An interesting paperback which gave me an appreciation of Whistler's creativity. Divided into three chapters: Etchings; Portraits and Interiors; Landscapes and nocturnes, each with a reasonable selection of work. I thought his etchings had some wonderful examples, his 1858 'The unsafe tenement' and the 1879 'The doorway' show how he had mastered the technique of working on metal. The portrait section obviously includes his most famous work usually referred to as 'Whistler's mother' but it's actually called 'Arrangement in grey and black number 1: Portrait of the artist's mother' and painted in 1871. Another interesting painting full of detail is 'Wapping' (part of it is used on the book's cover) the caption says it was painted between 1860 and 1864.
I don't care for Whistler's nocturnes but there's no doubt they capture the atmospheric feel of London's docklands during twilight. His famous 'Nocturne: blue and gold--old Battersea Bridge' is included and an other work that took some years to complete, from 1872 to 1876.
The book is a handy square format with each picture captioned and a nice touch for several pictures is a blue panel with the words THE STORY BEHIND THIS PAINTING and mini essay pointing out interesting facts about the work. Overall I thought the book was a worthwhile introduction to the work of this famous America artist who spent most of his creative life in London.
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