James McNeill Whistler and Watercolour: Making and Meaning

'A piece of floating drapery - a wave - a cloud - it's there for a moment - and then it's gone for ever! You put down the true and pure colour tone you catch it in flight'

J. McN. Whistler to Henri Fantin-Latour, October 1862

The James McNeill Whistler and Watercolour: Making and Meaning project is an initiative led by History of Art staff at the University of Glasgow, in collaboration with colleagues at the Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC and Tate Britain. The aim is to investigate, through historical and technical analysis, the materials and context of Whistler's work in watercolour. Current work focuses on world leading collections at The Hunterian, University of Glasgow and the Freer. It is hoped that work may expand in the future to include other Whistler watercolour collections.

This site is the research hub for the project and for anyone interested in Whistler and 19th-century watercolour techniques and materials.

 

Acknowledgements

The research has been supported by a British Academy Small Research Grant. The Hunterian exhibition has been supported by the Lunder Foundation and the Lunder Consortium for Whistler Studies.

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