Nature contains the elements, in colour and form, of all pictures, as the keyboard contains the notes of all music. But the artist is born to pick and choose… that the result may be beautiful—as the musician gathers his notes, and forms his chords, until he brings forth from chaos glorious harmony…
—James Abbott McNeill Whistler
Topics: Harmony
Work alone will efface the footsteps of work
—James Abbott McNeill Whistler
Topics: Work
If other people are going to talk, conversation becomes impossible.
—James Abbott McNeill Whistler
Topics: Conversation
You should not say it is not good. You should say you do not like it; and then, you know, you’re perfectly safe.
—James Abbott McNeill Whistler
Topics: Attitude, Criticism, Critics
I can’t tell you if genius is hereditary, because heaven has granted me no offspring.
—James Abbott McNeill Whistler
Topics: Genius, Humility
An artist is not paid for his labor, but for his vision.
—James Abbott McNeill Whistler
If the man who paints only the tree, or flower, or other surface he sees before him were an artist, the king of artists would be the photographer. It is for the artist to do something beyond this.
—James Abbott McNeill Whistler
Topics: Photography
An artist’s career always begins tomorrow.
—James Abbott McNeill Whistler
Topics: Career
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
Andy Warhol American Painter
Grandma Moses American Painter
Robert Henri American Painter
William Hogarth English Painter, Engraver
Michelangelo Italian Painter
Edgar Degas French Painter
Benjamin Haydon English Painter
Georges Braque French Painter
Claude Monet French Painter
Malcolm de Chazal Mauritian Writer