James Abbott Mcneill Whistler : L Effet Papillon

Exhibition at the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rouen, 24 May - 22 September 2024

James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) was the greatest exponent of a total art form, combining poetry, music and the art of living. By the end of the 1870s, his work was enjoying considerable international success, and the painter never ceased to surround himself with young artists in order to perpetuate the originality of his aesthetic choices.

Whistlerism, the artistic movement of which Whistler is the leading figure, is unique in that it was born during the artist's lifetime and has been present in international contemporary art over a long period. Throughout Europe and the United States, the growing production of nocturnal landscapes and portraits testifies to the widespread dissemination of the artist's plastic research.

This catalogue, the first exhibition in France to be devoted to Whistlerism, examines this major phenomenon of the second half of the 19th century and the first third of the 20th, which is still little studied today. Dandyism, Japonism, Anglomania and a fascination with the Spanish Golden Age and Venice reveal the movement's enduring appeal and vast influence. Contributions from international specialists on Whistler and his successors analyse the artist's legacy, even in the American abstract movement of the mid-twentieth century.