Sunday 22 September 2013

Whistler: Nocturne in Grey and Gold, Westminster Bridge

I've spent a lot of time over the last 6 weeks developing some night paintings so, now that the first ones are probably done and I've found my way to make them, I wanted to have a look at other people's approaches. Whistler is the obvious place to start. His friend, Frederick Leyland, started describing them with the musical term "Nocturne" and it makes sense as Whistler's Nocturnes are about evoking a mood and enjoying colour for colour's sake, albeit within an incredibly restricted and de-saturated palette - in other words they operate in the same way as music. Some of the Nocturnes were a lot more colourful than this one because they were set at dusk or dawn or featured fireworks but I've chosen this one as it is one of the purest ones. I love its stillness, its restricted palette and the way the far bank of the river indicates a focal point but that focal point is just a blur - the viewer's eye finds no rest there and keeps on moving. It takes an effort on the part of the viewer to make their eyes as still as the painting. In spite of its games and its uncompromising approach it does pick up the character of the Thames at night when the water is at its stillest.


I've never been a huge Whistler fan, but I suspect that's because he was all about subtle and delicate colour and I've mostly seen reproductions rather than originals. A glance at this lovely little thing is all it takes to see that one has to view the original to really appreciate it; I guarantee the colours which are all but absent from the reproduction will breathe and change before you. It turns out its in the Burrell collection I blogged about a few weeks back. A trip to Glasgow is definitely in order.

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