Entry 17

 James Abbot McNeill Whistler's Nocturne: Blue and Gold. Old Battersea Bridge

 image taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:James_Abbot_McNeill_Whistler_006.jpg

James Abbot McNeill Whistler was on of the parents of the artistic movement known as Tonalism. Tonalism emerged in the 1880s as American artists began to paint landscapes with colored atmospheres or mist. The style was dominated by dark and neutral colors such as grays, browns, and blues. Nocturne: Blue and Gold. Old Battersea Bridge is a Tonalist painting of the  Battersea Bridge which crosses the Thames River in England. The bridge was an old monument which was eventually replaced with a newer one. In his painting of the bridge Whistler took several artistic liberties, exaggerating the bridge’s size and arc.

Even knowing this very little about the Tonalist movement it is apparent that Nocturne: Blue and Gold. Old Battersea Bridge is a perfect addition to the style. The colors are a muggy was of dark blues and grays and a misty atmosphere is replicated with wavy soft brush strokes. However, we are looking at how this piece uses light not color and line. Still, even without the aid of color it is apparent that the time period this painting has captured occurs during the late evening. Why is it apparent because of the lack of intense light, the number of lights in the sky, and the lights reflected onto the river. If the scene took place during the day and the sun were out there would be an intense light source that would create a harsh shadow. If the sky were merely too cloudy for the sun to create such shadows we wouldn't be able to see any other lights and the sky and it wouldn’t be dark enough for the lights of the buildings in the background to be seen or reflected by the river. The fact that we can see the fireworks in the sky but not any shadows on the ground tells us that this painting is capturing an evening on the Thames. So we are out on the river during a night of celebration; yet, we are too far away for the fireworks in the sky to create light strong enough to cast shadows.

What does this light tell us? What does this light convey? The intensity and distribution of the lights we see only reveal two main things about the setting, it is late in the evening and there is a celebration going on. There isn’t much to be gleamed from the light sources in this painting until you note how strange it is. Why is the light so soft? There are fireworks in the sky and they can easily be confused for stars. Fireworks are not soft lights, often they create rays so intense they may as well be a collection of tiny suns. So, why isn’t the shy full of bright, highly contrasting, colorful lights? Why are the reflections of the buildings and objects on the water stronger than any shadows being cast on the ground? Why is is the light so soft, because the mood is soft. Whistler isn’t trying to convey a narrative of exciting bombastic change but a narrative of quiet peaceful contemplation. The light itself doesn’t tell a story it reinforces one. The light in Nocturne: Blue and Gold. Old Battersea Bridge is as quiet and peaceful as the scene it depicts.