Arrangement in Flesh Color and Brown: Portrait of Arthur Jerome Eddy

Notes from the museum

James McNeill Whistler created thinly painted compositions with flat, nearly abstract passages, purposefully subtle in character. He called works such as this one an “arrangement,” emphasizing formal elements rather than subject matter. The painting still serves as a portrait—it was commissioned by Chicago attorney Arthur Jerome Eddy, a collector and advocate of modern art. After seeing Whistler’s work at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in the city, Eddy traveled to the artist’s studio in Paris expressly to sit for this portrait. The two became lasting friends, and Eddy published a book on Whistler after the artist’s death in 1903.

Text: Art Institute of Chicago (open access). Our full story for this work is coming soon.

Slow Look

1. The whole picture Let your eyes wander. Where do they want to rest?
2. The light Find the brightest spot. What is it showing you?
3. The edges Look at what is half cut off at the borders.
4. One small detail Choose one tiny thing and stay with it for a while.
5. The whole picture again Step back. Has it changed for you?

About James McNeill Whistler

James Abbott McNeill Whistler was an American painter in oils and watercolor, and printmaker, based primarily in the United Kingdom. He eschewed sentimentality and moral allusion in painting and was a leading proponent of the credo "art for art's sake".

Painter profile →