The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

r.: Sketch for the Selection and Arrangement of the First Venice Set; v.: 'The Dyer' and Shutters date from shortly before December 1880. According to Thomas Robert Way (1861-1913), it was done during the time Whistler was printing his Venice etchings for The Fine Art Society in rooms in Air Street. ¹

r.: Sketch for the Selection and Arrangement of the First Venice Set, Davison Art Center, Wesleyan University

v.: 'The Dyer' and Shutters, Davison Art Center, Wesleyan University

This is catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 836).

Images

Subject

Description

Two rows of etchings, those on the recto, reading from left to right, are as follows: top row, The Little Venice [238], The Two Doorways [221], The Little Lagoon [216], The Traghetto, No. 2 [233], The Piazzetta [218], The Venetian Mast [219], and The Palaces [223]; middle row, The Riva [229], The Beggars [190], San Biagio [237], The Doorway [193], and Nocturne [222]; bottom row, Upright Venice [232] and The Bridge, Santa Marta [201].

Technique

Composition

r.: Sketch for the Selection and Arrangement of the First Venice Set, Davison Art Center, Wesleyan University

v.: 'The Dyer' and Shutters, Davison Art Center, Wesleyan University

These are drawings for the selection and arrangement of Venice etchings for Mr Whistler's Etchings, Fine Art Society, London, 1880, including The Dyer [192].

According to Thomas Robert Way (1861-1913),

'he had not settled which of the many subjects he had brought back should form the twelve, and ... he drew those he proposed at that moment; and also an alternative, "The Dyer"... they are all drawn the right way round, as he saw them in nature, not as they appear in the prints.' ²

Those shown on the recto are, reading from left to right: top row, The Little Venice [238], The Two Doorways [221], The Little Lagoon [216], The Traghetto, No. 2 [233], The Piazzetta [218], The Venetian Mast [219], and The Palaces [223]; middle row, The Riva [229], The Beggars [190], San Biagio [237], The Doorway [193], and Nocturne [222]; bottom row, Upright Venice [232] and The Bridge, Santa Marta [201]. All of those on the top rows were published in the first Venice set, the 'Twelve Etchings' of Venice. The Bridge, Santa Marta [201] and Upright Venice [232] were included in the second published set. The Little Venice [238] and The Riva [229] were not drawn as in nature and on the plate, but as printed.

History

Provenance

• Date unknown: possibly acquired from the artist by Thomas Way (1837-1915), and passed to his son, Thomas Robert Way (1861-1913);
• By 1910: bought by Edward Guthrie Kennedy (1849-1932), New York dealer;
• 1912: according to Way, owned by David A. Kennedy (fl. 1895-1915).
• Date unknown: owned by Howard Mansfield (1849-1938);
• 1947: given by George W. Davison, Class of 1892, to Wesleyan University.

Further details are given in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 836).

Exhibitions

The note by Howard Mansfield accompanying the drawing stated that Whistler was 'suggesting arrangements of his Venice etchings for exhibition in London.' In the exhibition, Whistler hung three etchings on each wall, alternating etchings of horizontal and vertical format. The exhibition opened at The Fine Art Society in London in December 1880. second one on 17 February 1883. However, this sketch was probably connected with the selection, not the exhibition, of the set. The drawing itself was not exhibited in Whistler's lifetime.

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 836) as 'r.: Sketch for the Selection and Arrangement of the First Venice Set; v.: 'The Dyer' and Shutters'.

Books on Whistler

• Bendix, Deanna Marohn, Diabolical Designs: Paintings, Interiors, and Exhibitions of James McNeill Whistler, Washington and London, 1995, p. 219, repr. fig. 3.
• Way, Thomas Robert, Memories of James McNeill Whistler, the Artist, London and New York, 1912, p. 43, repr. f.p. 42 as 'Page of memory notes of fourteen Venice etchings'.

Websites

• Davison Art Center website at http://dac-collection.wesleyan.edu.