The Bottom Line
The title of this exhibition catalog comes from something Whistler once said: "Paint should not be applied thick. It should be like breath on the surface of a pane of glass." These words sum up his approach to painting and that of the 14 other artists featured, whose paintings are all characterized by softness or Tonalism.
If this is a style of painting you like, then this is a book you'll enjoy for the clear reproductions of paintings and the essays looking at the life and times of these painters, their techniques and painting methods.
Pros
- Quality printing on matte paper allows you to study the paintings carefully.
- Painting plates printed on one side of a page only, so there's no shine-through from the next photo.
- Well written essays that are compelling and informative, without impenetrable art jargon.
Cons
- Not cheap, but then quality art exhibition catalogs never are.
Description
- Published by the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in 2008. Distributed by Yale University Press.
- 280 pages. Large format hardcover (10.5x9.5"). ISBN 978-0-931102-76-9 (softcover) and 978-0-300-13406-3 (hardcover).
- 105 color illustrations and five black-and-white illustrations.
- By art curator Marc Simpson with essays by Wanda M Corn, Cody Hartley, Michael J Lewis, Leo G Mazow, and Joyce Hill Stoner.
- Essays: 1. Painting Softly, an Introduction. 2. Whistlery, Modernism, and the Creative Afflatus.
- 3. True Illusions in Soft Paintings. 4. Materials for Immateriality.
- 5. The "Inaction Painters" and Their Moment. 6. Reflections on "The Color of Mood".
- Appendix: The Color of Mood American Tonalism 1880--1910. Bibliography. Index.
- Section of 41 color plates of paintings.
Guide Review - Exhibition Catalog: Like Breath on Glass
Like with all good exhibition catalogs, it doesn't matter if you never got to see the actual exhibition itself, the catalog is tremendously satisfying in its own right. The "Like Breath on Glass" exhibition showcased the work of 15 American painters whose work is characterized by softness, by suggested imagery that the you complete as you view a painting rather than being sharply defined. The period covered is 1870 to 1920, and painter at the center of this style is James McNeill Whistler. The other artists include George Inness, John Singer Sargent, and William Merritt Chase.
The 41 color plates in Like Breath on Glass aren't the largest reproductions I've ever seen, but each is beautifully printed on its own page so there's no shine-through from a photo at the back. Each also has a creamy-white border from the page around it, this frames the paintings and allow the colors to show well. If I could afford a second copy of this catalog, I would cut out the plates and frame them.
The essays by various art curators and professors are written in an accessible style. They give cultural context to the painters' lives and art, as well as details on their working methods and techniques. The essay "Materials for Immateriality" is particularly full of tidbits on how they painted. For instance, that Whistler preferred "a water-clear, smooth, overall thin varnish" (p103) and that Sargent "often used a cool gray priming" which is what lends his paintings that silvery tone (p105).
I had been growing to like Whistler's paintings more and more before I came cross this exhibition catalog. Having read my way through it and poured over the reproductions, I feel like I've done a course in art appreciation for this style of painting, sometimes called Tonalism, and gained some insight into how the paintings were created. I've also encountered painters working in this style who were new to me. It's now a book I can't imagine not having.
