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A major biography of James McNeill Whistler, one of the most intriguing and complex and important of America's artists. The first biography in more than 20 years makes use of the artist's private correspondence to tell the story of his life and work. This engaging personal history dispels the popular notion of Whistler (1834-1903) as merely a combative, eccentric and unrelenting publicity seeker, a man as renowned for his public feuds with Oscar Wilde and John Ruskin as for the iconic portrait of his mother. Revealed here is an intense, introspective and complex man, plagued by self-doubt and haunted by an endless pursuit of perfection in his painting and drawing. 'The biography recounts Whistler's career in chronological order, is generous with detail and keeps psychological speculation to a minimum' - Michael Prodger. There are three thick wedges of plates so that the paintings are on hand to study. 107 illustrations in total, many in colour in this glamorous Yale University Press outsize softback, 440pp.