Whistler up close and in person

Whistler. Nocturne in Blue and Gold: Valparaiso. 1867/74.  Freer Gallery.
When you live on the west coast, far from the world's great museums, you end up learning a lot about art from books. For instance, Whistler. While I'd probably seen paintings by him in museums in years past I'd only become truly interested in his work in the past two years. 

Last week I had the opportunity to take a trip to Washington DC and spend several days in the museums. The first one we went to was the Freer Gallery to see the Whistlers. In person, his nocturnes were not what I expected them to be. They were more layered, more painterly on the surface than I'd read. So below are closeups shots of the above painting. 



Comments

Casey Klahn said…
Although I haven't seen one, either, I did read somewhere @ his mastery in layering paint. Interesting to see you report.
December 17, 2010 at 7:32 PM
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