‘Whistler in Paris, London And Venice’ At Yale Art Gallery

An exhibit at Yale University Art Gallery shines a light on the printmaking career of James. A. McNeill Whistler. Whistler is most commonly known as a painter (“Whistler’s Mother”) but printmaking first made him famous and rescued him from bankruptcy later in life.

As a young man in France, he fell in with with a crowd including Gustave Courbet and Edouard Manet. He traveled to create “The French Set,” a group of 12 etchings focusing on commonfolk: on the streets, in their threadbare workplaces, in their homes. The striking, and sometimes heart-rending and sometimes mysterious prints reflect on everyday people in their everyday lives.

Whistler’s “Thames Set,” created in London during his maturation as an artist, also focused on everyday people who lived and worked along the rough neighborhoods along the river. Masts empty of sails and hardscrabble wharf buildings form a backdrop in the lives of the lower classes.

In London in 1879, he accepted a commission to go to Venice to do 12 etchings. He stayed too long and blew his deadline but created far more art than he was assigned, using a gondola as his studio. His “Venice Sets” returned to his common themes, what he called “The Venice in Venice,” places tourists don’t know and people tourists never encounter, a far cry from the magnificent facades usually seen in images of the Italian city.

The exhibit is engrossing for another reason. While the prints show beauty, the wall text tells of a Whistler who was narcissistic, jealous and touchy. He fell out with his brother-in-law Francis Seymour Haden because one critic liked Haden better. He never went to Japan and resented a protege who did. He sued a critic and few rose to Whistler’s defense. Leaving the gallery, one feels one has gotten to know a genius, but grateful one hasn’t gotten to know him in person.

“WHISTLER IN PARIS, LONDON AND VENICE” will be at Yale University Art Gallery, 1111 Chapel St. in New Haven, through July 19. artgallery.yale.edu.