Whistler’s primary artistic motive in creating the “moonlights� derived from his interest in Japanese styles of painting and is illustrated by the profound influence of Japanese culture on Whistler’s conception of himself. Called the “Japanese of Chelsea� (qtd. Chubbuck), Whistler in many ways rejected his identity as a Westerner, instead embracing the culture of Japan. According to art scholar Kay Chubbuck, Whistler “slept in a Japanese bed, took his meals with chopsticks off Japanese porcelain, dressed in kimonos and amassed a substantial collection of Japanese dolls. The walls of his Chelsea studio (which his mother called “Nagasaki�) were lined with woodcuts by Hiroshige [and other Japanese artists]� (Chubbuck). The peacock room, designed by the artist for Fredrick R. Leyland's dining room, perhaps stands as the most powerful testament to this all-encompasing Japonisme of Whistler and his friends. Japan thus dominated Whistler’s reality during the period when he was painting his “moonlights.� An X-Ray of Nocturne: Blue and Gold – Old Battersea Bridge “has revealed that Whistler originally included a self-portrait of himself on the bridge, sporting a pointed goatee, not dissimilar to a Japanese beard� (Chubbuck). Peeling back the superficial layer of white skin and Western features, Whistler perceived himself as essentially Japanese. Through this deep association with the East, Whistler conceived the impression of Japan on his London home. By portraying the Thames, Chelsea, and various other London landscapes at dusk, he was able to capitalize on the vagueness of vision to blur the line between East and West. His “moonlights� were motivated by his impulse to see Japan, the country with which he identified, in London, the country he called home. That Whistler signed his “moonlights� with a Japanese butterfly monogram instead of the traditional Western-style signature (Chaleyssin 15) further illustrates the extent to which he wished to brand these pieces with his Japanese identity. The "moonlights" are a manifestation of Whistler's impulse to bridge the gap between East and West, and so ought to be titled to reflect this motivation.
Whistler, James. Butterfly Monogram.
