Whistler: Streetscapes, Urban Change

Exhibition at the Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, 3 June - 22 October 2023;
then at the National Museum of Asian Art, Washington, 18 November 2023 - 4 May 2024

James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) created hundreds of works depicting changing urban contexts. Despite the artist's aversion to overtly political themes, his works of art reveal a long-term commitment to social change. Buildings for the nouveau riche have replaced historic buildings and shops, forcing many people to live in squalid conditions.

This exhibition catalogue sheds new light on Whistler's picturesque depictions of London's changing urban landscape in the Victorian era. It shows the uncertainties of modern metropolitan life that Whistler saw with his own eyes, while reflecting the modern practice of 'artwashing', which consists of concealing the negative consequences of gentrification with aesthetic screens.