Nocturne: Blue and Gold – Old Battersea Bridge
Whistler’s Old Battersea Bridge plein air landscape is a foremost example of the philosophy of ‘Art for art’s sake’ in a depiction of subtle experimentation with colour combinations. Inspired by Hiroshige’s Fireworks (1858), and Bamboo Yards (1857), Whistler captures the misty blue haze of early evening in the smog of London’s urban metropolis. His colour palette is limited to predominantly blue and grey with scintillations of gold indicating distant fireworks. This is reflective of Whistler’s alternate title Nocturne: Blue and Gold, which indicates a musicality, especially within the chronology of his
‘Nocturnes’ series as prior to his ‘Symphonies’ of the 1860s. The musical element of the painting is central in his Symbolist initiative of depicting a feeling of atmospheric serenity instead of a pedantic accuracy in representation. The hyperbolised central support of the bridge is the off centre focal point of the composition, an unlikely subject to create the
colossal grandeur which demands the viewer’s attention, taking precedent over the silhouetted figure below. The field of depth is emphasised by the muted tones of the right side of the harbour, and the weighted shadow of the left corner of the composition. The spatial discipline of the large areas of livid sky minimises the sense of urban architecture. The faintly lit scene is manifested through visible horizontal brushstrokes – emphasising an Impressionist style handling. Whistler aimed not to create a sense of moral allegory, historical fact, natural representation or contrived dramatic emotion, but argued that true painting should not impose a narrative. As a follower of Charles Swinburne’s writing who advocated that art should serve no purpose except its own self expression, Whistler sought artistic freedom and to distance himself from the boundaries of academic painting. He is quoted as stating ‘A nocturne is an arrangement of line, form and colour first.’ This piece received scathing reviews, with prominent critic John Ruskin, a vital supporter of the Pre-Raphaelite movement and observational painting, and poet Oscar Wilde condemning it as appearing unfinished. Ruskin argued it was deliberately ‘void and formless’, with Whistler retorting with a lawsuit in 1878, almost ruining his own reputation. Whistler maintained in court that art did not need to represent anything. He had achieved a painter’s poetry and a fantastical element in his approach to perspective. The point of view causes the viewer to become a part of nature rather than a mere onlooker, at the
foot of the tremendous timbre arch. The angle of the boat leads the viewers eye upwards to the gold fireworks, contrasted against the dull sky. Whistler argued at the trial that he ‘did not intend to paint a portrait of the bridge, but only a painting of a moonlight scene.’ He succeeded in moving away from the bourgeois expectation of art requiring a narrative or purpose, much to the disdain of the critics. In the 20th Century, internationally acclaimed Scottish Colourist J.D Fergusson would describe Whistler as ‘a fighter, a man of feeling, of sensibility, not muddleheaded enough to be impressed by academic sensibilities…but above all confident in himself.’ Whistler subsequently paved the way for Modernism to evolve and acted as a father of Symbolism, valuing visual harmony over representation.