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1876, James McNeill Whistler, Nocturne: Blue and Silver - Bognor -- National Museum of Asian Art (Washington)

From the museum label: Whistler was both an artist and a collector, acquiring Japanese prints and blue-and-white Chinese porcelain in the 1860s and featuring them in many of his paintings, including The Princess from the Land of Porcelain, which hangs in the Peacock Room. He also inspired his buyers to purchase Asian art. The British press described the rampant consumer drive for blue-and-white porcelain as "Chinamania." By the time Whistler began painting the moody night scenes known as Nocturnes a decade later, the influence on his work was more subtle. Rather than including Asian objects in the composition, he incorporated visual characteristics of Asian art instead. In this painting, Whistler depicts the British coastline using traits of Japanese Edo period prints, rendering flat expanses of color and a low horizon line.

 

Link to other Whistler paintings.

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Uploaded on December 7, 2022
Taken on December 7, 2022