James McNeill Whistler

This 1872 terra-cotta bust of James McNeill Whistler sits in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC.

"An innovative painter, designer, and printmaker James McNeill Whistler frequently indentified his landscapes and portraits as 'Symphonies,'  'nocturnes,' and 'arrangements,' demonstrating his interest in atmosphere, color and line. Though often neglected in his native United States, Whistler was lionized by the avant-garde of Europe, and his most  productive years were spent in London and Paris. The artist's wit and self-fashioning further heightened his celebrity.

Joseph Edgar Boehm sculpted this bust in 1872, the year Whistler exhibited his now famous Arrangement in Grey and Black: Portrait of the Artist's Mother at the Royal Academy in London." -- National Portrait Gallery