This illustrated book - published to commemorate the centenary of the artist's death - addresses Whistler's extraordinary legacy and establishes his pivotal place in the history of American art.

This illustrated book and the associated exhibition at the Frick Collection examine Whistler's depiction of women and in particular the aspect of dress and fashion as important elements in his pictures. Several authors apply their talents as historians of art and costume to explore the place of dress in Whistler's oeuvre. Themes treated include Whistler the dandy, Victorian modes of dress, Oriental and Aesthetic Movement influences, female portraiture and the artist/model relationship.

Murano Glass and its Collectors in Aesthetic America / Melody Barnett Deusner -- Venetian Mosaics and Glass in the United States, 1860-1917 / Sheldon Barr -- "Where Have Titian's Beauties Gone?" : Sargent and Whistler on the Streets of Venice / Stephanie Mayer Heydt -- Interweaving Worlds : Antique and Revival Lace in Italy and in the United States, 1872-1927 / Diana Jocelyn Greenwold -- Sparks of Genius : American Art and the Appeal of Modern Venetian Glass / Crawford Alexander Mann III -- Biographies / Brittany Emens Strupp, Crawford Alexander Mann III.

A biography of James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) that dispels the popular notion of Whistler 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.