Documents associated with: 3rd Internationale Kunst-Ausstellung, Munich, 1888
Record 3 of 53
System Number: 05207
Date: 12 January 1888
Author: James Rennell Rodd[1]
Place: Berlin
Recipient: JW
Place: [London]
Repository: Glasgow University Library
Call Number: MS Whistler R107
Document Type: ALS
[embossed royal coat of arms]
British Embassy
Berlin.
Jan. 12: / 88
My dear Maestro
I enclose programme of a big show to be held this year at Munich[2] - You sent to Berlin[3] & Munich is much more important artistically than Berlin, in fact whereas [p. 2] Berlin is a city of politics and finance, Munich is entirely consecrated to the Muses. They are very anxious to get a good English room, and there are lots of gold medals going about. I know it is very difficult to get people at home to take any [p. 3] interest in things abroad, but this is an exceptional occasion and as art is international I hope you will be induced to consider it. I was in Munich last week and the artists with whom I spent a very merry evening at their club made me promise to do my best to [p. 4] advertise their Exhibition in England. I can send you plenty more of these programmes if any of the British artists wld care for them. The Chief[4] asked Richmond[5] out here, & he painted a sketch of Bismarck[6], come & do likewise! or more so
Ever yrs
R. Rodd
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Notes:
1. James Rennell Rodd
James Rennell Rodd (1858-1941), 1st Baron Rennell, poet and diplomat [more].
2. Munich
Rodd was referring to the 3rd Internationale Kunst-Austellung, Munich, 1888 which opened in July. Robin Lenman draws attention to the vitality of the Munich school during this period: 'Artistic activity benefited from the strength of the local economy, and [...] dealers (Ackermann, Fleischmann, Heinemann and others) became increasingly active alongside the Kunstverein and the salons in the Munich Glaspalast.' See Lenman, Robin, 'Munich: Art Life and Organisation' in Grove Dictionary of Art online (accessed 14/5/01). JW sent a large group of works to the Internationale - thirteen oils, twenty watercolours, seven pastels and thirty etchings. Amongst the oils was Arrangement in Black: La Dame au brodequin jaune - Portrait of Lady Archibald Campbell (YMSM 242). He was awarded a second-class medal by the exhibition committee.
3. Berlin
Possibly the [Jubilee Art Exhibition], Academy of Arts, Berlin, 1886.
4. Chief
Sir Edward Baldwin Malet (b. 1837), diplomat [more] was British Ambassador in Berlin from 1884-95.
5. Richmond
William Blake Richmond (1842-1921), portrait painter and sculptor [more]. Richmond painted portraits of Malet and his wife in 1887, His Excellency Sir Edward Malet and The Lady Ermyntrude Malet, both oil, private collection.
6. Bismarck
Otto Eduard Leopold, Fϋrst von Bismarck (1815-1898), Prime Minister of Prussia [more]. With Malet's assistance Richmond requested permission to paint Bismarck which led to the oil sketch Prince von Bismarck(whereabouts unknown). See Reynolds, Simon, William Blake Richmond: An Artist's Life 1842-1921, Norwich 1995, p. 212, fig. 81.