Date
Opal Beach dates from 1883/1884, and was first exhibited in 1884.

Opal Beach, Freer Gallery of Art
It is fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 886).
Images

Opal Beach, Freer Gallery of Art
Subject
Site
Probably off the south or Channel coast of England.
Technique
Technique

Opal Beach, Freer Gallery of Art
See MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 886).
History
Provenance
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1884/1886: bought from Messrs Dowdeswell by Henry Studdy Theobald (1847-1934);
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1902: bought by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919), Detroit, in June;
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1919: bequeathed to the Freer Gallery of Art.
See MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 886).
Exhibitions
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1884: 'Notes' - 'Harmonies' - 'Nocturnes', Messrs Dowdeswell, London, 1884 (cat. no. 67) as 'Opal Beach'.
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1905: Œuvres de James McNeill Whistler, Palais de l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1905 (cat. no. 105).
Due to the terms of Freer's will, this work cannot be lent to another venue.
Bibliography
Catalogues Raisonnés
- MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 886) as 'Opal Beach'.
Catalogues 1855-1905
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'Notes' - 'Harmonies' - 'Nocturnes', Messrs Dowdeswell, London, 1884 (cat. no. 67) as 'Opal Beach'.
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Œuvres de James McNeill Whistler, Palais de l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1905 (cat. no. 105).
Books on Whistler
- Cary, Elizabeth Luther, The Works of James McNeill Whistler: A Study, with a Tentative List of Artist’s Works, New York, 1907, p. 179 (cat. no. 134).
- Glazer, Lee, Emily Jacobson, Blythe McCarthy, and Katherine Roeder, Whistler in Watercolor: Lovely Little Games, New Haven and London, 2019.
Catalogues 1906-Present
- Curry, David Park, James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art, New York and London, 1984, p. 180, pl. 98.
- Myers, Kenneth John, Mr. Whistler’s Gallery: Pictures at an 1884 Exhibition, Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 2003, p. 50 (cat. no. 25).
Websites
- Freer Gallery of Art website at https://asia.si.edu/object/F1902.170a-c.
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Whistler in Watercolour, Freer|Sackler, Washington, 2019, website.