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James Abbott McNeill Whistler, also known for his ardent personality, is considered a major American painter and lithographer of the 19th century.
Born: 10 July 1834 in Lowell, Massachusetts, USA
Died: 17 July 1903 in London, United Kingdom
James Abbott McNeill Whistler comes to Paris at the age of 21, after spending his early childhood in St. Petersburg due to his father's engineering activity. In addition to the painter Charles Gleyre, by whom he is taught. he is strongly influenced by the realism of his fellow painter friends Gustave Courbet and Henri Fantin-Latour. Because of his admission to the Royal Academy, Whistler moves to London and establishes an almost dandy lifestyle in the following decades. In addition to his love for Japanese art, with which he approached the fondness of Viennese secessionists, he begins to narrow the tonal values of his paintings since the 1860s. In the meantime, harmonious, almost monochrome, landscapes and portraits are produced, which he also names in the context of their coloring. For example, he creates a portrait of his mother called “Arrangement in Black and Gray No. I: The Artist's Mother”. This is characteristic for many other artists like Gustav Klimt regarding both, the coloring and the strongly sculpted, minimalist composition.
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