Milly Finch by James McNeill Whistler

Miss Milly Finch was a professional model who posed for Whistler during the 1880s. In painting this portrait, Whistler's main interest was not in capturing a true likeness of the sitter, but rather in concentrating on the themes of colour and form. Hence this portrait, like the two other full-length oils of the same subject, also in the Hunterian collection, can be seen as related exercises in colour harmony. The paint in the background and dress is thinly applied with wide brushes, in contrast to the more opaque dabs of colour in the face, scarf and headdress.

Title: Milly Finch
Creator: Artist: James McNeill Whistler
Object type drawing
Date from 1883 until 1884
Medium Drawing; watercolor on paper
Dimensions Height: 298 mm (11.73 in). Width: 225 mm (8.86 in).
Location: United States
External Link: For more information about this and thousands of other works of art in the Freer|Sackler collection, please visit http://www.asia.si.edu/.
Medium: Drawing; watercolor on paper
Credit Line: Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Collection: Freer Gallery of Art


James Abbott McNeill Whistler
Jul 11, 1834 - Jul 17, 1903

James Abbott McNeill Whistler was an American artist, active during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom. He was averse to sentimentality and moral allusion in painting, and was a leading proponent of the credo "art for art's sake". His famous signature for his paintings was in the shape of a stylized butterfly possessing a long stinger for a tail. The symbol was apt, for it combined both aspects of his personality—his art was characterized by a subtle delicacy, while his public persona was combative. Finding a parallel between painting and music, Whistler entitled many of his paintings "arrangements", "harmonies", and "nocturnes", emphasizing the primacy of tonal harmony. Whistler influenced the art world and the broader culture of his time with his artistic theories and his friendships with leading artists and writers.

James Whistler averse to sentimentality and moral allusion in painting, and was a leading proponent of the credo "art for art's sake". His famous signature for his paintings was in the shape of a stylized butterfly possessing a long stinger for a tail. The symbol was apt, for it combined both aspects of his personality—his art was characterized by a subtle delicacy, while his public persona was combative. Finding a parallel between painting and music, Whistler entitled many of his paintings "arrangements", "harmonies", and "nocturnes", emphasizing the primacy of tonal harmony.

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Whistler's painting was widely noticed, Countering criticism by traditionalists, his theory that art should be concerned essentially with the arrangement of colors in harmony, not with a literal portrayal of the natural world.Whistler w as exposed to the evolution of Impressionism founded by these artists and that they had seen his nocturnes. Whistler was drifting away from Courbet's "damned realism".

Whistler produced numerous etchings, lithographs, and dry-points. His lithographs, some drawn on stone, others drawn directly on "lithographie" paper, are perhaps half as numerous as his etchings.

He worked with great rapidity and long hours, but he used his colours thin and covered the canvas with innumerable coats of paint. The colours increased in depth and intensity as the work progressed.

The etchings include portraits of family, mistresses, and intimate street scenes in London and Venice. At the beginning and end of his career, he placed great emphasis on cleanness of line, though in a middle period he experimented more with inking and the use of plate-tone.
https://hisour.com/art-medium/drawings/milly-finch-james-mcneill-whistler/