Whistler, Sargent, and Steer: Impressionists Iin London from Tate Collections

Arriving at their mature styles independently of one another, the renowned American expatriate painters James McNeill Whistler and John Singer Sargent and the British artist Philip Wilson Steer are often credited with bringing modern art to London near the end of the 19th century. Inspired by the lively brushwork of painters from Velázquez to Monet, each of these artists developed a distinctive approach to Impressionism, utilizing spontaneously applied strokes of paint and closely modulated colors to caputre the effects of light as it played across the fingure and landscape.

This selection of masterworks by the three artists reveals the stylistic links that give evidence of their shared aesthetic lineage. Essays by Tate curator David Fraser Jenkins and art historian Avis Berman provide insight into their lives and works within the cultural milieu of fin-de-siècle London, including the experiences of the young and somewhat eccentric aesthete W. Graham Robertson.