Documents associated with: [Exposition], Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris, 1873
Record 2 of 8
System Number: 07904
Date: [November/December 1872][1]
Author: JW
Place: Speke Hall
Recipient: Charles William Deschamps[2]
Place: [London]
Repository: Library of Congress
Call Number: Manuscripts Division, Pennell-Whistler Collection, PWC 1/23/3
Document Type: ALS
'1872[3]' '8'
'Whistler'
Speke Hall[4] -
Speke
near Liverpool -
Dear Deschamps -
I enclose paper for obtaining my pictures[5] from the Dudley Gallery[6] - The original form sent to me by the Secretary I have lost - so that my order must do instead - and as the day for taking the pictures away is tomorrow, and as the frames will not bear any knocking about, I hope you [p. 2] will lose no time but have them taken away at once and hung in the Whistler Gallery[7] under your own good protection. Please write me a line[8] here tomorrow night if you can to say that this has been done - I should have the letter on Sunday and otherwise could not hear before Tuesday as no post leaves London on Sunday - Tell me of course about Paris[9], and if the pictures have gone? perhaps arrived? - also any other details - in short all news - I sent you other drawings[10] and hope I made all clear to you in my note[11] - that young Mr Greaves[12] handed to you -
Sincerely Y[ours]
J A McN Whistler
This document is protected by copyright.
Notes:
1. [November/December 1872]
Dated from references to exhibitions at the Dudley Gallery and in Paris (see below).
2. Charles William Deschamps
Charles William Deschamps (1848-1908), art dealer [more].
3. '1872' ... 'Whistler'
Written in another hand, probably by Deschamps.
4. Speke
The home of Frederick Richards Leyland (1832-1892), ship-owner and art collector [more].
5. my pictures
JW exhibited Nocturne in Blue and Silver (YMSM 118), and possibly Nocturne: Blue and Silver - Battersea Reach (YMSM 119), at the 6th Winter Exhibition of Cabinet Pictures in Oil, Dudley Gallery, London, 1872.
6. Dudley Gallery
A private gallery at the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly, with a reputation for showing the work of rising artists.
7. Whistler Gallery
The 5th Exhibition, Society of French Artists, London, 1872 opened at the Deschamps Gallery, 168 New Bond Street, on 4 November. JW may have also had some of his paintings privately on view in the same gallery in December. This marks a change of policy by JW. After Arrangement in Grey and Black: Portrait of the Painter's Mother (YMSM 101) was nearly rejected by the Royal Academy in May 1872, JW decided not to exhibit there again, and began to exhibit regularly with dealers and independent exhibiting societies.
8. line
Letter untraced.
9. Paris
JW sent Arrangement in Grey: Portrait of the Painter (YMSM 122), and some unknown [Views of the Thames] (YMSM 138), to an exhibition at the Galerie Durand Ruel in Paris. The exhibition opened in January 1873. See a further letter to Deschamps (#07905).
10. drawings
Unidentified. This may refer to chalk or pastel drawings, such as The White Girl (M.471), which dates from about 1872, and is said to have been owned by Deschamps. However, the reference may be to a watercolour, Grey Note (M.472), sent to the Winter Exhibition, British Institution, London, 1872 which opened in November. It was the first watercolour exhibited by JW.
11. Mr Greaves
Probably either Henry Greaves (1843-1904), boat builder and painter [more], or Walter Greaves (1846-1930), boatman and painter [more].
12. my note ... to you
Continued in upper left hand corner of sheet. JW's note to Deschamps hs not been traced.