UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW

System Number: 00192
Date: 28 July 1894
Author: Charles Sprague Pearce^[1]
Place: Antwerp
Recipient: JW
Place: Paris
Repository: Glasgow University Library
Call Number: MS Whistler A191
Document Type: ALS

Anvers sur Oise
Seine et Oise

28 July 1894

My dear Sir

In reply to your [favor?], and in explanation of the telegram^[2] I sent you from Antwerp, I will say that I had proposed you for the medal of honor, and the vote had been taken, and carried, when one of the members of the jury asked if the works could compete, as the "reglement" only admitted pictures painted since 1885 - (date of the last International Exposition at Antwerp[)]. I was thus forced to telegraph you asking if they had been painted previously to that date - adding that I would place you Hors Concour^[3] in case I should receive no reply. As such [p. 2] was the case, I was obliged to withdraw your name to my great regret.

I have, however, the satisfaction of knowing that the vote was carried, and can only regret that the rules of the exposition prevented the medal being awarded.

Mr Gay^[4] has written you, I believe, how your pictures were placed. Since then, the arrival of the portrait of M. Sarasate^[5] has made it necessary to change the form of the group - they are at present placed as follows.

[Diagram of pictures^[6] on the wall, labelled from left to right:] Valparaiso / Miss Corder / Fireworks / Battersea reach / Sarasate / Little Girl in White

Very sincerely yours

Charles Sprague Pearce

Jas McNeill Whistler Esq
110 rue du Bac - Paris

This document is protected by copyright.

Notes:

1.  Charles Sprague Pearce
Charles Sprague Pearce (1851-1914), genre and portrait painter [more], and secretary to the committee of the Etats Unis section of Exposition Universelle des Beaux-Arts, Antwerp, 1894.

2.  telegram
#00191.

3.  Hors Concour
Fr., not in competition.

4.  Mr Gay
Walter Gay (1856-1937), artist and collector [more].

5.  M. Sarasate
Arrangement in Black: Portrait of Señor Pablo de Sarasate (YMSM 315).

6.  pictures
Paintings exhibited at the Exposition Universelle des Beaux-Arts, Antwerp, 1894, included Arrangement in Brown and Black: Portrait of Miss Rosa Corder (YMSM 203), Arrangement in Black: Portrait of Señor Pablo de Sarasate (YMSM 315) and Symphony in White, No. 2: The Little White Girl (YMSM 52), and possibly Crepuscule in Flesh Colour and Green: Valparaiso (YMSM 73), Nocturne: Black and Gold - The Fire Wheel (YMSM 169) and Nocturne: Blue and Silver - Battersea Reach (YMSM 152). All had been painted before 1885.