Documents associated with: Exhibition of Pastels, Grosvenor Gallery, London, 1888
Record 1 of 8
System Number: 08001
Date: [14/21 September 1888?][1]
Author: JW
Place: Tours
Recipient: Charles James Whistler Hanson[2]
Place: [London]
Repository: Library of Congress
Call Number: Manuscript Division, Pennell-Whistler Collection, PWC 1/43/7
Document Type: ALS
Restaurant Ley Marie -
14. Rue de la Scellerie -
à Tours -
1.
I got your letter all-right about the etchings for Wunderlich[3] - Those that are wanting may perhaps just as well wait for the moment -
I think you might go to Buck[4] and say, on your own account, that you would like to know when this American is to be brought, as it is rather likely that you might get off for a day or two after his visit, if you could write to me and say he had been - and that you, and William[5] too, have been kept in, because of the possibility of the visit - so you might say, could not Mr Buck manage to get him down at once? -
Any more of the Fords[6]? I wrote to them and told them this address, but said I was moving about all the time -
Ask Mons. Roussel[7] if he has any news for me - Where are the Sickerts[8]? Go to the Suffolk Street and ask for any letters, ask if anything has [p. 2] come for the President?[9] and get a clear answer - for I am thinking that possibly something might have been written from Münich[10] who knows! and it might have been simply directed to the President - R B A - so it must not be lost or sent on to Bayliss[11]!! -
Tell William to take the two Nocturnes[12] and the Sea piece[13] out of their boxes - or they will blacken - Let him see that they are in perfect order - nice and clean too - and then you might take the bridge to the gentleman[14], in Cromwell Rd, or Place, who owns it - Give my best thanks and compliments - & say how greatly obliged I am to him - Tell him I am away, or I would have called to thank him -
I want you to call on Mr James Forbes[15] - and tell him that I fear he never got two or three notes that I wrote to him -
so I suppose he must have been away - That now I am forced to trouble him, as it is a question of the Pastel Exhibition[16] at the Grosvenor and I want him very much kindly to lend me the "Venice" ones he has of mine - If he will do this, will he let you take them now - so that Grau[17] can measure be getting frames made for them - In which case, tell [p. 3]
Grau to measure them for the usual frames he always makes for all my little pictures - Oil or watercolour or Pastel - and tell him to be most[18] particular, in his notes, to get the exact[19] measurement of the "sight" -
The colour of the gold will be for each frame, exactly what it is now. - He must not take the pastels out of their present frames though, as the drawings are in no way fixed, and so must not be touched until I am by. - Call upon Mr Louis Huth[20] - you will find his town house address in my book, or in the Red Book - or better still his City address - I think it is Token House Yard - go there - & you will be sure to find him - Ask him, with my compliments, the same thing - Will he lend me the "Venice Pastels" he has - that they go to the Grosvenor Gallery - and might you have them now, so that frames may be arranged for them - Tell Walter Dowdeswell[21] that I do wish he would get for me something like a list of people who may have any of my pastels - Tell him he would greatly oblige me by finding out - [p. 4] Carter[22] must have the long sofa - the one with the reeded arms & legs - when he comes for the cabinet & Dutch table - also as I told you (or William) dont fail to point out that the little foot of small dressing table is sprung.
You have never told me whether the new Sheffield chafing dish came home from Mr Wells[23] ? - If so where have you put it ? - If it has not come, you had better go and see Wells about it - It was coming from their shop in Hanway Street - (Oxford Street) - While there call on Mrs Samson[24], [sic] another silver shop in the same little Hanway Street - close to Wells and say that if they come upon any more of the long thin Dutch toddy spoons or salt spoons like the last two I had from them, they are to put them aside until my return - also the little Silver Dutch box in the shape of a cabinet like the two I got, I will take - it had a little open work railing on the top, and cost 14. shillings - Call on George Lewis,[25] and ask if he has any news for you to give me about Huish? and say I do beg him to push that matter - I enclose cheque (1-10-) for this next two weeks, and leaving you with ten shillings in hand for expenses - You had better get all your papers out of the Vale - also all the pictures - Webb can do this with William - and the frame that is too big, Grau can take care of, unless Mr Webb can -
J McN. Whistler
This document is protected by copyright.
Notes:
1. [14/21 September 1888?]
Dated from address. JW was on a working honeymoon in France and did not return until November.
2. Charles James Whistler Hanson
Charles James Whistler Hanson (1870-1935), engineer, son of JW and Louisa Fanny Hanson [more].
3. Wunderlich
Hermann Wunderlich (ca 1839 - d.1892), print dealer [more].
4. Buck
Perhaps J. H. Buck, employee of the Goupil Gallery, London.
5. William
William Bell, JW's secretary [more].
6. Fords
Sheridan Ford (1860-1922), poet, critic, politician and writer on art [more] and Mary Bacon Ford, née Martin, art agent [more].
7. Roussel
Theodore Roussel (1847-1926), painter and print-maker [more].
8. Sickerts
Walter Richard Sickert (1860-1942), artist and writer on art [more] and Ellen Melicent Sickert (1848-1914), née Cobden, writer [more].
9. President?
JW had been forced to resign as President of the Royal Society of British Artists in June 1888.
10. Münich
The exhibition 3rd Internationale Kunst-Austellung, Munich, 1888.
11. Bayliss
Wyke Bayliss (1835-1906), painter and architect [more].
12. Nocturnes
Probably Nocturne: Grey and Gold - Chelsea Snow (YMSM 174) and Nocturne: Black and Gold - The Fire Wheel (YMSM 169), both of which had been exhibited in Munich.
13. Sea piece
Possibly Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket (YMSM 170).
14. bridge to the gentleman
Not clear: several pictures of bridges were available, including Brown and Silver: Old Battersea Bridge (YMSM 33) and The Last of Old Westminster (YMSM 39).
15. James Forbes
James Staats Forbes (1823-1904), railway manager and collector [more].
16. Pastel Exhibition
Exhibition of Pastels, Grosvenor Gallery, London, 1888.
17. Grau
Frederick H. Grau (d. 1894/1895), picture framer [more].
18. most
Double underlined.
19. exact
Double underlined.
20. Louis Huth
Louis Huth (1821-1905), collector [more]. Huth lived at 28 Hertford Street, Mayfair, W. [1893]
21. Walter Dowdeswell
Walter Dowdeswell (1858-1929), art dealer [more].
22. Carter
Robert Carter, cabinet-maker [more], located at 185, Tottenham Court Road.
23. Wells
James Wells, silversmith [more]. The Whistlers' collection of silver is in the Hunterian Art Gallery. There is a list made by BW and Charles Hanson at #12727 and #12728.
24. Samson
Sarah Sampson, curiosity dealer at 9 Hanway St.
25. George Lewis
Sir George Henry Lewis (1833-1911), society lawyer [more].
26. Huish
Marcus Bourne Huish (1843 - d.1921), barrister, writer and art dealer, Director of the Fine Art Society [more].
27. Webb
Webb, possibly George or William Webb, lawyers but possibly A. Webb, employee of the Fine Art Society.