Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3489118 in Books
• Published on: 2008-01-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 242 pages

Synopsis
How does a painting by a son of his Puritanical mother become as famous as famous a female image as Boticelli's Birth of Venus or the Mona Lisa? Sarah Walden became fascinated by Whistler, his contradictory life and the emotional and social whirlwind in which his best-known work was produced. She discovered that despite the painting's fame, its creator was so reticent about its creation (like Flaubert about Mme Bovary) that little was known about the circumstances of its genesis. In a book which reads like a detective story, Sarah Walden vividly uncovers the secret life of the Whistler behind the canvas and reveals the contrast between the painter's womanising, flamboyant, life (his friends included both Oscar Wilde and Dante Gabriel Rossetti) and the love for his mother, a woman who 'purified' his sketches of Paris by burning them, and whose surprise arrival in Chelsea caused Whistler - never normally a shrinking violet - to evict his long-term girlfriend in a panic.

Customer Reviews

good
This book is good. The story of the painting is interesting, and the insights into Whistler's character very worthwhile.

I particularly enjoyed gaining a better understanding of Whistler's methods, and found the author's critical views perceptive. It is rare to get a critical perspective from someone who has worked quite so closely with an artists work.

The book would benefit from better illustrations, however.