Today we discussed James Whistler — an American impressionist artist of the late 19th century. In his youth, he studied at the Russian Imperial Academy of Arts. At that time, Nicholas II invited his father, an engineer, to build the St. Petersburg-Moscow railway, and the whole family lived in Russia for several years.
Much later, he had a lawsuit against the art critic Ruskin, who called Whistler “a jester who asks two hundred guineas for splashing a bucket of paint in the public’s face”.
Judge Holker then asked Whistler why he charges two hundred guineas for a painting that took only two days to create (a engineer earned a third of a guinea a month, and shoes cost half a guinea). To which Whistler replied that he charges not for two days, but for the knowledge he had acquired throughout a lifetime to paint in two days.
Sir John Holker: The labour of two days, then, is that for which you ask two hundred guineas?
Whistler: No, I ask it for the knowledge I have gained in the work of a lifetime.
This story interestingly echoes what is attributed to Picasso (though Whistler’s is at least not fabricated). According to legend, a woman approached Picasso and asked him to draw something on a crumpled napkin, adding that she was willing to pay whatever the artist demanded. Picasso handed back the napkin saying “10,000 dollars, madame”. “But you did it in just 30 seconds!”, the woman exclaimed. “No,” Picasso replied, “It took me forty years.” (As with any legend, the sum, seconds, and years change with each retelling)
Whistler won the lawsuit, but the legal process completely bankrupted the artist, and all of his possessions were sold off to pay the debts incurred in paying for the trial.
https://artsandculture.google.com/entity/james-abbott-mcneill-whistler/m0jt1_
Hi, I'm Rauf Aliev. 