The art of painting in the nineteenth century . (1834-1903) followedthe same principle, although he seems not to haveformulated it. He was driven to its acceptanceby the delicacy of his eyes and the ethereal pref-erences of his spirit, which dreaded in a pictureeverything that smacked of corporeal reality. Artto him was food for the spirit. It matters littlethat he denied a voice in matters artistic to thesoul or the intellect. His own senses were sofine that they were practically spiritual. He sawin the dignified figure of his mother all that thisone word means; but when people were pleasedwi
The art of painting in the nineteenth century . (1834-1903) followedthe same principle, although he seems not to haveformulated it. He was driven to its acceptanceby the delicacy of his eyes and the ethereal pref-erences of his spirit, which dreaded in a pictureeverything that smacked of corporeal reality. Artto him was food for the spirit. It matters littlethat he denied a voice in matters artistic to thesoul or the intellect. His own senses were sofine that they were practically spiritual. He sawin the dignified figure of his mother all that thisone word means; but when people were pleasedwith his picture, and said he had painted morethan mortal eyes behold in a mere body, he grewangry, and replied he had painted only what hehad seen. If this is true, then his eyes had bothnatural and spiritual sight; for his Sarasatealso, for instance, is far more than a portrait ofthis famous violinist; it is a perfect embodimentof the idea, — music. Whistler has been called a colorist, but not inthe sense of the man who combines bright hues. James Abbott McNeil Whistler The White Girl AMERICAN PAINTING III in pleasant harmonies, but of him who combinesthe greatest varieties of shades of a few subduedhues in one grand chord. Whistler himself calledmany of his pictures symphonies. They wererather chords, — simple, clear, powerful chordsthat swell and swell until they seem to envelopthe whole universe. In addition he was a dreamerwho stood at night at the banks of the Thamesand saw unfolded all the magic beauty of fairy-land, and painted it, and could not understand whyeverybody had not seen it. Technically Whistlerwas undoubtedly influenced by his admiration forJapanese painting, for he was one of the firstin the western world to appreciate Japanese art,which is based on spiritual and not on physicalrealities. The secret of his art was the nobilityand delicacy of his spirit. Whatever he saw hefelt, or, one may almost say, what he did not feelhe did not see, and certainly neve
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