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Quote by James Whistler

“Frederic Leighton to James McNeill Whistler: 'My dear Whistler, you leave your pictures in such a sketchy, unfinished state. Why don't you ever finish them?' James McNeill Whistler to Frederic Leighton: 'My dear Leighton, why do you ever begin yours?”

Quote by James Whistler

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James Whistler
James Whistler

James Whistler was an American artist, painter, etcher, and designer of English birth. Known for his unique style and bold use of color, he is considered a pioneer of the Post-Impressionist and Symbolist movements. Whistler is renowned for his famous works, including 'The Mother' and the 'Nocturne' series. more

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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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