Art, Antiques, and A Whistler Room Fill this Lovely Old House

"There is A Lot to Like About Lowell" is the city slogan.

(See tab on right side called "Lowell Series" for many more articles about Lowell.)

The Whistler House Museum of Art has changed since I first visited 20 years ago, and it is now what I consider a major gem in Lowell. You step into a beautiful past and spend as much time as you want to look at the art by New England artists, silver, furniture, or enjoy the views from the windows like I did. Outside, you must stroll around the park.

Tourists think the city is all about the Industrial Revolution, as described in the Boott Cotton Mills Museum or Mill Girls and Immigrants Exhibit both presented by the Lowell National Historical Park, but there is something else...THIS MUSEUM. The American Textile History Museum is now closed, and I think this Art Museum should be in your plans. If you live in the Lowell area and haven't been here, you are missing  out. 

“'Apres James McNeill Whistler, Arrangement in Grey and Black' 1906, Oil on canvas, by Edith Fairfax Davenport, a cousin of Whistler. This is an exact scale copy of the original painting which, it is said, heralded modern art. The original hangs in the Musee D’Orsay in Paris." Information taken from their information pamphlet.

I've never seen a copper bathtub.

The painting on the left is View of Merrimack, c. 1875 by William Preston Phelps.
(The Merrimack River flows through Lowell, and many other towns.)

Down the hall or up two floors, art is everywhere.

 The period kitchen was recently renovated.

Studio on the third floor.

Note: The studio photos (above and below) have been changed. Please read recent (9/21/17) newspaper article about the improvements.

View of Parker Gallery, City Hall, and Whistler Park.

The entire room is devoted to James McNeill Whistler.

Whistler in Lowell

     "James McNeill Whistler was born in 1834 in the Paul Moody House now known as the Whistler House Museum of Art. The first born son of George and his second wife Anna Mathilda, he was baptized as James Abbott Whistler at St. Anne's Church on Merrimack Street, Lowell.
     In 1843 the family left Lowell and moved to Russia, where Whistler's father was a consulting engineer for a railroad to be built by Czar Nicholas I. After her husband's death in 1849, Mrs. Whistler and her children returned to America, moving first to Stonington, Connecticut and then to Pomfret, Connecticut.
     In later years, Whistler would deny being born in Lowell, claiming instead that he was born in Baltimore, Maryland or in St. Petersburg, Russia."

The encased fan was autographed on the back, one signature is by James McNeill Whistler.

  

 

Whistler House Museum of Art

243 Worthen Street

Lowell, MA 01852

978-452-7641

Views from upper windows showing the Lowell / Pollard Library on the left and the City Hall on the right.

Paintings by Walter Franklin Lansil were displayed at the Whistler House Museum of Art. All the paintings were so beautiful, so I chose a few to share here.

Closeup, shown below.

Linda Hall Little's grandmother's great uncle was
Walter Lansil, artist of the paintings in this exhibit. She is a genealogist and was very qualified to write an excellent blog post about Mr. Lansil.
Please see her blog: https://passagetothepast.wordpress.com/2013/09/01/a-trip-to-venice-by-walter-franklin-lansil/