Identity:

James Guthrie Orchar was an engineer in the firm of textile machinery manufacturers Robertson and Orchar.

Life:

Orchar started the Wallace Foundry in Dundee. He also established the annual fine art exhibitions in Dundee that ran from 1877 to 1891 and became Provost of Broughty Ferry. He owned 302 works of art, mainly by Scottish artists. However, he acquired 15 etchings and 3 drypoints by JW's brother-in-law Francis Seymour Haden, as well as 18 etchings and 18 drypoints by JW. On 9 May 1881 he purchased Nocturne: Grey and Silver - Chelsea Embankment, Winter (YMSM 205) at Christie's for £32.11.0. He lent it in 1892 for exhibition at the Goupil Gallery, where a photograph of it was taken. Unfortunately there was a white blemish on the negative. He also lent the painting for exhibition in Munich in the same year. He bequeathed his collection to the Burgh of Broughty Ferry.

Bibliography:

Young, Andrew McLaren, Margaret F. MacDonald, Robin Spencer and Hamish Miles, The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler, New Haven and London, 1980.