James McNeill Whistler quotes - page 2

It takes a long time for a man to look like his portrait. (James McNeill Whistler)
Work alone will efface the footsteps of work. View quote
James McNeill Whistler
An artist's career always begins tomorrow. View quote
James McNeill Whistler
If the man who paints only the tree, or flower, or other surface he sees before him were an artist, the king of artists would be the photographer. It is for the artist to do something beyond this: 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; in arrangement of colours to treat a flower as his key, not as his model. This is now understood indifferently well – at least by dressmakers. In every costume you see attention is paid to the key-note of colour which runs through the composition, as the chant of the Anabaptists through the 'Prophète', or the Hugenots' hymn in the opera of that name. View quote
James McNeill Whistler
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. View quote
James McNeill Whistler
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. View quote
James McNeill Whistler
To say to the painter that Nature is to be taken as she is, is to say to the player that he may sit on the piano. View quote
James McNeill Whistler
I can't tell you if genius is hereditary, because heaven has granted me no offspring. View quote
James McNeill Whistler
The vast majority of English folk cannot and will not consider a picture as a picture, apart from any story which it may be supposed to tell. View quote
James McNeill Whistler