18 quotes
The rare few, who, early in life, have rid themselves of the friendship of the many.
The Gentle Art of Making Enemies (1890)
You shouldn't say it is not good. You should say you do not like it; and then, you know, you're perfectly safe.
Don C. Seitz in Whistler Stories (1913)
Two and two continue to make four, in spite of the whine of the amateur for three, or the cry of the critic for five.
It is for the artist.. ..in portrait painting to put on canvas something more than the face the model wears for that one day; to paint the man, in short, as well as his features.
The Gentle Art of Making Enemies (1890)
Yes, madam, Nature is creeping up. [in response to a lady who said that a landscape reminded her of his work]
One cannot continually disappoint a Continent.
The Gentle Art of Making Enemies (1890)
I am not arguing with you — I am telling you.
The Gentle Art of Making Enemies (1890)
One is always finding out more.
A Chat with Mr. Whistler (1895)
To say of a picture, as is often said in its praise, that it shows great and earnest labor, is to say that it is incomplete and unfit for view.
The Gentle Art of Making Enemies (1890)
'I know of only two painters in the world,' said a newly introduced feminine enthusiast to Whistler, 'yourself and Velasquez.' 'Why,' answered Whistler in dulcet tones, 'why drag in Velasquez?'
May I therefore acknowledge the tender glow of health induced by reading, as I sat here in the morning sun, the flattering attention paid me by your gentleman of ready wreath and quick biography!
Listen! There was never an artistic period. There was never an art-loving nation.
his lecture 'Ten O'Clock (1885)
Industry in art is a necessity - not a virtue - and any evidence of the same, in the production, is a blemish, not a quality; a proof, not of achievement, but of absolutely insufficient work, for work alone will efface the footsteps of work.
The Gentle Art of Making Enemies (1890)
A group from Glasgow sought in 1891 to purchase his portrait of w:Thomas Carlyle was shocked that Whistler's price was 1000 guineas. A spokesman countered that the portrait was not even life size. Whistler replied, 'But, you know, few men are life size.'
“The story of the beautiful,” said Whistler, with the swagger that made all but his contemporaries love him, “is already complete—hewn in the marbles of the Parthenon, and broidered, with the birds, upon the fan of Hokusai—at the foot of Fuji-yama.”
Art is a goddess of dainty thought, reticent of habit, abjuring all obtrusiveness, purposing in no way to better others. She is, withal selfishly occupied with her own perfection only — having no desire to teach.
his lecture 'Ten O'Clock (1885)
The masterpiece should appear as the flower to the painter—perfect in its bud as in its bloom - with no reason to explain it's presence - no mission to fulfill - a joy to the artist, a delusion to the philanthropist - a puzzle to the botanist - an accident of sentiment and alliteration to the literary man.
The Gentle Art of Making Enemies (1890)
Shall the painter then.. ..decide upon painting? Shall he be the critic and sole authority? Aggressive as is this supposition, I fear that, in the length of time, his assertion alone has established what even the gentleman of the quill accept as the canons of art, and recognize as the masterpieces of work. Seurat's painting of the Grande Jatte proved extremely influential.