The Peacock Room at 150: Lecture and Reception

Where: Courtyard, Meyer Auditorium. Join the Freer Research Center as we celebrate the 150th anniversary of James McNeill Whistler’s most complete Aesthetic-era interior, the Peacock Room. Hear from noted Whistler scholar and former National Museum of Asian Art curator Linda Merrill about the context of the room’s creation. She also discusses some of the art-historical misinterpretations that prevailed before the comprehensive conservation campaign of the 1990s. The program will be followed by a celebratory reception in the courtyard. / / The Peacock Room is as awe inspiring for its rich detail as it is notorious for the rupture the project caused between the artist and his patron. Whistler designed the space for shipping magnate Frederick Leyland between 1876 and 1877. Leyland expected a few modest alterations to his new dining room, where he intended to display his collection of Chinese blue-and-white porcelain. The room Whistler ultimately completed, mostly without his patron’s consent, was a lavish space covered floor to ceiling in depictions of peacocks and designs inspired by their plumage in shades of blue, green, and gold. Learn more about the Peacock Room . / / Dr. Merrill is the author of several books on Whistler, including The Peacock Room: A Cultural Biography (1998) and our recent co-publication, The Performance of Art: Whistler, Wilde & the “Ten O’Clock” Lecture , which will be available for purchase. Linda Merrill , teaching professor in art history at Emory U…