The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Nocturne; black and red – Back Canal, Holland dates from 1883/1884.

Nocturne; black and red – Back Canal, Holland, Freer Gallery of Art

This work is fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 946).

Images

Subject

Site

Nocturne; black and red – Back Canal, Holland, Freer Gallery of Art

The precise site has not been identified but is in the city of Amsterdam, capital of the Netherlands.

Technique

Technique

See technical details in Whistler in Watercolour, Freer|Sackler, Washington, 2019, website.

History

Provenance

• 1884: probably bought from Messrs Dowdeswell, London, by Henry Studdy Theobald (1847-1934);
• 1902: sold in June to Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919), Detroit;
• 1919: bequeathed to the Freer Gallery of Art.

Further details are given in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 946).

Exhibitions

• 1884: 'Notes' - 'Harmonies' - 'Nocturnes', Messrs Dowdeswell, London, 1884 (cat. no. 53) as 'Nocturne; black and red – Back Canal, Holland'.
• 1884:Annual Exhibition of Sketches, Pictures & Photography: A Loan Collection of Pictures by Mr Whistler ..., Dublin Sketching Club, Dublin, 1884 (cat. no. 237) as 'Nocturne, black and red – Grand Canal, Holland'.
• 1904:Oil Paintings, Water Colors, Pastels and Drawings: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Mr. J. McNeill Whistler, Copley Society, Boston, 1904 (cat. no. 101) as 'Nocturne – Black and Red – Back Canal, Holland'.
• 1905:Œuvres de James McNeill Whistler, Palais de l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1905 (cat. no. 121) as 'Nocturne. Black and Red. Back Canal. Holland'.

By the terms of Freer's will, this work can not 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. 946) as 'Nocturne; black and red – Back Canal, Holland'.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• 'Notes' - 'Harmonies' - 'Nocturnes', Messrs Dowdeswell, London, 1884 (cat. no. 53) as 'Nocturne; black and red – Back Canal, Holland'.
• Annual Exhibition of Sketches, Pictures & Photography: A Loan Collection of Pictures by Mr Whistler ..., Dublin Sketching Club, Dublin, 1884 (cat. no. 237) as 'Nocturne, black and red – Grand Canal, Holland'.
• Oil Paintings, Water Colors, Pastels and Drawings: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Mr. J. McNeill Whistler, Copley Society, Boston, 1904 (cat. no. 101) as 'Nocturne – Black and Red – Back Canal, Holland'.
• Œuvres de James McNeill Whistler, Palais de l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1905 (cat. no. 121) as 'Nocturne. Black and Red. Back Canal. Holland'.

Books on Whistler

• Glazer, Lee, Emily Jacobson, Blythe McCarthy, and Katherine Roeder, Whistler in Watercolor: Lovely Little Games, New Haven and London, 2019.
• Heijbroek, J. F., and Margaret F. MacDonald, Whistler and Holland, Zwolle and Amsterdam, 1997, pp. 45, 54, repr. fig. vi.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• Curry, David Park, James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art, New York and London, 1984, p. 190, pl. 114.
• Myers, Kenneth John, Mr. Whistler’s Gallery: Pictures at an 1884 Exhibition, Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 2003, p. 46 (cat. no. 21).

Websites

• Freer Gallery of Art website at https://asia.si.edu/object/F1902.159a-b, as 'Nocturne: Black and Red—Back Canal, Holland'.
• Whistler in Watercolour, Freer|Sackler, Washington, 2019, website.