The Artist in His Studio

1865–66 and 1895

James McNeill Whistler (American, 1834–1903)

By the mid-1860s, the London-based, American artist James McNeill Whistler was increasingly fascinated with the aesthetics of Asian art. In The Artist in His Studio, Whistler stares out at the viewer with palette and paintbrush in hand, surrounded by works from his collection: three Japanese scrolls hang on the wall and Chinese porcelain adorns shelves on the left. He applied thin layers of paint in muted tones to evoke the flattened appearance of Japanese woodblock prints. The composition also recalls the work of the Spanish Baroque master, Diego Velázquez. Whistler harmonized Western and Eastern artistic elements, placing himself at the center of such an enterprise.

Status: On View, Gallery 273
Department: Arts of the Americas

Artist: James McNeill Whistler
Title: The Artist in His Studio
Place: United States (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: c. 1865–1866
Medium: Oil on board mounted on wood panel
Inscriptions: Signed: Butterfly in cartouche, middle right
Dimensions: Board: 62 × 46.5 cm (24 7/16 × 18 5/16 in.); Overall: 63 × 47.3 cm (24 13/16 × 18 5/8 in.)
Credit Line: Friends of American Art Collection
Reference Number: 1912.141
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/65709/manifest.json

Art Institute of Chicago, General Catalogue of Sculpture, Paintings and Other Objects (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1910), 153, cat. 433 (ill.).
Judith A. Barter, et al., The Age of American Impressionism: Masterpieces from the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2011), cat. 11.
Margaret F. MacDonald, Grischka Petri, “The Artist in His Studio (Whistler in His Studio),” The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler: A Catalogue Raisonné, University of Glasgow, accessed June 3, 2020, https://whistlerpaintings.gla.ac.uk/catalogue/display/?mid=y063, as The Artist in His Studio (Whistler in His Studio) (ill.).
Jay A. Clarke and Sarah Kelly Oehler, eds., Whistler Paintings and Drawings at the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2020), cat. 8 (ill.), http://artic.edu/digitalwhistler.

Milwaukee Art Institute, Exhibition of Forty Paintings presented to the Art Institute of Chicago by the Friends of American Art, Mar. 1–29, 1925, cat. 40.
Art Institute of Chicago, Summer Exhibitions, July 20–Oct. 29, 1939, cat 1.
Milwaukee Art Institute, Nineteenth Century American Masters, Feb. 20–Mar. 28, 1948, cat. 12.
Durand Art Institute, Lake Forest College, A Century of American Painting: Masterpieces Loaned by The Art Institute of Chicago, June 10–16, 1957, cat. 2, as The Artist in the Studio.
Art Institute of Chicago, Whistler’s Mother: An American Icon Returns to Chicago, Mar. 4–May 21, 2017, no cat.
London, Royal Academy of Arts, The Woman in White: Joanna Hiffernan and James McNeill Whistler, Feb. 23–May 23, 2022; Washingon, DC, National Gallery of Art, July 3–Oct. 10, 2022, cat. (ill. pl. 38).

James McNeill Whistler (1834–1903), 1865/66; Dr. William McNeill Whistler (1836–1900), London, by 1886 [list by James McNeill Whistler, 1886, GUL BP II 8/7, copy in curatorial object file]; consigned to Goupil Gallery, London, December 1896 [letter from James McNeill Whistler to Mrs. William Whistler, undated (December 1896), GUW 07023; letter from James McNeill Whistler to Dr. William Whistler, dated January 2, 1897, GUW 07025]; sold to Douglas William Freshfield (1845–1934), London, by October 1897 [letter from James McNeill Whistler to David Croal Thomson, October 1897, GUW 08443]; with Brown & Phillips, London, 1911; sold to P. & D. Colnaghi and Obach, London, by August 1911 [according to Young, MacDonald, Spencer, and Miles 1980]; partial share sold to M. Knoedler & Co., New York, August 24, 1911 [M. Knoedler & Co. Painting Stock Book 5: 8800-12652, April 1899–December 1911, inv. no. 12505, copy in curatorial object file]; probably consigned to Henry Reinhardt Galleries, New York and Chicago, September 1911 [according to American Art News November 25, 1911, and Young, MacDonald, Spencer, and Miles 1980; exhibited New York 1911]; sold to the Friends of American Art, Chicago, by December 1911 [according to American Art News December 23, 1911]; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1912.

Cat. 8 The Artist in His Studio, 1865/66, 1895

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

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