The Whistler Book

The Whistler Book - A Monograph of the Life and Position in Art of James McNeill Whistler, Together with a Careful Study of His More Important Works

The white chrysanthemum is my favourite flower. There are other flowers, I grant, perhaps more beautiful, which I cannot help admiring, but the white chrysanthemum somehow appeals to me more than any other flower. Why? That is more than I can tell. The unconscious movements of our soul activity cannot be turned into sodden prose. What would be the use of having a favourite flower if one could give any reason for liking it? It merely reveals that part of our personality, not to be logically explained, which rises within us like the reminiscences of some former soul existence. There are colours and certain sounds[Pg 2] and odours which effect me similarly. Whenever I gaze at a white chrysanthemum, my mind becomes conscious of something which concerns my life alone; something which I would like to express in my art, but which I shall never be able to realize, at least not in the vague and, at the same time, convincing manner the flower conveys it to me. I am also fond of displaying it occasionally in my buttonhole; not for effect, however, but simply because I want other people to know who I am; for those human beings who are sensitive to the charms of the chrysanthemum, must hail from the same country in which my soul abides, and I should like to meet them. I should not have much to say to themsouls are not talkativebut we should make curtsies, and hand white chrysanthemums to one another. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 49068
Author: Hartmann, Sadakichi
Release Date: May 28, 2015
Format: eBook
Language: English

Contributors

Illustrator: Whistler, James McNeill, 1834-1903