The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Cremorne Gardens, No. 2 dates from between about 1875 and 1877. ¹

Cremorne Gardens, No. 2, Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY

On 18 September 1875, Whistler's mother Anna Matilda Whistler (1804-1881) mentioned Whistler's 'Moonlight pictures' including 'one lately finished of Cremorne Gardens at Chelsea.' ²

Cremorne, No. 1 y163, Cremorne Gardens, No. 2 y164 and Nocturne: Cremorne Gardens, No. 3 y165 are very close in date, technique and treatment of the subject.

The costume of the women in Cremorne Gardens, No. 2 y164 indicates a date in the late 1870s, possibly shortly before Cremorne Gardens in Chelsea was closed to the public in 1877. ³

Images

Subject

Titles

One title predominates:

• 'Cremorne Gardens, No. 2' (1905, ISSPG). ⁴
• 'Cremorne Gardens, No. 2' (1980, YMSM). ⁵

'Cremorne Gardens, No. 2' is numbered '2', as following Cremorne, No. 1 y163, although there is no way to know which was painted first.

Description

Cremorne Gardens, No. 2, Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY

This is the largest of six nocturnal paintings of Cremorne Gardens, Chelsea. It is a view of a broad piazza, with many figures in evening dress walking and sitting around it. In the distance there is a low building with boxes or pavilions, against a dark sky or trees. In the middle distance at left and right are trees and taller buildings decorated with rows of lights. The canvas is in horizontal format.

Site

Cremorne pleasure gardens in London, closed to the public in 1877. Whistler's paintings of Cremorne include Cremorne, No. 1 y163, Cremorne Gardens, No. 2 y164, Nocturne: Cremorne Gardens, No. 3 y165, Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Gardens y166, Nocturne: Black and Gold - The Fire Wheel y169, and Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket y170.

Sitter

Way & Dennis suggested that the man seated on the extreme right was Whistler, but, as A. E. Gallatin pointed out, the absence of any features makes this a highly speculative identification! ⁶

Comments

MacDonald discussed Whistler's 1870s compositions, including Cremorne Gardens, No. 2, comparing it to contemporary fashion plates:

'Lithographic crayon was eminently suited to showing the design and texture of costume and became a popular alternative to engraving for fashion plates. Myra’s Spring Panorama of Paris Patterns and Models for May 1878 is a delightful example: a triple-page pullout showing no less than fourteen dresses with narrow hobble skirts and magnificent trains. The similarity in mood and detail to the silky trailing dresses of the pleasure seekers and prostitutes in Whistler’s Cremorne Gardens is striking. Whistler lived within sight of Cremorne in Chelsea, and sat there on summer evenings, like the dandy in top hat and frock coat who is a cool observer of the scene. The dresses invite comparison with Whistler’s portraits of Maud, Louise Jopling, and Frances Leyland. The scene conjures up memories of Watteau, and above all, Gainsborough, whose delicate rendering of The Mall in St James’s Park [Frick Collection] hung in the Royal Academy in 1876 - and who was, Whistler and Fantin-Latour agreed, one of "our old loves".

In Cremorne Gardens, Whistler stroked and scraped pale colours – flesh pink and blues - over the canvas to suggest silky draperies. To achieve similar effects in silvery grey, he exploited the textural possibilities of lithography, using crayons of varying hardness and degree of point, as precise as pencil or soft as charcoal.' ⁷

The Metropolitan Museum of Art website comments:

'The French Impressionists, whom Whistler knew, also portrayed outdoor public entertainments in parks and resorts, as Claude Monet did in 1869 in La Grenouillère (29.100.112). In contrast to the Impressionists, however, Whistler sought to emphasize a harmonious world on the canvas, not simply to record the world of appearances. As Cremorne Gardens was associated with the demimonde, the painting may refer to an encounter between four prostitutes and a potential customer. Whistler's principal goal, however, was to imply with his brilliantly colored, ghostlike forms the ephemeral charm of an evening's gathering in the veiled atmosphere of an indistinct setting rather than a legible narrative.' ⁸

Technique

Composition

Cremorne Gardens, No. 2, Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY

The painting shows signs of alterations, and it appears that there were originally more figures in the two groups to left and right of centre.

Technique

It is painted very thinly, with thin washes over the background, and paint scrubbed on or rubbed off in some areas. Broad brushes were used to apply long strokes of thinned paint across the background. Slightly thicker paint was applied in dots, dashes and broken lines with a smaller brush to indicate the details of the costumes. The figures at left were painted after the background, which shows through, for instance, the blue dress of the standing woman.

Conservation History

Cremorne Gardens, No. 2, Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY

Cremorne Gardens, No. 2, photograph

In 1920 the Pennells stated that it had been cleaned by Thomas Robert Way (1861-1913), and that when they first saw it and had it photographed for the earlier edition of their book, it contained portraits of both Frederick Richards Leyland (1832-1892) and Whistler, which 'have completely disappeared.' ⁹ However, comparison of the painting as it is now with the earlier Pennell reproduction shows that the figures were featureless even then. ¹⁰ Nevertheless, as some paint faded or became more transparent, some features may have become more visible, and others, more ghostly. It has also darkened a little.

Frame

Cremorne Gardens, No. 2, Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY

ca 1890s: Grau-style frame.

History

Provenance

• 1879: Thomas Way (1837-1915), London;
• 1879/1896: given to his son, Thomas Robert Way (1861-1913), London;
• 1903: with Messrs Agnew, London art dealers.
• ca 1905-1910: Alexander Arnold Hannay (1858-1927), London.
• 1912: bought from Percy Moore Turner (1877-1950), London, by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as a purchase from the Kennedy Fund.

In November 1877 Whistler offered 'two Cremornes' to Alfred Chapman (1839-1917) for £80, and Chapman agreed to purchase one, Cremorne y168, which was either sold or delivered to him by Charles Augustus Howell (1840?-1890) in November 1877. ¹¹ Unfortunately it is not certain what these were.

According to T. R. Way, Cremorne Gardens, No. 2 y164 was 'more or less destroyed' by Whistler at the time of his bankruptcy, and was bought by his father, the lithographic printer Thomas Way, from the auctioneers (who had rejected it as unsaleable) before the White House sale of 1879. ¹² It was given by him to T. R. Way and hung in his rooms, where it was seen in about 1896 by Whistler, who tried to repossess it because, according to Way, Whistler 'probably knew where he could place [it] at a big price.' ¹³

Thomas Way's retention of this painting was, according to his son, T. R. Way, a contributory factor in the rupture between Whistler and his father in 1896. Way quotes Whistler saying 'You see I have never had any consideration for the picture', as justification for wanting it returned to him. ¹⁴ It is not entirely clear when Way sold it.

Whistler died in 1903, and in that year Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) noted that the painting was with Messrs Agnew, London dealers. ¹⁵ In 1909 Freer said that it was being offered for sale through F. C. Yardley (dates unknown), 4 Leinster Avenue, East Sheen, London SW. ¹⁶

However, according to the Pennells, it was sold by Way to 'A. H. Hannay' (sic) 'a few years after Whistler's death' for £1200. ¹⁷ It was certainly still at A. A. Hannay's house in Albemarle Street, London in 1910, and was under offer to the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, in August and September of that year for £4000. Joseph Pennell (1860-1926) advised the gallery that although it was 'a good and beautiful example of Whistler's art' the price was too high. ¹⁸ It was bought from a London art dealer, Percy M. Turner, by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as a purchase from the Kennedy Fund in 1912.

Exhibitions

• 1905: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of the late James McNeill Whistler, First President of The International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, New Gallery, Regent Street, London, 1905 (cat. no. 25) as 'Cremorne Gardens, No. 2'.

B. Sickert was probably wrong in thinking that this painting was exhibited at the RBA in 1887 (see Cremorne, No. 1 y163), and Laughton in suggesting that it was exhibited in Brussels in 1888, since Way, who owned Cremorne Gardens, No. 2 y164, writes that Whistler did not know its whereabouts until 1896. ¹⁹

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. 164), plate 90, as 'Cremorne Gardens, No. 2'.

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• Memorial Exhibition of the Works of the late James McNeill Whistler, First President of The International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, New Gallery, Regent Street, London, 1905 (cat. no. 25) as 'Cremorne Gardens, No. 2'.

Journals 1855-1905

• Sickert, Oswald, Studio, vol. 21, November 1903, repr. p. 13 as 'Cremorne'.

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, p. 213 (cat. no. 383).
• Curry, David Park, James McNeill Whistler: Uneasy Pieces, New York, 2004, pp. 189-90, 192, 426 note 140.
• Gallatin, Albert Eugene, The Portraits and Caricatures of James McNeill Whistler: An Iconography, London, New York and Toronto, 1913, pp. 7-8.
• Laver, James, Whistler, 2nd edition, London, 1951, p. 102.
• MacDonald, Margaret F., Susan Galassi, Aileen Ribeiro, and Patricia de Montfort, Whistler, Women and Fashion, New Haven and London, 2003, pp. 138-39, fig. 128.
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 2 vols, London and Philadelphia, 1908, vol. 1, p. 258.
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 6th edition, revised, Philadelphia, 1920, p. 187.
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Whistler Journal, Philadelphia, 1921, pp. 117, 134.
• Sickert, Bernhard, Whistler, London and New York, 1908, p. 157 (cat. no. 52).
• Spencer, Robin, Whistler, New York, 1990, pp. 92-93.
• Sutton, Denys, Nocturne: The Art of James McNeill Whistler, London, 1963, p. 68.
• Taylor, Hilary, James McNeill Whistler, London, 1978, pp. 69, 72.
• Way, Thomas Robert, and G. R. Dennis, The Art of James McNeill Whistler: An Appreciation, 1st edition, London, 1903, p. 61, repr. f.p. 60.
• Way, Thomas Robert, Memories of James McNeill Whistler, the Artist, London and New York, 1912, pp. 134-38, colour lithograph by Way repr. p. 136.

Books, General

• Boyle, R. J. (ed.), American Impressionism, Boston, 1974, p. 67.
• Corbett, ‎David Peters, and Lara Perry, (eds.), English Art, 1860-1914: Modern Artists and Identity, Manchester, 2000, p. 144.
• Davidson, Marshall B., and Elizabeth Stillinger, The American Wing at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1985, p. 315, fig. 482.
• Heckscher, Morrison H., and H. Barbara Weinberg, intro., A Walk Through The American Wing, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2002.
• Weinberg, Helene Barbara and Carrie Rebora Barratt, (eds.), American Stories: Paintings of Everyday Life, 1765-1915, New York, 2009, pp. 119-20.

Catalogues 1906-Present

COLLECTION

• Spassky, Natalie, with Linda Bantel, Doreen Bolger Burke, Meg Perlman, and Amy L. Walsh, American Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, vol. 2, A Catalogue of Works by Artists Born between 1816 and 1845, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1985, pp. 367-370 (with full list of exhibitions including uncatalogued exhibitions to 1985).

EXHIBITION

• A Century of Progress, Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, Art Institute of Chicago, 1934 (cat no. 422).
• American Painting from 1860 until Today, Cleveland Museum of Art, 1937 (cat. no. 207).
• Art In Progress, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1944, p. 18 (not numbered).
• J. A. McNeill Whistler, Lyman Allyn Museum, New London, 1949 (cat. no. 19).
• American Impressionism, Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts and Dayton Art Institute, 1951 (no catalogue).
• Expatriates: Whistler, Cassatt, Sargent, Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, Utica, NY, 1953 (cat. no. 6).
• Sweet, Frederick A. (ed.), Sargent, Whistler and Mary Cassatt, Art Institute of Chicago and Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1954 (cat. no. 107).
• The Impressionist Mood in American Painting, American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, 1959 (cat. no. 25).
• Young, A. McLaren, James McNeill Whistler, Arts Council Gallery, London, and Knoedler Galleries, New York, 1960 (cat. no. 36).
• Three Centuries of American Painting, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1965 (no cat. no.).
• American Paintings from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art and M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, 1966 (cat. no. 98).
• Sweet, Frederick A., James McNeill Whistler, Art Institute of Chicago and Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, 1968 (cat. no. 23).
• Spencer, Robin, James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), Nationalgalerie, Berlin, 1969 (cat. no. 27).
• American Paintings from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY, 1970 (cat. no. 52).
• Grand Reserves, New York Cultural Center in association with Fairleigh Dickinson University, NY, 1974 (see cat. nos. 91-92).
• Dorment, Richard, and Margaret F. MacDonald, James McNeill Whistler, Tate Gallery, London, Musée d’Orsay, Paris, and National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1994-1995 (cat. no. 57).
• Weinberg, H. Barbara, and Carrie Rebora Barratt, eds., American Stories: Paintings of Everyday Life, 1765–1915, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2009, pp. 119-20.
• Baum, Kelly, ‎Andrea Bayer, ‎Sheena Wagstaff, (eds.), Unfinished: Thoughts Left Visible, New York, 2016, p. 328, p. 112.

Journals 1906-Present

• Burroughs, Bryson, 'Cremorne Gardens No. 2 by James McNeill Whistler', Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, vol. 7, April 1912, pp. 74-75.
• Dreyfus, Albert, 'James Abbott MacNeill Whistler', Die Kunst für Alle, 1907, vol. 22, pp. 201-16, repr. p. 208.
• Laughton, Bruce, 'The British and American contribution to Les XX 1884-93', Apollo, vol. 86, November 1967, pp. 373-79, at p. 378.

Websites

• Metropolitan Museum of Art website at http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/12.32.

Unpublished

• Revillon, Joseph Whistler, Draft Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of J. McN. Whistler, [ca 1945-1955], Glasgow University Library (cat. no. 86) 'Cremorne Gardens, No: 2'.

Other

• None.