.413
- Title
- Nocturne
- Artist
- James McNeill Whistler
- Artist Nationality
- American
- Artist Life Dates
- 1834-1903
- Object Creation Date
- 1878
- Object Creation Place
- North and Central America (continent)
- United States (nation)
- Creation Place 1
- North and Central America (continent)
- Creation Place 2
- United States (nation)
- Credit Line
- Bequest of Margaret Watson Parker
- Inscription
- On the stone, l.r.: Butterfly monogram Signed, in pencil, on the mount: Whistler [Whistler's hand?] Collector's mark: T.R.W. (in rectangle) Thomas Robert Way. Lugt 246 On the sheet, in pencil, in T. R. Way's hand, l.r.: nocturne no. 5 On verso, in pencil, u.l.: Way
- Dimensions
- 37.9 cm x 54.7 cm (14 15/16 in. x 21 9/16 in.)
- Century
- 19th century
- Primary Object Classification
- Physical Description
- Set at night, a man in a lighter or small boat is seen in the foreground; in the distance stands the silhouettes of various buildings, including smokestacks, a clock tower, and a church spire, all of which are reflected in the water's surface, as well as reflections of lights and smoke.
- Subject Matter
- This scene along the Thames shows industrial Battersea just opposite Whsitler's own home in the Chelsea region of London. Along the far bank were (reading left to right--although the objects are reversed by the printing process) the spire of St. Mary's church, the slag heap and smoke stacks of the Morgan Company, including the company's office tower known as "Mr. Ted Morgan's Folly."
- The Nocturne was Whistler's signature creation and embodied many of Whistler's principal theories about art, including the translation of the everyday into the poetic and beautiful through the artist's creative process. Many of his Nocturnes began from drawings and sketches done from memory. Whistler's "Ten O'Clock" lecture provides a description that perfectly captures the intention and effect of his nocturnes, such as this:
- "And when the evening mist clothes the riverside with poetry, as with a veil, and the poor buildings lose themselves in the dim sky, and the tall chimneys become campanili, and the warehouses are palaces in the night, and the whole city hangs in the heavens, and fairy-land is before us—then the wayfarer hastens home; the working man and the cultured one, the wise man and the one of pleasure, case to understand, as they have ceased to see, and Nature, who, for once, has sung in tune, sings her exquisite song to the artist alone."
- Secondary Keywords
- architecture
- associated concepts
- bodies of water
- bodies of water and components of bodies of water
- bodies of water by size
- buildings and the land
- earth sciences concepts
- geography
- landscapes (environments)
- natural landscapes
- objects
- objects we use
- people and culture
- physical sciences concepts
- riverine bodies
- scientific concepts
- settlements and landscapes
- streams
- time
- transportation vehicles
- vehicles
- watercraft
- watercraft by general type
- Rights
- If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit https://umma.umich.edu/about/services/request-image/ for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.
Technical Details
- Collection
- University of Michigan Museum of Art
- Image Size
- 1409 x 927
- File Size
- 139 KB
- Record
- 1954/1.413
- Link to this Item
-
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-1954-sl-1.413/1954_1.413.jpg
Rights and Permissions
Related Links
Portfolios
IIIF
- Manifest
-
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/i/image/api/manifest/musart:1954-SL-1.413:1954_1.413.JPG
Cite this Item
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- Full citation
-
"Nocturne; James McNeill Whistler." In the digital collection University of Michigan Museum of Art. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-1954-sl-1.413/1954_1.413.jpg. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed April 18, 2024.
