Art of the Day: Nocturne in Black and Gold

Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket
James Abbott McNeill Whistler (American-born, British-based)
1875
Oil on panel

"The ill-educated conceit of the artist ... approached the aspect of willful imposture, . . . I have seen, and heard, much of Cockney impudence before now; but never expected to hear a coxcomb ask two hundred guineas for flinging a pot of paint in the public's face."

John Ruskin was considered an authority on art and his quote was printed and re-printed in the national press. The effect on Whistler - on any artist by such a well known critic - would have been severe. Whistler sued for libel and threw everything he had at Ruskin. The trial wiped him out, and though he won the lawsuit technically, the judge only awarded one farthing in damages. Whistler lost his house and his collection of art and as he grew old he became bitter.

*Another interesting fact about Whistler I didn't copy and paste off some boring apricot-coloured website is that he was the ex-mentor and ex-friend of one Walter Sickert, yes the very Walter Sickert that crazy crazy Patricia Cornwell thinks is Jack the Ripper. Ahh, Portrait of a Killer is such a poorly written and weakly argued book! I’m completely obsessed with it… Supposedly, that frequent use of “Ha ha” in the letters the Ripper wrote to the police is a reference to Sickert’s estranged American buddy’s irritating laugh, the general upset caused by that rift somehow evidence of psychopathy and an allegedly plausible motive for slashing the throats of at least five prostitutes, probably more… You see why I like it? So somewaht entertained! http://www.casebook.org/dissertations/caseclosed.html - oh snap Patsy.