James McNeill Whistler: Beyond the Myth

The myth perpetuated throughout Whistler’s life—of a witty, irascible dandy endlessly feuding with the establishment or anyone else who stood in his way—is brought up to date with the treatment of his artistic achievement and extraordinary career in this major biography. From a youth in Tsarist Russia, military training at West Point and a bohemian lifestyle in 1850s Paris, Whistler went on to embody the image of the cosmopolitan artist. His friendships with Courbet, Fantin Latour, Rossetti, Manet, Monet, Degas, Baudelaire, Wilde, and Mallarme mark him as a crucial player in the larger art movements of the nineteenth century and as a pivotal figure between the British and French art scenes. By examining Whistler’s life and work together, Anderson and Koval show this most controversial and accomplished artist to be one of the most remarkable men of his age.This acclaimed biography of the greatest American artist of the nineteenth century includes 24 pages of black-and-white photographs as well as eight pages of full-color illustrations. “Eminently readable ... will surely be considered the standard biography....”—Washington Post Book World (front page) “Likely to be the Whistler biography for some time to come ... a generally absorbing, readable, and informative book.”—ArtNews “Valuable ... does much to separate fact from fantasy.”—New York Review of Books “Extensive and fascinating”—Atlantic Monthly