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“The Experience of a Lifetime”: James McNeill Whistler and the Beginning of Modern Art
Adults
- Date: 02/25/2024 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
- Location: Goleta Valley Library
500 N. Fairview Ave.
Goleta, California 93117
Charlene G. Garfingle, Ph.D.
In the first half of the nineteenth century, for a young artist to be successful in London or Paris, they have to conform to existing academic standards.
Their financial and critical success is determined by the acceptance or rejection of their work at the academic exhibitions of the English Royal Academy and the French Salon.
But this system is challenged at mid-century when artists such as James McNeill Whistler reject the reverence and traditions of the past and the existing academic system.
Whistler’s innovations in and attitudes toward art can be seen in his break with the academic rules of accepted subject matter, composition, technique, and finish.
With Whistler, the emphasis shifts to the role the artist plays in the creation of the art work itself through the artist’s own “experience of a lifetime”.
Presented by The Friends of the Goleta Valley Library Lecture Series.
Free to the public.