The influence of Western music versus the influence of Japanese artistic theories on Whistler’s “moonlights� is analogous to Whistler’s weak identification with the West versus his strong association with Japan. Whistler “moonlights� are quite clearly influenced by the works of Hiroshige and the artist’s desire to adopt Japanese techniques and culture – to see Japan in the West. However, their association with music is weak in comparison. For example, Whistler’s Nocturne: Blue and Gold – Old Battersea Bridge is stylistically and thematically similar to, Bamboo Bank, Kyo-bridge, completed in 1859 by Hiroshige, as each depicts a lone boatmen gliding at an angle under a moonlit bridge. Both works are dominated by strong horizontals and verticals and a blue color scheme. Furthermore, what is presumably Whistler’s most famous “moonlight,� Nocturne in Black and Gold: the Falling Rocket, which he painted in 1875 and which precipitated the Ruskin trial, strongly resembles Fireworks at Ryogoku, also by Hiroshige (Ono 77). Both works emphasize the sky – approximately two-thirds of each canvas – and were created using similar horizontal brushstrokes. More importantly, their skies share a binary color scheme of black and gold. These parallels show the strength of Whistler’s impulse to create Japan in London. He communicates an interpretation of East and West as interconnected by using the works of the Japanese master, Hiroshige, as templates for his studies of London.
However, the strong relationship of Nocturne in Black and Gold and Nocturne in Blue and Gold to the latter portions of their titles does not exhibit in terms of the “Nocturne.� Though both works present London at night, the nocturnal theme is better encapsulated by “moonlight� than by “Nocturne,� which carries with it other associations that obscure this denotation. Furthermore, neither of the works is thematically musical. Stylistically, while loose parallels might be drawn between the “moonlights� and music, they are unimpressive given that they are purely subjective. Furthermore, the Pennells, authors of Life of Whistler and close friends of the artist, tell us that Whistler repeatedly changed the titles of his "Nocturnes" and repeatedly exhibited different pictures with the same title (Pennell 116). In the words of Mr. Bernhard Sickert, "such alterations made by the artist himself stultify the whole idea [of music], and provide that the analogy of music does not hold consistently. Any musician would tell us that we could not change the title of Symphony in C minor to Sonata in G major without making it an absurdity" (qtd. Pennell 116). Sickert argues that while there is an objective quality to musical compositions that bars a change in their titles without a change in notes, Whistler saw his "moonlights" as fluid creations that might change even without any actual physical change. Thus, because any weak parallels that the "moonlights" might possibly have to the "Nocturne" are eclipsed by strong parallels with the works of Hiroshige, placing the “Nocturne� in the title of his “moonlights,� Whistler succeeded only in causing the viewer to stray from the essential import of the works.
Hiroshige. Bamboo Bank, Kyo-bridge, 1859.
Whistler. Nocturne: Blue and Gold – Old Battersea Bridge, 1872-77.
Whistler. Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket, 1875.
Hiroshige. Fireworks at Ryogoku, 1858.