I, James McNeill Whistler: An Autobiography

by Lawrence Williams and WILLIAMS LAWRENCE P.

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0671211684
• ISBN13: 9780671211684
• Release Date: January 1972
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 383 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Whistler speaks for himself, and he has much to say...

Author Lawrence Williams nailed the "I" of his 1972 title, "I, James McNeill Whistler". Inserted between the title page and opening chapter is a fragment of a paragraph that was Whistler's actual attempt at starting his autobiography. Since Whistler never got any further with the project, Mr. Williams valiantly picked it up and completed it for him.The result is one of the most entertaining and enlightening works of historical fiction I've ever had the pleasure to read. Williams weaves most of the known facts of Whistler's life with an understanding of the times to create a superb psychological drama, social study, and art history lesson. All is relayed in the first person through the eye and mind of James Whistler ('Jeemy' to his French mistress Fumette, or just "Jimmy" to his English mistress Maud), with an impressive recreation of his caustic wit, his high estimation of his own opinions, his compulsion to entertain the masses with his thoroughly calculated yet basically genuine persona.Woven into the fabric are the endearing quirks and marvelous anecdotes that Whistler fans will expect to find. The cover is decorated with his signature butterly with a stinger. Inside, we find his trademark cackling "Ah-HA!", his famous Sunday breakfasts, overnight boat trips to paint the Thames, his manipulatively and overconfidently managing a life forever on the edge of bankruptcy, his lifelong feud with John Ruskin and his school of sentimental English art, his surprising friendship with Ruskin disciple Dante Rossetti, the "Ten O'Clock Lecture", his relationships with women, and, savoring every delicious and outrageous detail, the infamous history of the Peacock Room.As in any good biography, we see the changes in the man. Without giving too much away, I can say that we are shown how, in his later years, he became a little calmer and wiser. May we find the same for ourselves.All in all, this is a work of genius, a book that strives and succeeds on many levels. The dialogue is brilliant, the writing beautiful and clear. Where there is pathos, it is decidedly UN-sentimental, as Whistler would have had it. Surprisingly, I can find no information about this Lawrence Williams or his other work. This book is out of print, but there are many used copies available. Enjoy a great read!