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Lecture 2: Whistler and colour-music

James Abbott McNeill Whistler, 'Nocturne in Grey and Gold: Chelsea Snow', 1876. Oil on canvas, 47 x 62.2 cm. Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop, 1943.172.

May 15, 2024 | Lecture

If you missed Lecture 2: Whistler and colour-music from Terence Maloon’s series The 50 years that changed painting 1867-1917, you can watch the recorded version below or on our Youtube channel.

The lecture series continues on the first Sunday of each month till September 2024 and March to August 2025. Learn more about the upcoming lectures and book a seat here.

Lecture 2: Whistler and colour-music

In 1867, marking the beginning of our survey, Whistler retitled a painting and thereby proposed a new, deliberately subversive way of conceiving and appreciating paintings. The repercussions were immense – effecting even the emerging “Australian Impressionists” in Sydney and Melbourne. Narrative, anecdote, allegory, illustration all became negative attributes which were rejected by avant-garde painters, despite the enduring popularity in the Salons and Academy of blockbuster epics and “literary” paintings.

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