The Performance of Art

The first book devoted to Whistler’s sensational “Ten O’Clock” lecture,The Performance of Art examines how and why the artist took to the podium in1885 to declare an end to the public’s participation in art, and reveals the roleplayed by Oscar Wilde in this intriguing episode of Whistler’s life.James McNeill Whistler’s “Ten O’Clock” is typically referred to as a lecture,though Whistler himself rejected that term as too dour and pedantic – andcertainly too pedestrian – to convey the spritely elegance of his monologue. Anaestheticist manifesto, the “Ten O’Clock” takes issue with everything the artistregards as adverse to the independent production and proper appreciationof art. Its tenets illuminate Whistler’s own paintings, prints, and artisticphilosophy, while presaging the twentieth-century rupture between fine artand popular appreciation.Initially presented in February 1885 at the late-night hour named inthe title, the performance took place in a fashionable London auditoriumjust opposite the Royal Academy and was attended by all the leading lightsof London’s social scene – including Oscar Wilde, whose own lectures inBritain and North America had motivated the artist to take the stage. By mostaccounts, the “Ten O’Clock” was a triumph for Whistler, who repeated it (ata more conventional hour) in Cambridge, Oxford, and several other venues.For nearly two years he planned to tour the major cities of the United States,complementing his talk with an exhibition of works that would consolidate hisAmerican reputation, but in the end decided against it. Instead, he preparedthe lecture text for publication, working with the Symbolist poet StéphaneMallarmé on an eloquent French translation.The Performance of Art investigates Whistler’s rationale for declaring an endto the public’s participation in art, offers the first rhetorical analysis of the “TenO’Clock,” long neglected as a work of art in its own right, and reveals the roleof Oscar Wilde in this intriguing episode of Whistler’s biography.