PaintingDb® | Artists | Whistler, James Abbott McNeill

The masterpiece should appear as the flower to the painter... perfect in its bud as in its bloom... with no reason to explain its presence... no mission to fulfill... a joy to the artist, a delusion to the philanthropist... a puzzle to the botanist... an accident of sentiment and alliteration to the literary man.

James McNeill Whistler

An artist's career always begins tomorrow.

James McNeill Whistler

I can't tell you if genius is hereditary, because heaven has granted me no offspring.

James McNeill Whistler

To say of a picture, as is often said in its praise, that it shows great and earnest labor, is to say that it is incomplete and unfit for view.

James McNeill Whistler

It takes a long time for a man to look like his portrait.

James McNeill Whistler

An artist is not paid for his labor but for his vision.

James McNeill Whistler

I maintain that two and two would continue to make four, in spite of the whine of the amateur for three, or the cry of the critic for five.

James McNeill Whistler