A biography for James Whistlerhasn’t been written yet.
“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.”
“You should not say it is not good. You should say you do not like it; and then, you know, you're perfectly safe.”
“An artist's career always begins tomorrow.”
“If other people are going to talk, conversation becomes impossible.”
“An artist is not paid for his labor but for his vision.”
“To say of a picture, as is often said in its praise, that it shows great and earnest labour, is to say that it is incomplete and unfit for view.”
“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.”
“I am not arguing with you - I am telling you.”
“I can't tell you if genius is hereditary, because heaven has granted me no offspring.”
“The rare few, who, early in life have rid themselves of the friendship of the many.”
“I maintain that two and two would continue to make four, in spite of the whine of the amateur for three, or the cry of the critic for five.”
“Work alone will efface the footsteps of work.”
“It takes a long time for a man to look like his portrait.”
“You shouldn't say it is not good. You should say, you do not like it; and then, you know, you're perfectly safe.”