Whistler on the Thames

Today The Fine Art Society in Bond Street, London, opened Whistler on the Thames, an exhibition of James McNeill Whistler's etchings and lithotints of the River Thames (CLICK). Shown is his Lithotint Nocturne of the River Thames (1878). The expatriate American moved from Paris to London in 1859 and became fascinated by the Thames at night. In 1879 The Fine Art Society published a set of Whistler's Thames etchings, prompting a long-standing relationship with him. Nocturnes seem to have been fashionable at that time, possibly due to the competition from photography. Two of my favourite artists John Atkinson Grimshaw (CLICK) and American artist Frederic Remington (CLICK) were masters of the nocturne.