Documents associated with: 1st Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte della Città di Venezia, Venice, 1895
Record 7 of 12
System Number: 07258
Date: [12 September 1895][1]
Author: JW
Place: Lyme Regis
Recipient: Edward Guthrie Kennedy[2]
Place: [New York]
Repository: Glasgow University Library
Call Number: MS Whistler W1246
Document Type: ALdS
'1895?'[3]
Royal Lion Hotel - Lyme Regis -
Now my dear O K!
you know that won't do at all - The "Studio[4]" picture doesn't go under 400 gs - down -
Touched or untouched matters not - In point of fact the man who would propose to take it without further work upon, is the wise one - for, Artistically, the quality of the picture is not to be enhanced - But to propose to make a cool hundred besides is stupendous! -
Mean while you will be pleased to hear that the Jury of the Exhibition of Venice[5] has awarded "The little White Girl[6]" a prize of 2500. lira - & as that will of course be malevolently repeated from the English papers, I send the enclosed cutting -
You dont tell me at all anything about your [p. 2] negotiations with Chapman[7] of Liverpool - or what he is asking for the "Bognor[8]" - Are you going to buy it? or, perhaps even, have you bought it? -
Have you looked up your "Gentle Art[9]", at the page I turned down for you in my letter? - If so, you might have the grace to acknowledge that the case in point was thoroughly provided for. - don't you think? - You say nothing I see about the Sarasate[10] - So I suppose that you see no place for -
Now do kindly write and tell me if Mr. Eddy[11] has sent you the "Firewheel[12]"? - and do you see your way to any business with that? - What about Untermeyer[13]? He bought the "Falling Rocket[14]" you know for 800 guineas - However you know all these things better than I do - and since you insisted upon my writing to Eddy for the picture I suppose you had a plan of your own, or some specially in view -
What is all this about Mr. Cortoz[15], the man who wrote the article in the Tribune you sent me? - Do you mean to say that he complains of the manner in which I received him? - I was most courteous to him - as I would be to any of your friends - and I called upon him too - What do they mean! - I hope you will explain what it's all about in your next letter -
A nice mess they seem to have made of it over there on your side of the water in this business of the Yacht race! - Why could they not be grands seigneurs[16] enough to give Dunraven[17] that 2nd race & then beat him! - And what a rowdy lot on the course! - Awful, isn't it O K! It must make you most sad to find yourself in such surroundings - No wonder Harper Pennington[18] got away at last! Where, by the way, is he? - I shall be sending you some new lithographs [p. 3] directly - as usual finer than anything I have done! - Now I will give you another chance - A lovely little landscape[19] - taken or left - no "retouching" or suggestions - I make the conditions - and they are these: [...]
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Notes:
1. [September 1895]
Dated by reference to Venice exhibition (see below).
2. Edward Guthrie Kennedy
Edward Guthrie Kennedy (1849-1932), dealer with H. Wunderlich and Co., New York [more]. JW also called him 'O'K'.
3. '1895?'
Added in another hand, in pencil.
4. Studio
Whistler in his Studio (YMSM 63).
5. Exhibition of Venice
1st Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte della Città di Venezia, Venice, 1895; the prize was announced to JW by Antonio Fradeletto, 9 September 1895, #05933.
6. The little White Girl
Symphony in White, No. 2: The Little White Girl (YMSM 52).
7. Chapman
Alfred Chapman (1839-1917), engineer and collector [more].
8. Bognor
Nocturne: Blue and Silver - Bognor (YMSM 100).
9. Gentle Art
Whistler, James McNeill, The Gentle Art of Making Enemies, London and New York, 1890.
10. Sarasate
Arrangement in Black: Portrait of Señor Pablo de Sarasate (YMSM 315).
11. Mr. Eddy
Arthur Jerome Eddy (1859-1920), writer and collector [more].
12. Firewheel
Nocturne: Black and Gold - The Fire Wheel (YMSM 169).
13. Untermeyer
Samuel Untermyer (1858-1940), lawyer, capitalist and philanthropist [more].
14. Falling Rocket
Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket (YMSM 170).
15. Mr. Cortoz
Royal Cortissoz (1869-1948), author, art editor of the New York Herald Tribune [more].
16. grands seigneurs
Fr., gentlemen.
17. Dunraven
Windham Thomas Wyndham-Quin (1841-1926), 4th Earl of Dunraven and Mountearl [more]. His yacht Valkyrie III was beaten by Defender in the America's Cup races held on 7, 10 and 12 September. The various fouls, disasters and disputes are described by Kennedy in his reply on 24 September 1895, #07260.
18. Harper Pennington
Robert Goodloe Harper Pennington (1854-1920), artist [more].
19. landscape
Not identified; see Landscape, Lyme Regis (YMSM 447).