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James Whistler

James Whistler Books

Artist

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“Truly color is vice! Of course, it can be, and has the right to be one of the finest virtues. Controlled by the strong hand and careful guidance of her Master drawing, color is a splendid Mistress, with a mate worthy of herself, her lover, but her Master likewise, the most magnificent Mistress possible, and the result is evident in all the glorious things that spring from their union.”

HandsCoursesStrongResultsVirtueColorMastersLoversSpringUnionsVicesCarefulWorthyDrawingGuidanceGloriousControlledMatesMagnificentFinestEvidentMistressSplendidStrong Hands
Author:James Whistler
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“Art should be independent of all clap-trap - should stand alone, and appeal to the artistic sense of eye or ear, without confounding this with emotions entirely foreign to it, as devotion, pity, love, patriotism and the like. All these have no kind of concern with it; and that is why I insist on calling my works 'arrangements' and 'harmonies.”

ShouldKindArtEyeEmotionCallingConcernEarsHarmonyIndependentDevotionPityArtisticAppealsTrapsArrangementsStand AloneConfoundingPity Love
Book:Delphi Complete Works of James McNeill Whistler (Illustrated)
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“As light fades and the shadows deepen, all petty and exacting details vanish, everything trivial disappears, and I see things as they are in great strong masses: the buttons are lost, but the sitter remains; the sitter is lost, but the shadow remains; the shadow is lost, but the picture remains. And that, night cannot efface from the painter's imagination.”

LightNightLostStrongImaginationMassShadowRemainsDetailsDisappearPainterFadesButtonsPetty
Author:James Whistler
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“The masterpiece should appear as the flower to the painter - perfect in its bud as in its bloom - with no reason to explain its presence - no mission to fulfill - a joy to the artist, a delusion to the philanthropist - a puzzle to the botanist - an accident of sentiment and alliteration to the literary man.”

MenShouldReasonJoyArtistPerfectFlowerMastersMissionsAccidentsPainterDelusionNo ReasonSentimentsPuzzlesMasterpieceBudPhilanthropistAlliteration
Book:The Gentle Art of Making Enemies
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“I remember that at one time I always made a drawing before going to bed!! - Of myself I mean - though I finally destroyed most of them.”

MeanMadeRememberBedDrawingDestroyedOne TimePortraiture
Book:Whistler: The Graphic Work: Amsterdam, Liverpool, London, Venice: An Exhibition Organised by Thos. Agnew & Sons, London, the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, and the Hunterian Art Gallery, University of Glasgow, in Association with the Arts Council of Great Britain, 1976
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“Nature contains the elements, in colour and form, of all pictures, as the keyboard contains the notes of all music. But the artists is born to pick, and choose, and group with science, these elements, that the result may be beautiful - as the musician gathers his notes, and forms his chords, until he brings forth from chaos glorious harmony”

MayBeautifulFormArtistBornResultsWiseGroupsElementsMusicianPicksHarmonyNotesChaosGloriousColourChordsKeyboards
Book:The Gentle Art of Making Enemies
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“Hang on the walls of your mind the memory of your successes. Take counsel of your strength, not your weakness. Think of the good jobs you have done. Think of the times when you rose above your average level of performance and carried out an idea or a dream or a desire for which you had deeply longed. Hang these pictures on the walls of your mind and look at them as you travel the roadway of life.”

ThinkingInspirationalMindLooksIdeasDoneDreamJobsSuccessDesireMemoriesLevelsJourneyStrengthPositive ThinkingWallWeaknessPerformancesLongingRoseAverageLive LifeBeing SuccessfulGood JobThink PositiveJob Well Done
Author:James Whistler
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