The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler
M.1202
Study
Date
Study was exhibited in New York early in 1889 and probably dates from the previous year.
It is catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1202).
Images
Study, Whereabouts unknown
The Seashore, Freer Gallery of Art
Subject
Description
The New York Times described it appreciatively:
'It is a study of landscape, in which water and sky form the chief part and the foreground is neglected. The sky is very lovely, and the water, on which the eye plunges from a height, is full of suggestions of spaciousness and living quality.' 1
Thomas Frost in a letter to the New York Tribune added a further comment:
'I observed only three straight lines in foreground - I should say, the bottom of the paper, and a little flake white which apparently had been spat upon the "distance."… [a] blot of burnt umber to the north ...'. 2
The Seashore, Freer Gallery of Art
A number of watercolour beach scenes and seascapes painted in Dieppe in the mid-1880s are taken from a high viewpoint, including The Seashore m1031 and and The Opal Sea m1041. Two similar studies, Note in opal - The Sands, Dieppe m1033 and Caprice in blue and silver - Dieppe m1034, were already owned by E. W. Hooper of Boston. None correspond to the admittedly brief descriptions.
Technique
Technique
Thomas Frost in a letter to the New York Tribune, dated 14 February 1889, wrote:
'I observed only three straight lines in foreground - I should say, the bottom of the paper, and a little flake white which apparently had been spat upon the "distance."… [a] blot of burnt umber to the north ...'. 3
This does not help to identify it, nor add much to an understanding of the technique!
History
Provenance
Unknown.
Exhibitions
- 1889: 22nd Annual Exhibition, American Water Color Society, National Academy of Design, New York, 1889 (cat. no. 365) as 'Study'.
The New York Times mentioned it appreciatively:
'Rarely on this side of the ocean do we get a water color by James McNiel [sic] Whistler, but here is one on the line in the northeast corner of the South Gallery. It is a study of landscape, in which water and sky form the chief part ... It is offered at a price high for a sketch, but not for a Whistler.' 4
On the other hand, Thomas Frost in a letter to the editor of the New York Tribune, dated 14 February and published on 25 February 1889, wrote dismissively:
'There is a "picture" by James McNeill Whistler at the Water Color Exhibition this year ... only did I see a "smut", a dirty little daub, representing absolutely nothing. I observed only three straight lines in foreground - I should say, the bottom of the paper, and a little flake white which apparently had been spat upon the "distance."… In the serene and placid depths of that blot of burnt umber to the north one can see ...Whistler on the witness stand … The catalogue price of this fifty square inches of vacuity is two hundred and sixty dollars; no doubt "fifty guineas" in Whistler's accompanying letter to the society'.
Bibliography
Catalogues Raisonnés
- MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 1202) as 'Study'.
Catalogues 1855-1905
- 22nd Annual Exhibition, American Water Color Society, National Academy of Design, New York, 1889 (cat. no. 365) as 'Study'.
Newspapers 1855-1905
- 'At the Academy of Design', New York Times, New York, 17 February 1889.
- Frost, Thomas, letter to Editor, New York Tribune, New York, 25 February 1889, p. 3.
Notes:
1: 'At the Academy of Design', New York Times, New York, 17 February 1889.
2: Frost, Thomas, letter to the Editor dated 14 February, New York Tribune, New York, 25 February 1889, p. 3.
3: Frost, Thomas, letter to the Editor dated 14 February, New York Tribune, New York, 25 February 1889, p. 3.
4: 'At the Academy of Design', New York Times, New York, 17 February 1889.