Volume 3, Number 8 · December 3, 1964
Whistler and Lautrec
By Francis Haskell
Art Nocturne: The Art of James McNeill Whistler
by Denys Sutton
Lippincott, 153 pp., $7.95
Lautrec by Lautrec
by P. Huisman, by M.G. Dortu
Viking, 276 pp., $30.00
'You behave like a man who lacks talent,' Degas once said to Whistler. There has never been much question about Whistler's behavior, but only recently have writers tried seriously to come to terms with the problem of his talent. Mr. Sutton, in a most valuable and sensitive essay, has at last provided a critical study in the light of new research, much of it his own. It is surely a relief to find only the barest references to the quarrels and lawsuits which punctuated his life, and to be able to concentrate instead on his development as an artist. The story is a little sad, for though he produced many beautiful pictures, it is hard not to feel that he missed greatness not for want of gifts, but because of a failure to make the most of them.
Review, 1007 words
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