The Life of James McNeill Whistler, in Two Volumes, Illustrated

xxvi, 315, [1]; xiv, 326, [1] pp. Mustard cloth spines with black stamped spine titles, brwon paper over boards, gilt stamped titles on front boards. Black-and-white plates throughout text. A biography of the American artist by his personal friends, who were members of the art world themselves (Elizabeth as a critic, Joseph as an etcher and painter). "James Abbott McNeill Whistler (July 11, 1834 - July 17, 1903) was an American artist active in the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom. He was averse to sentimentality and moral allusion in painting, and a leading proponent of the credo "art for art's sake". His signature for his paintings took the shape of a stylized butterfly possessing a long stinger for a tail. The symbol combined both aspects of his personality: his art is marked by a subtle delicacy, while his public persona was combative. He found a parallel between painting and music and entitled many of his paintings "arrangements", "harmonies", and "nocturnes", emphasizing the primacy of tonal harmony. His most famous painting Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1 (1871), commonly known as Whistler's Mother, is a revered and often parodied portrait of motherhood. Whistler influenced the art world and the broader culture of his time with his theories and his friendships with leading artists and writers. Whistler was the subject of a 1908 biography by his friends, the husband and wife team of Joseph Pennell and Elizabeth Robins Pennell, printmaker and art critic respectively."