Whistler and the World

In his "Ten O'Clock Lecture" in 1885, American James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) presented himself as an artist set apart from the public, bearing no relation to the historical moment in which he lived. However, the myth of artistic independence that Whistler developed was but one part of a complex and highly significant relationship he had with the world around him. As a painter, printmaker, designer, traveler and performer, Whistler engaged with a variety of places, people and ideas that stretched from the United States to London, Venice and Japan. Drawn entirely from the renowned Lunder Collection, this comprehensive catalogue places Whistler in a dynamic international and cosmopolitan context, and includes the finest examples of his prints. The 24 essays included in the catalogue explore how Whistler transferred his immediate surroundings into a "realm of art," while he, in turn, was shaped by the encounters he had traversing the global art worlds of the 19th century.