Identity:

Arthur Jerome Eddy was an American critic, collector of modern art, lawyer and writer on art, law and economics.

Life:

Eddy first became acquainted with the work of JW at the World's Fair of Chicago in 1893, and commissioned JW to paint his portrait in this year. Arrangement in Flesh Colour and Brown: Portrait of Arthur J. Eddy (YMSM 425) was painted in six weeks, according to the Pennells, in JW's Paris studio in the rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs in 1894. The work is dated October 1894 in JW's hand on the back of the canvas. Eddy paid 350 francs on 27 October 1894 and promised to pay the rest on the picture's arrival in Chicago. It was shipped by 20 November 1894 and arrived by 5 December 1894. Eddy paid a total of 350 guineas in two instalments. On 4 October 1895 Eddy offered to travel to Paris if JW wanted to add to the portrait.

As both writer and collector Eddy made a significant contribution to the introduction of cubism and abstraction in America. He bequeathed his collection to the Art Institute of Chicago.

Bibliography:

Eddy, Arthur Jerome, Recollections and Impressions of James A. McNeill Whistler, Philadelphia and London, 1903; Eddy, A. J., Delight, the Soul of Art, Philadelphia, 1904; Eddy, A. J., Cubists and Post-Impressionism, Chicago, 1914; Young, Andrew McLaren, Margaret F. MacDonald, Robin Spencer and Hamish Miles, The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler, New Haven and London, 1980.