''The Gentle Art of Making Enemies'' is a book by the painter James McNeill Whistler, published in London in 1890 by

William Heinemann William Henry Heinemann (18 May 1863 – 5 October 1920) was an English publisher of Jewish descent and the founder of the Heinemann publishing house in London. Early life On 18 May 1863, Heinemann was born in Surbiton, Surrey, England. Heine ...

, who also published a second, enlarged edition in 1892. The book was in part a response to, in part a transcript of, Whistler's famous libel suit against critic

John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and politi ...

. Ruskin, in a review of the inaugural showing at the

Grosvenor Gallery The Grosvenor Gallery was an art gallery in London founded in 1877 by Sir Coutts Lindsay and his wife Blanche. Its first directors were J. Comyns Carr and Charles Hallé. The gallery proved crucial to the Aesthetic Movement because it provided ...

, had referred to Whistler's painting '' Nocturne in Black and Gold – The Falling Rocket'' as "flinging a pot of paint in the public's face". The book contains Whistler's letters to newspapers chronicling his many petty grievances against various acquaintances and friends, and it contains his famous 1885 lecture, "Ten O'Clock", explaining "the meaning and purpose of art". Whistler biographer

Stanley Weintraub Stanley Weintraub (April 17, 1929 – July 28, 2019) was an American historian and biographer and an expert on George Bernard Shaw. Early life Weintraub was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on April 17, 1929. He was the eldest child of Benja ...

suggests the book was controversial enough that Whistler might have been better known for it than for his art at the time of his death.Weintraub, Stanley. ''Whistler: A Biography''. Da Capo Press, 2001: xi.

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1890 non-fiction books Art history books {{art-book-stub