The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Variations in Pink and Grey: Chelsea could date from 1871 but was probably completed in the following year, 1872. ¹

Variations in Pink and Grey: Chelsea, Freer Gallery of Art

Variations in Violet and Green, Musée d'Orsay

1871: It is similar in style to Variations in Violet and Green y104, which is signed and dated '71', and the frames are very similar.

Anna Matilda Whistler (1804-1881) mentioned that in the summer of 1871, four recent paintings, probably including Nocturne: Blue and Silver - Chelsea y103, Variations in Violet and Green y104 and Variations in Pink and Grey: Chelsea y105, 'took Jemie out often[,] work in the open air was like the renewal of Etching & gave zest to Studio at intervals.' ² However, she also implied that some of these were painted from the window of their house in Lindsey Row. ³

The interrupted wall and hoarding suggest that it was painted during the construction of the Chelsea Embankment between Chelsea Hospital and Battersea Bridge. A report in The Times of 7 August 1871, which describes the laying of the foundation stone of the Chelsea Embankment, states that 'the roadway will be planted on each side with trees', and according to The Times, trees were already growing there by 11 October 1871.

1872: The painting shows blossoming trees, so a date of spring 1872 for the completion of the paintings seems likely.

1873: It was first exhibited in 7th Winter Exhibition of Cabinet Pictures in Oil, Dudley Gallery, London, 1873 (cat. no. 193).

Images

Subject

Titles

Several titles have been suggested:

• 'Variations in Pink and Gray' (1873, Dudley). ⁴
• 'Pink and Grey, Chelsea' (1892, Goupil). ⁵
• 'Variations in pink and grey - Chelsea' (n.d., Whistler). ⁶
• 'Gris et Rose, Chelsea' (1903, Sizeranne). ⁷
• 'Variations in Pink and Grey: Chelsea' (1980, YMSM). ⁸

The 1980 title 'Variations in Pink and Grey: Chelsea' is based on that written by Whistler, with punctuation amended for consistency with other titles.

Description

Variations in Pink and Grey: Chelsea, Freer Gallery of Art

D. C. Thomson had described it as a Nocturne, and Whistler emphatically wrote that it 'is not a Nocturne!! but a little picture of Chelsea - with an almond tree in the foreground.' ⁹

It is a view of the a river, in vertical format. Men and women walk along a broad pavement in the foreground. At the edge of the water, at left, is a low stone wall, and at right, a high wooden fence, with young flowering trees planted along it. At left, below the wall, a man is working on a boat on the shore; several furled sails are seen in the centre, behind the wooden fence. On the river, at left, is a skiff with a man on it, and there are several small barges or lighters further away, in the middle and at right. In the distance, there are low buildings along the waterside, and the river curves from the right, up to the distant bend in the river at upper left.

Site

Chelsea Embankment by the river Thames, London. It shows Battersea Reach from Whistler's house in Lindsey Row, Chelsea, and was probably painted, as Curry suggests, from the second storey. ¹⁰

Technique

Composition

On the Thames at Chelsea, Leighton House, London

Variations in Pink and Grey: Chelsea, Freer Gallery of Art

A chalk and pastel drawing, r.: On the Thames at Chelsea; v.: Nude figure m0396, shows a similar view of the Thames from Lindsey Row, with boats at the jetties below Whistler's house, although it is not precisely a study for Variations in Pink and Grey: Chelsea.

Technique

Variations in Pink and Grey: Chelsea, Freer Gallery of Art

It is painted on a dark ground on a fine weave canvas. Water and sky were painted with smooth brushstrokes in thin, creamy paint, from left to right across the whole canvas. The distant buildings along the river bank have been partly rubbed down, as part of the painting process. The whole canvas is thinly painted except for the blossoms, which might suggest that they were added last. There are numerous signs of rubbing down and alterations, particularly around the figures.

Conservation History

In 1892 Whistler wrote concerning his painting, 'They ought all to go to Richards - cleaned - & varnished' for the Goupil exhibition, but it is not known if this picture was so treated by Stephen Richards (1844-1900). ¹¹

According to the Freer Gallery files it was cleaned in 1921, 1951 and 1965; relined in 1925; and resurfaced in 1925, 1937 and 1951. In 1965 it was inpainted (retouching in the area of the fence that had whitened) and revarnished.

Frame

1872: reeded cassetta, incised basket-weave with painted butterfly [10.5 cm]

Variations in Pink and Grey: Chelsea, Freer Gallery of Art

Variations in Pink and Grey: Chelsea, frame

Variations in Pink and Grey: Chelsea, frame

Frame, original, Flat Whistler with incised basket-weave pattern, signed with butterfly on the broad central panel, on top of the incised basket-weave pattern.

Variations in Violet and Green, frame

The frames for this painting and Variations in Violet and Green y104 are very similar.

History

Provenance

• 1873: sold by Whistler to Louis Huth (1821-1905);
• 1899: sold through David Croal Thomson (1855-1930) to Cyril Flower (1843-1907);
• 1899: sold through Agnew's, London art dealers, to John James Cowan (1846-1936);
• 1902: bought by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919), Detroit;
• 1919: bequeathed by C.L. Freer to the Freer Gallery of Art.

It was sold by the artist to Louis Huth in February 1873 for 250 guineas. ¹² It is not known exactly when he sold it.

J. J. Cowan told Whistler on 22 May 1899, 'Thomson has a tempting picture by you - the shape of the Thames in Ice of a pier with some small figures in foreground. He shewed me a picture photograph of it.' ¹³ Whistler said, rather inaccurately,

'That picture first belonged to Louis Huth, millionaire in the City, who passed it on to Cyril Flower (now Battersea).

I was given for it perhaps 50, or possibly 30 guineas, and the noble Lord has not done badly on my brains!'

But why not leave these former works alone - Of course they have all now achieved their recognition - and are all in the "many hundreds" - but the lesson they teach is quite unperceived by the dealers clients! -

Each new work is received in absolutely the same spirit of antagonism and deprecation, with which the earlier ones were welcomed.' ¹⁴

It was sold by Flower through Agnew's to Cowan on 29 May 1899, for £700. Cowan wrote:

'No, it isn't Valparaiso, but Chelsea reach in pink & grey, lately the property of Lord Battersea, but now added to my collection - price £700 Stg. It is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen, & I have told Thomson he'll have to give me a very long price to get it back again!' ¹⁵

Whistler replied that it was 'full of quality.' ¹⁶ In 1901 Cowan told Whistler that he had people interested in buying his pictures, and he offered Whistler a brace of grouse, presumably as compensation. ¹⁷ Finally the painting was bought by C. L. Freer in December 1902 for £1000 plus £50 commission.

Exhibitions

• 1873: 7th Winter Exhibition of Cabinet Pictures in Oil, Dudley Gallery, London, 1873 (cat. no. 193) as 'Variations in Pink and Gray'.
• 1892: Nocturnes, Marines & Chevalet Pieces, Goupil Gallery, London, 1892 (cat. no. 27) as 'Pink and Grey, Chelsea'.
• 1901: The Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture, MCMI. The Seventy-fifth, Edinburgh, 1901 (cat. no. 346) as 'Pink and Grey, Chelsea'.
• 1904: Oil Paintings, Water Colors, Pastels and Drawings: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Mr. J. McNeill Whistler, Copley Society, Boston, 1904 (cat. no. 57).

The Times included it among 'good work' depicting 'coast and river scenery', describing it as 'Mr Whistler's "Variations in Pink and Gray" (193), one of his dreams of Thames, reduced from forms to tones'; the critic blamed 'the peculiar idiosyncrasies and special gifts' of Whistler for creating 'a school of such "harmonists" ' as Walter Greaves (1846-1930), who also exhibited a 'harmony in "blue-gray" (134).' ¹⁸ In 1892, Whistler chose an uncomplimentary 1882 review for the catalogue entry on this painting, which referred to 'the insolent madness of that school of which Mr. Whistler is the most peccant – we wish we could say the only – representative. Knowledge.' ¹⁹

By the terms of C. L. Freer's bequest to the Freer Gallery of Art, the painting cannot be lent to another venue.

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• Young, Andrew McLaren, Margaret F. MacDonald, Robin Spencer, and Hamish Miles, The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler, New Haven and London, 1980 (cat. no. 105), plate 108, as 'Variations in Pink and Grey: Chelsea'.

Authored by Whistler

• Nocturnes, Marines & Chevalet Pieces, Goupil Gallery, London, 1892 (cat. no. 27). Reprinted in Whistler, James McNeill, The Gentle Art of Making Enemies, 2nd edition, London and New York, 1892, p. 317.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• 7th Winter Exhibition of Cabinet Pictures in Oil, Dudley Gallery, London, 1873 (cat. no. 193) as 'Variations in Pink and Gray'.
• Nocturnes, Marines & Chevalet Pieces, Goupil Gallery, London, 1892 (cat. no. 27) as 'Pink and Grey, Chelsea'.
• The Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture, MCMI. The Seventy-fifth, Edinburgh, 1901 (cat. no. 346) as 'Pink and Grey, Chelsea'.
• Oil Paintings, Water Colors, Pastels and Drawings: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Mr. J. McNeill Whistler, Copley Society, Boston, 1904 (cat. no. 57).

Newspapers 1855-1905

• 'The Dudley Gallery', The Times, London, 17 November 1873, p. 4.
• Anon., 'The Royal Scottish Academy Exhibition, Banffshire Journal and General Advertiser, Banff, 19 February 1901.

Journals 1855-1905

• 'Winter Exhibition of Cabinet Pictures in Oil, Dudley Gallery', The Athenaeum, London, 1 November 1873, pp. 567-68, at p. 567.
• Sizeranne, Robert de la, 'Whistler, Ruskin, et l'Impressionnisme', La Revue de l'Art Ancien et Moderne, vol. 14, December 1903, pp. 433-50, repr. p. 435 as 'Gris et Rose, Chelsea'.

Monographs

• None.

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 (cat. no. 57).
• Curry, David Park, James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art, New York and London, 1984, p. 121, plate 24.
• Curry, David Park, James McNeill Whistler: Uneasy Pieces, New York, 2004, pp. 156, 198, 200-01, 415 n.104.
• Getscher, Robert H., and Paul G. Marks, James McNeill Whistler and John Singer Sargent. Two Annotated Bibliographies, New York and London, 1986, p. 191, J. 101.
• Glazer, Lee, Emily Jacobsen, Blyth McCarthy, and Katherine Roeder, Whistler in Watercolor. Lovely Little Games, Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 2019, p. 219, repr. p. 218.
• Holden, Donald, Whistler Landscapes and Seascapes, New York, 1969, p. 33, pl. 6.
• Petri, Grischka, Arrangement in Business: The Art Markets and the Career of James McNeill Whistler, Hildesheim, 2011, pp. 186-87, 214.
• Sutton, Denys, Nocturne: The Art of James McNeill Whistler, London, 1963, p. 63.
• Sickert, Bernhard, Whistler, London and New York, 1908 (cat. no. 59).
• Spencer, Robin, Whistler, New York, 1990, pp. 74-75.
• Sutherland, Daniel E., Whistler: A Life for Art's Sake, New Haven and London, 2014, p. 129.

Books, General

• McConkey, Kenneth, Edwardian Portraits: Images of an Age of Opulence, Antique Collectors' Club, 1987, p. 242.

Catalogues 1906-Present

COLLECTION:

• Stubbs, Burns A., Paintings, Pastels, Drawings, Prints and Copper Plates by and attributed to American and European Artists, together with a List of Original Whistleriana in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1948, p. 15 (02.249).
• Curry, David Park, James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art, New York and London, 1984 (pl. no. 24).

EXHIBITION:

• Montross Gallery, New York, 1910 (cat. no. 19).
• MacDonald, Margaret, and Patricia de Montfort, An American in London: Whistler and the Thames, Dulwich Picture Gallery, Addison Gallery of American Art, Freer Gallery of Art, 2013-2014 (cat. no. 38).

Journals 1906-Present

• None.

Newspapers 1906-Present

• 'A River runs through it', The Economist, Washington, DC., 10 May 2014, website at http://www.economist.com.

Websites

• Freer Gallery of Art website at https://www.si.edu/object/fsg_F1902.249a-b.

Unpublished

• Revillon, Joseph Whistler, Draft Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of J. McN. Whistler, [ca 1945-1955], Glasgow University Library (cat. no. 50) 'Variations in pink and grey, Chelsea / Pink and grey, Chelsea / Chelsea Embankment.'

Other

• None.