Sketch for the Selection and Arrangement of Whistler’s First Venice Set c. 1879 - 1880

This is James McNeill Whistler's "Sketch for the Selection and Arrangement of Whistler’s First Venice Set". Whistler made this sketch as a preparatory work to his Venetian prints. Whistler lived as an expat, distancing himself from the social expectations of Victorian society, while making astute observations of it. This set was produced during a period when Venice was undergoing significant changes due to industrialization and tourism. Whistler chose to focus on the more intimate and less grandiose aspects of the city. This sketch offers insights into the artist's curatorial choices, and the work asks us to consider how artists shape our perceptions of place. By focusing on these back canals and working class neighborhoods, Whistler challenged the traditional representations of Venice as a romantic, aristocratic center. In his own words, he aimed to capture the "poetic" and "picturesque" qualities of the city, finding beauty in the everyday lives of its inhabitants. Whistler’s Venice becomes less about the architecture and more about the lives lived there, offering a perspective that’s as much about the people as it is about the place.