7 Books on the Painter James McNeill Whistler

If you were to buy just one book on Whistler, I'd choose this one. It's not cheap, being an exhibition catalog, but it's got a chapter on the "how he did it" aspect of Whistler's painting and other artists who also painted in the his limited-tone, no-texture style.

For a more affordable (especially second-hand) and easy introduction to who Whistler was, his life and times, I recommend this 80-page paperback published by the Tate Gallery. It's got a lot packed into it, both words and illustrations, though the latter are often quite small. It's also got an index, so it's easy to find specific paintings, and a chronology of Whistler's life.

Like so many painters before and after, Whistler adored Venice. This book follows him around the city through the pastels, oil paintings, and etchings he made, plus photos of the actual sites. Some of the photos are historic, some modern; all are reproduced in black-and-white which enhances comparisons of the scenes to Whistler's etchings.

An exhibition catalog from the 2004 exhibition organized by the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, the Reunion des Musees Nationaux and Musee d'Orsay in Paris, and the Tate Britain in London. It comes in different covers, depending on which museum published it, so check the author is Katharine Lochnan. As you'd expect from the title, it compares the paintings of Whistler with those of Turner and Monet. Their styles, painting locations, influences on one another.
• Tate Exhibition Website

This is a lengthy biography written by art historians Ronald Anderson and Anne Koval (first published in 1994). I have not read ever single page, but have dipped into it and read sections. It's one of those biographies where you need to set aside dedicated time to savor, and you'll probably learn far more detail than you thought possible. It has two sections of color plates, one of Whistler's paintings and the other photos of Whistler and contemporaries.

My edition of this dates from 1969. It's got an introductory essay to Whistler and his paintings, but the bulk of the book is full-page reproductions of paintings with an analysis of each on the opposite page. It's not full of art theory jargon, but rather analyzes what Whistler did in each painting (composition, subject, color, technique) and gives a context to it in his life and times.

This was first published in 1963 and is a book of its times. The reproductions of the paintings are in black-and-white (except the frontispiece) and everything's dealt with seriously and respectfully. None of the modern debunking style of biography, thank you very much.