James McNeill Whistler ‘unplugged’: reflections on Whistler in the studio
Dr. Erma Hermens, History of Art department, University of Glasgow
James McNeill Whistler is often seen as one of the most influential and innovative artists from the 19th century. Mainly living in London, with sojourns in Paris, Venice and Holland, he was also a quite extravagant and flamboyant character, intensely concerned with his public persona and quite adequate in taking care of his own PR and marketing. In this talk however, the less visible ’unplugged’ Whistler will be addressed; the tireless draughtsman who was extremely concerned with the quality of his materials and experimented in a variety of media to develop his own pictorial language. Using scientific analyses and primary source research, we will address Whistler in the studio, painting, drawing, etching and working outside, as well as his fierce and revealing defence of the concept of ‘finish’ in his work, during the trial against the art critic Ruskin who accused him of ‘flinging a pot of paint in the public’s face’.
Short biography:
Dr. Erma Hermens is an art historian and painting conservator, presently Lord Kelvin Adam Smith lecturer at the History of Art department, University of Glasgow where she runs a Master’s degree program in technical art history. Also chief editor of ArtMatters: International Journal for technical art history.
Glasgow’s Hunterian Art Gallery owns the second largest collection of works by Whistler and the Whistler correspondence is now available on line: http://www.whistler.arts.gla.ac.uk/correspondence/
Tid: 26. august 2010, kl. 15.30
Sted: Statens Museum for Kunst, biografen
Pris: Arrangementet er gratis
Tilmelding: Send en mail til anne.christensen@nullsmk.dk