James Abbott McNeill Whistler Overview

James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834–1903) was an American-born, British-based painter and etcher, who assimilated Japanese art styles, made technical innovations, and championed modern art. Many regard him as preeminent among etchers. Averse to sentimentality in painting, he was a leading proponent of the credo “art for art’s sake”.

Whistler was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, USA, in July 14, 1834. He spent five years of his childhood (1843-1848) in St. Petersburg, Russia, where his father, George Washington Whistler, a railroad engineer, was employed in the building of the St. Petersburg-Moscow railroad. The artist’s mother, Anna Matilda McNeill, was a devout Christian, whom he admired all his life. In his early manhood he exchanged his middle name ‘Abbott’ for her maiden name ‘McNeill’. At the Ruskin trial, Whistler claimed Russia as his birthplace.