James McNeil Whistler

Artist

Washout, Class of 1855

Whistler took a relaxed view of Academy life. His roommate, Henry M. Lazelle, called him “one of the most indolent of mortals. But his was a most charming laziness, always doing that which was most agreeable to others and himself.“ During the day he would rather make sketches than attend to his lessons. During evening study sessions Lazelle would look up from his book invariably to find Whistler sitting upright, asleep.

Like Poe, Whistler developed a reputation as a prankster, an after-hours cook, and a daring soul who was always willing to “run it” to Benny Havens’. As Poe with his satirical poems, Whistler became known for his comedic sketches. He would take the opportunity to make drawings wherever he went, on loose paper, in books, on tent flaps, desks or stools. In 1852 a Whistler drawing decorated the dance cards for the academy ball, and he sketched the cover for sheet music “Song of a Graduate.” George Ruggles, USMA 1855, breveted four times in the Civil War and present at Appomattox, recalled Whistler’s “keen sense of the ridiculous. In the recitation room, at church and almost everywhere... he would sketch, in a second or two, cartoons full of character and displaying the utmost nicety of appreciation of its ludicrous points.” In the summer of 1852 he produced a four-frame sequence entitled On Post in Camp. In the first drawing, “First half hour,” a cadet stands at attention with his musket shouldered. The second half hour shows him leaning against a tree. In the third half hour he sits at the base of the tree, and in the last half hour he is sound asleep.

See also "Whistler's Father: Why Didn't He Get a Painting?" in National Review Online.

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