The Spread of Impressionism
In the second half of the nineteenth century the term ‘impressionist’ or ‘impressionistic’ was often used by critics in a derogatory sense to describe work seen to be lacking in academic rigour. In Britain the term was applied not only to the French Impressionists, but also to a wider range of artists outside France.
The American-born, British-based painter James McNeill Whistler was one such artist. Whistler caught the attention of the British public in 1877 with an exhibition of works at London’s Grosvenor Gallery which included Nocturne in Blue and Gold: Old Battersea Bridge. John Ruskin, the champion of Victorian anecdotal painting and academic finish, expressed his disapproval in vitriolic terms: ‘I have seen, and heard, much of Cockney impudence before now; but never expected to hear a coxcomb ask two hundred guineas for flinging a pot of paint in the public’s face.’
