First published in 1978, The Young Whistler, 1834–66 presents the first thirty-two years in the life of America’s most colourful and controversial artist, up to the time when, following his sudden departure to Chile, he returned a new man and a new artist. The book offers a vivid picture of Whistler’s boyhood in Russia; a full account of his career at West Point military academy (whose archives were opened freely to Professor Fleming); two lively and amusing chapters on his student days in Paris; a realistic picture of the Thames ‘below bridge’, where Whistler first lived and worked in London, and a detailed view of pre-Embarkment Chelsea, where he spent several of his early years. Not only does Professor Fleming give the fullest existing picture of the young Whistler, the man and the artist; he provides also vivid portraits of the people in his life: especially his mother, who steps out of her rocking-chair into real life, his sister, Deborah, virtually ignored by earlier biographers; his brother-in-law, Seymour Haden; his closest friend, Henri Fantin-Latour, to whom he wrote long letters in French which have been specially translated for this book; and his mistress, Joanna Hiffernan.
