The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Blue and Silver: The Devonshire Cottages dates from between 1862 and 1865 but was touched up and signed over thirty years later, in 1895.

Blue and Silver: The Devonshire Cottages, Freer Gallery of Art

A White Note, Colby College Museum of Art

1862: It could have been painted as early as 1862: for instance, the brushwork on the trees is comparable to that in A White Note y044, which dates from October/November 1862. In technique, with its areas of impasto and palette knife work, it also bears comparison with paintings of Trouville and Dieppe in the mid-1860s.

1862/1864: Whistler recorded in a notebook what appear to be directions for travelling to the south-west of England: 'Seaton - (Red) Lion - Beer - Ticket by Direct Exeter from Waterloo - to Axminster Colyton, buss [sic] to Seaton.' ¹ These towns are in east Devon. Beer is on Lyme Bay on the south-east coast, two kilometres west of Seaton, and Colyton is inland. There is no other record of this trip.

1884: It has also been suggested – incorrectly – that Whistler painted Blue and Silver: The Devonshire Cottages on the way to or from St Ives, Cornwall in 1884. ² However, in scale and technique it is quite different from the St Ives paintings, of which Note in Blue and Opal: The Sun Cloud y271 is an example.

1895: Whistler touched up, signed and framed Blue and Silver: The Devonshire Cottages, and, in a letter written from Lyme Regis, described it as owned for many years by his brother, William McNeill Whistler (1836-1900) and sister-in-law Helen ('Nellie') Euphrosyne Whistler (1849-1917). ³ Whistler's biographers, the Pennells, owned letters from Whistler, written from Lyme Regis, discussing this painting; they therefore assumed, wrongly, that Blue and Silver: The Devonshire Cottages was painted there in 1895. ⁴ Likewise, a later owner, Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) thought, mistakenly, that it had been painted at Lyme Regis and that the 'Devonshire' of the title should read 'Dorsetshire'. ⁵

Images

Subject

Titles

Several possible titles have been suggested:

• 'Green and opal: The Village' (1884, Dowdeswell). ⁶
• 'Vert et opale: Le Village' (1887, Georges Petit). ⁷
• 'the Devonshire sky and little village' (1895, Whistler). ⁸
• 'the Devonshire Cottages - Blue & Silver' (1895, Whistler). ⁹
• 'Cottages' (1895, Whistler). ¹⁰
• 'Landscape' (1905, ISSPG). ¹¹
• 'Dorsetshire Landscape' (1948, B. A. Stubbs). ¹²
• 'Green and Silver: The Devonshire Cottages' (1980, YMSM). ¹³
• 'Blue and Silver: The Devonshire Cottages' (2018, WPP).

Whistler's original title was 'Green and opal: The Village', and a later, more site specific one, 'the Devonshire Cottages - Blue & Silver', so it had graduated from green to blue and from semi-precious stone to precious metal in Whistler's value-added title. Despite the risk of confusion in altering the 1980 title, it has been decided to opt for Whistler's own 1895 title 'Blue and Silver: The Devonshire Cottages.'

Description

Blue and Silver: The Devonshire Cottages, Freer Gallery of Art

Several white-washed, thatched, two-storey houses, with a wooded hill behind, are seen against a blue sky with scattered clouds. A single-storey building, possibly with a turquoise door or window at left, is roughly sketched in the foreground. To right are two small standing figures, now very faint indeed.

The figures were still clear in 1905, when it was described as: 'Group of white village cottages, two children's figures to right in the foreground, trees and hedges against the sky in the background. Butterfly signature in right-hand bottom corner.' ¹⁴

Blue and Silver: The Devonshire Cottages, Pennell 1908, vol. 2, repr. f.p. 162

Likewise, the reproduction in the Pennells' biography of 1908 shows that the two figures and the butterfly signature were originally distinct. ¹⁵

Site

The painting appears to show the small town of Colyton in east Devon, south-west England. It is three miles from Seaton and six miles from Axminster. As Whistler noted, there was a direct train from Waterloo in London to Axminster. ¹⁶ Colyton nestles in a broad wooded valley between low hills. There are still several old houses with white-washed walls and thatched roofs in the town. The local historian W. G. Hoskins described it in 1954:

'COLYTON is a small and ancient town, grouped around a handsome church. It stands on the river Coly, near its confluence with the Axe, and at the mouth of a beautiful combe which runs back into the greens and outliers of the Blackdown Hills. The whole parish is singularly beautiful, with rolling green hills and deep combes dotted with ancient farmsteads.' ¹⁷

Comments

David Park Curry remarked that the subject and composition it was 'remarkably similar' to Whistler's etching Liverdun [13], which dates from 1858. ¹⁸

Technique

Technique

Blue and Silver: The Devonshire Cottages, Freer Gallery of Art

It was painted with thin washes, freely applied, plus areas of thicker impasto applied with a palette knife.

Conservation History

In August 1895 Whistler suggested that his sister-in-law Helen ('Nellie') Euphrosyne Whistler (1849-1917) send him 'the little sketch of sky and tops of houses that hangs in the bedroom up stairs - I could sign it and look at it and see if it may not be worth something in a proper frame.' ¹⁹ Just over a week later the artist wrote to his brother William that he had 'cleaned and signed your little picture of the Devonshire sky and little village - and it comes out beautifully! - I have even added a few touches.' ²⁰ Then he explained further: 'Besides it was lost in dirt! I washed it.' ²¹ Perhaps that was why he changed its name from the 1884 title, 'Green and opal: The Village' to 'the Devonshire Cottages - Blue & Silver' in 1895! ²²

Blue and Silver: The Devonshire Cottages, Pennell 1908, vol. 2, repr. f.p. 162

The reproduction in the Pennells' biography of 1908 shows the two figures and the butterfly signature, now rather faint, to have been distinct. Therefore, they may have been among the last 'few touches' which Whistler added in August 1895 before selling the picture to the Goupil Gallery, and either faded or were partially removed in later cleaning. ²³

The painting received regular conservation treatment at the Freer Gallery of Art. It was relined in 1922, resurfaced in 1931 and 1937, and cleaned and resurfaced in 1951; and a scratch 'across the remnants of the signature' was repaired in 1971. ²⁴

Blue and Silver: The Devonshire Cottages, photograph, 1980

Blue and Silver: The Devonshire Cottages, Freer Gallery of Art

Frame

In 1895 Whistler wrote that the picture 'had really no frame to it and you cant really know anything of a painting without a frame', so he had it framed for sale. ²⁵

History

Provenance

• 1865/1887: acquired by Whistler's younger brother, William McNeill Whistler (1836-1900) and Helen ('Nellie') Euphrosyne Whistler (1849-1917), possibly when they married in 1865, or after the picture was exhibited in London (1884) or Paris (1887);
• 1887-1895: owned by Dr and Mrs W. McN. Whistler 'all these years' before Whistler undertook to help sell it in 1895; ²⁶
• 1895: sold by Whistler on behalf of his brother to David Croal Thomson (1855-1930) at the Goupil Gallery for 200 guineas (£210) in October 1895. ²⁷
• By 1902: in the collection of Alexander Young (1828–1907), London;
• 1906, September: sold by Obach, London dealers, for £770 to Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919), Detroit;
• 1919: bequeathed by C. L. Freer to the Freer Gallery of Art.

The provenance of this painting is extensive but not comprehensive. In 1894-1895 Whistler's brother was not well and he and his wife were in serious financial straits. Whistler therefore offered to arrange the sale of this painting, and managed it successfully on their behalf. In a letter to D. C. Thomson on 10 October 1895, offering it for sale, Whistler wrote:

'I told Prange that the "Cottage" is worth at least 300 gs, but that I would take 250. gs. down. net. and that he could ask what more he liked - ²⁸

Now this "Cottage" is as you must know a morsel that has been hitherto missed - It has never been exhibited - It is one of those things that the people who are buying the known Whistlers would jump at - It is in splendid condition - and probably the only "landscape"- not that promise to do no more -

Moreover there are conditions that may trouble you -

1st. It must be sold to Scotsman American German Frenchman whoever you please - but not to an Englishman -

2nd. There must be undertaking written to allow the picture to be exhibited in Paris at next years Champs de Mars - (or where I please) and in London -

Now if you will agree to these conditions, I will take 200 gs. down - net - and you can ask what you like. But I will not take a penny less -

Also, if you are not prepared to do this at once, I will be immensely obliged to you if you will give the picture over to Lauser, Garrick St. to be sent on immediately to Kennedy New York (Messrs. Wunderlich) - Lauser is his agent -- and this is what I told Prange - You and Prange must settle together - If he gives up the picture to you, it becomes I should suppose your affair -

I asked Prange if he saw his way to doing this business at once - & if not to send it on to Lauser -

However the upshot is that I will take 200 gs. down to me - under the above written conditions - or the picture must leave the Country.' ²⁹

It is manifestly not true that Whistler had painted no other landscapes, even if most of the others painted in the 1880s and 1890s were on a smaller scale.

After the sale had been concluded, Whistler wrote again to his sister-in-law:

'Enclosed I send cheque - £210, two hundred guineas, for the little picture of Devonshire cottages you have had hanging in desperate loneliness at the top of the house for all these years -

Not so bad is it - especially as it is bought by Thomson of Goupils - picture dealer! - instantly on sight and the cheque paid down on the nail - and this under rather stringent conditions - one of which was that they undertake that the picture shall not be sold to an Englishman! -

You see the little [picture] up in the bedroom had really no frame to it and you cant really know anything of a painting without a frame - Besides it was lost in dirt! I washed it.' ³⁰

He acknowledged Thomson's cheque ('I have received your very interesting letter and the cheque £210 - for the Devonshire Cottages - Blue & Silver') on 14 October. ³¹ He must, however, have demanded his pay in guineas for Thomson replied, 'I have not yet sold the 'Cottages' but that is not of any real consequence as we can wait. All the same if guineas you must have I will send the 5% more.' ³² A pound sterling was 20 shillings, a guineas, 21 shillings. To be paid in guineas was both more gentlemanly (tradesmen were paid in pounds) and profitable. And Whistler confirmed that he wanted his guineas, in a letter to D. C. Thomson, on 23 October:

'It isn't fair is it to spoil the look of my little guineas! - What do you think? Look here you have a splendid affair in the "Cottages" - and dont you be in a hurry about it - You will certainly sell it when your American Clients come over for four or five hundred at least - and if you keep it long enough for more.' ³³

By 1902 the painting was in the collection of Alexander Young, who lent it to the Whistler Memorial Exhibition in London in 1905. ³⁴

Exhibitions

• 1884: 'Notes' - 'Harmonies' - 'Nocturnes', Messrs Dowdeswell, London, 1884 (cat. no. 7) as 'Green and opal: The Village'.
• 1887: Exposition Internationale de Peinture et de Sculpture, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 1887 (cat. no. 173) as 'Vert et opale: Le Village'.
• 1901: Pan-American Exposition, Buffalo, 1901 (cat. no. 97).
• 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. 86) as 'Landscape'.

When it was exhibited by Messrs Dowdeswell in 1884, the Kensington News commented: 'How about the palette knife ... has it not played a heavy part?' ³⁵ Whistler rarely used the palette knife to apply or work paint in the 1880s (although he had in the 1860s), and thus it stood out from the rest of the pictures exhibited both by its size and technique.

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

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. 266), plate 180, as 'Green and Silver: The Devonshire Cottages'; (cat. no. 304) as 'Green and Opal: The Village'.

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• 'Notes' - 'Harmonies' - 'Nocturnes', Messrs Dowdeswell, London, 1884 (cat. no. 7) as 'Green and opal: The Village'.
• Exposition Internationale de Peinture et de Sculpture, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 1887 (cat. no. 173) as 'Vert et opale: Le Village'.
• Pan-American Exposition, Buffalo, 1901 (cat. no. 97).
• 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. 86) as 'Landscape'.

Newspapers 1855-1905

• 'M.C.S.' [Malcolm Charles Salaman], Kensington News, London, 29 May 1884.

Journals 1855-1905

• None.

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. 172 (cat. no. 96).
• Glazer, Lee, Emily Jacobsen, Blyth McCarthy, and Katherine Roeder, Whistler in Watercolor. Lovely Little Games, Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 2019, p. 68, detail repr. p. 69.
• Holden, Donald, Whistler Landscapes and Seascapes, New York, 1969, p. 81, pl. 30.
• Lane, James W., Whistler, (American Artists Series), New York, 1942, repr. p. 64.
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 2 vols, London and Philadelphia, 1908, vol. 2, p. 167, repr. f.p. 162.
• Petri, Grischka, Arrangement in Business: The Art Markets and the Career of James McNeill Whistler, Hildesheim, 2011, pp. 555-556.
• Prideaux, Tom, The World of Whistler, New York, 1970, pp. 182-83.
• Sutton, Denys, James McNeill Whistler: Paintings, Etchings, Pastels and Watercolours, London, 1966, repr. pl. 195.
• Prideaux, Tom, The World of Whistler, 1834-1903, New York, 1970, pp. 100-101.
• Walker, John, James McNeill Whistler, New York, 1987, p. 157.

Books, General

• Robins, Anna Gruetzner, A Fragile Modernism. Whistler and his Impressionist Followers, London and New Haven, 2007, p. 29

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. 14 (06.227, as 'Dorsetshire Landscape').
• Curry, David Park, James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art, New York and London, 1984, pp. 135, 299, plate 39, as 'Green and Silver: The Devonshire Cottages'.

EXHIBITION:

• Myers, Kenneth John, Mr. Whistler’s Gallery: Pictures at an 1884 Exhibition, Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 2003, p. 85, repr. pp. 34-35.

Journals 1906-Present

• None.

Websites

• Freer Gallery of Art website at https://asia.si.edu/object/F1906.227a-c as 'Green and Silver: The Devonshire Cottages'.

Unpublished

• Revillon, Joseph Whistler, Draft Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of J. McN. Whistler, [ca 1945-1955], Glasgow University Library (cat. no. 334/5).

Other

• None.