A focused investigation of Whistler’s watercolors that introduces readers to a rarely seen aspect of the artist’s creative output In the 1880s, James McNeill Whistler (1834–1903) reinvented himself through the medium of watercolor. At the time, excellence in watercolor was most often associated with British artists, and most notably with the work of J. M. W. Turner (1775–1851). Whistler’s embrace of watercolor allowed the expatriate artist to present himself as an heir to the great Turner, while at the same time creating easily portable works that could supply an American market and, the artist hoped, help secure his art-historical legacy in his home country. Indeed, it was the American Gilded Age industrialist Charles Lang Freer who would amass the largest collection of Whistler’s watercolors, eventually bequeathing them to the Smithsonian in 1906.
This publication is the first systematic study of Freer’s amazing treasure trove of more than 50 watercolors by Whistler and includes figures, landscapes, nocturnes, and interiors. Providing both an art-historical context that looks into the contemporary reception of the works, as well as rigorous scientific analysis of Whistler’s materials and techniques, this volume offers a groundbreaking look into an overlooked segment of the celebrated artist’s oeuvre.

Whistler in Watercolor: Lovely Little Games

Arts & Photography

Glazer, Lee

Jacobson, Emily

McCarthy, Blythe

Roeder, Katherine

History & Criticism

Smithsonian Institution

Hurt and angry when she fails to get a lead role in the class play she so eagerly promoted, Cookie Becker screams out a curse on the entire production as her shocked classmates stand speechless

Cookie Becker Casts a Spell

Apple, Margot

Children's Books

Little,Brown & Co

You're invited to the Peacock Room, a stunning Victorian London dining room turned immersive work of art at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art The Peacock Room Comes to America details the unique history of a dining room so masterfully decorated, it crossed oceans to become an art collector's piece. The room is a study in opulence, offering a 360-degree showstopping view. This book features splendid illustrations and close-up shots of the room's most intricate details, from its gilded walnut latticework to the Tudor-style ceiling painted with a lush pattern of peacock feathers. The paneled room is painted in rich blue-green colors with white-over glazing and metallic gold leaf and distinctive incorporations of the peacock motif. While renowned for its beauty, the room is also famous for the story of its making, marked by betrayal and feuding, embodied by a mural of fighting peacocks painted in secret by artist James McNeill Whistler after he'd been fired from the project. The room is considered one of the best surviving aesthetic interiors of the Anglo-Japanese style and displays more than 250 stunning ceramics from across Asia ranging from prehistoric times to the early twentieth century. The Peacock Room Comes to America introduces readers to these distinctive pottery pieces with historical and artistic context. The book includes- 60 color images20 archival images of the room's conservation and transformations Short profiles on Raqqa ware, Jun ware, Korean celadons, Chinese funeral jars, and the room's focal painting The Princess from the Land of Porcelain by James McNeill WhistlerChronology of the room and the acquisition of its individual art pieces This book explores the Peacock Room's long and fascinating journey from London to Detroit to Washington, DC. The Peacock Room Comes to America captures the harmony and whimsy of a room that is not merely a gallery, but an artwork of its own.

The Peacock Room Comes to America

Smithsonian Books

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Books by Glazer, Lee