"This new study focuses on a little-documented period of Whistler's career: his stay in Venice from 1879 to 1880. Arriving in the footsteps of such renowned artists as Canaletto, Guardi, and Turner, whose enthusiasm for representing the city was shared by so many Grand Tourists, Whistler was determined to do more than simply capture its popular views. He wanted to penetrate further - to achieve a greater understanding of the nature of Venice itself." "As this book reveals, Whistler's struggle to find a "Venice of the Venetians" proved profoundly significant, challenging and redefining the ways in which others viewed the city. It also traces the remarkable breadth of his influence on artists in Europe and the United States, including John Singer Sargent, whose lifelong association with Whistler - begun during their stay in Venice - receives a new, in-depth appraisal. Whistler's impact on pictorial photography, notably on the work of Alfred Stieglitz, is explored here for the first time."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
In "Palaces in the Night", MacDonald looks at a key period in James Whistler's career, examining his unique vision of Venice and his development of the medium of etching. 120 illustrations.
Murano Glass and its Collectors in Aesthetic America / Melody Barnett Deusner -- Venetian Mosaics and Glass in the United States, 1860-1917 / Sheldon Barr -- "Where Have Titian's Beauties Gone?" : Sargent and Whistler on the Streets of Venice / Stephanie Mayer Heydt -- Interweaving Worlds : Antique and Revival Lace in Italy and in the United States, 1872-1927 / Diana Jocelyn Greenwold -- Sparks of Genius : American Art and the Appeal of Modern Venetian Glass / Crawford Alexander Mann III -- Biographies / Brittany Emens Strupp, Crawford Alexander Mann III.
A biography of James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) that dispels the popular notion of Whistler as merely a combative, eccentric and unrelenting publicity seeker, a man as renowned for his public feuds with Oscar Wilde and John Ruskin as for the iconic portrait of his mother.
The discovery of this masterpiece Whistler's "Portrait of William Merritt Chase," along with another important Whistler painting, "Harmony in Black, No10," reveals exciting new discoveries on Whistler's artistic methods, from the Old Masters and the artistic truisms of the Renaissance. Documented analysis including x-ray examination, forensics and recognized paintings by Whistler's followers will confirm this portrait and "Harmony in Black, No10," with x-ray revealing two lost paintings. These Whistler paintings connect scholarship and identify paintings worthy of merit and what makes a masterpiece a masterpiece.
A biography of the American painter Ralph W. Curtis (1854-1922), of the Boston family who bought the Palazzo Barbaro on the Grand Canal in Venice in 1885. After graduating at Harvard, Curtis moved to Paris to study art with Carolus Duran, where he met his distant cousin John S. Sargent, with whom he travelled to Holland to see Franz Hals’s paintings. He exhibited at the Paris salons, at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, at the Venice Biennale in the 1880s. At Palazzo Barbaro he met Robert Browning, Henry James, but also Venetian painters such as Ettore Tito and Antonio Mancini. He travelled widely, even to Japan and India. His works are in American Museums and private collections.
‘A captivating tale ...This novel is a delight’ THE TIMES ‘A terrific novel ... It springs off the page’ DEBORAH MOGGACH 'Vividly engaging’ SUNDAY TIMES
At the end of the nineteenth century, a remarkable group of artists, writers and patrons gathered regularly at the Palazzo Barbaro in Venice, Italy. While Venice had long attracted wealthy tourists from across Europe and America, a particularly rich expatriate culture flourished at this time. In the 1880s, Daniel and Ariana Curtis of Boston purchased and restored the Palazzo Barbaro, where they lived in self-imposed exile. The Palazzo eventually became the center of a fascinating circle of American and English personalities living in Venice: the poet Robert Browning; Katharine de Kay Bronson of Newport, a writer greatly interested in local Venetian craft; Sir Austen Henry Layard, an archaelogist and an important collector of Renaissance paintings. Isabella and John Gardner, also of Boston, rented the Palazzo Barbaro every other year, beginning in 1884. A myriad of fascinating figures such as the painters John Singer Sargent, James McNeil Whistler and Claude Monet; the connoisseur Bernhard Bereson; writers Henry James, Paul Bourget, Vernon Lee, and a galaxy of socialites frequently joined this rich and culturally diverse group. As the Gardner Museum commemorates its centennial, Gondola Days accompanies an exhibition which will display the artistic products of this fascinating time and place. It will present this beloved Venetian palace as a source of inspiration for the Gardner, which, under Isabella's direction, became Boston's own Palazzo Barbaro: a Venetian gothic structure, with flowering gardens, full of paintings and objects, but also enlightened by working artists, poets and thinkers. This book explores the distinctive interaction of this small group of individuals, and their special connections with Venice. The exhibition will display paintings, watercolors, drawings, and sketchbooks, as well as photographs (many made by the visitors to the Palazzo), literary manuscripts, letters, albums, and other documents. SELLING POINTS: A collection of paintings, watercolours, drawings and sketchbooks, photographs, manuscripts and letters Accompanies an exhibition at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum from 21 April 2004 - 15 August 2004, which explores the source of inspiration for Fenway Court Showcases the artistic products of this fascinating time and place Demonstrates the fascination that arose around the Palazzo Barbaro and the interaction it stimulated between American and English personalities in Venice 177 illustrations
