City and the Sea

Nocturnes

Whistler was drawn to painting the river Thames at night when its industrial banks were transformed into a fairyland of lights and reflections. He called these poetic scenes Nocturnes. They are remarkable for their simplicity. Some look almost abstract. This was in part forced on Whistler who had to memorise a scene in order to paint it back in the studio. This often meant that details were lost.

When he got back to his studio, Whistler had to work quickly and so he used a very thin, runny paint which he could apply with great sweeps of his brush. He called this his ‘sauce’. He painted on a very absorbent canvas or sometimes on panels. He had to place these on the floor to dry, so that the paint would not run off. Sometimes he put them out in the garden to dry. For the blue Nocturnes he painted on a canvas covered with a red ground or on mahogany, a reddish wood. The red base made the blue appear even brighter. When he wanted to paint a greyish night scene, he used a grey ground which provided an appropriate neutral background.

Nocturne is a musical term and was first suggested by Whistler’s patron Frederick Leyland . Whistler adopted this name to suggest that his paintings should be enjoyed by the senses alone, like music. The thinness of his paint suggests the fleeting nature of music. He did not believe that paintings should tell stories or have a hidden message. The only purpose of art for Whistler was beauty in form and colour.

The lack of perspective, subdued colours and simplified forms in Whistler’s Nocturnes owe much to the influence of Japanese prints.

Sea Pieces and Shop Fronts

Whistler was attracted to painting water. He enjoyed the bustle of human activity and the decorative possibilities of boats with their sails and rigging at harbours and quay sides. The sea itself offered vast expanses that could be treated decoratively and almost abstractly. Water also provided reflections that enhanced a sense of flat patterning. When he visited major European cities such as Paris, Amsterdam, Venice and London it was to their rivers, canals and lagoons that he was drawn.

Whistler’s later seascapes and paintings of shop fronts were often subtle in tone and small in scale because Whistler wanted to combat ideas that paintings should be big and dominating in colouring, subject matter and appearance. He was more concerned that his works should be harmonious in colour and form. Often they look almost abstract because he was more concerned with patterning and surface than putting the objects in context.

Another reason why these later paintings were small in scale was because they were often painted on the spot, in contrast to his earlier practice of memorising a subject and painting it later in the studio. To make things easier, Whistler painted on small portable wood panels. These were small enough to fit into his painting box and were easier to transport than canvas because they were solid and didn’t sag or bend.