Documents associated with: Exposition Universelle des Beaux-Arts, Antwerp, 1894
Record 16 of 23
System Number: 09465
Date: [1/3 August 1894][1]
Author: JW
Place: Paris
Recipient: David Croal Thomson[2]
Place: [London]
Repository: Library of Congress
Call Number: Manuscript Division, Whistler-Pennell Collection, PWC
Document Type: ALS
110. Rue du Bac. Paris.
Dear Mr. Thomson -
I daresay you may be right about the photograph[3] - and certainly you are a better judge of the situation than I can possibly be at a distance -
Doubtless it would be perfect as far as the picture itself goes [p. 2] if the trip to Antwerp[4] were taken. A propos of this I lend you the letter from the President of the Jury for the Beaux Arts Section des Etats Unis, of the Exposition [Internationale?] because he happens to give an excellent plan of the hanging!
So you can say to your man[5] that if he really be an admirer he is not likely to have such another occasion in a hurry of seeing so swell a group of his distinguished countryman's work! - There indeed he will find the Sarasate in his full "dignity" - to appreciate, or not, as it is in him - And then there is also the superb "Firewheel", and the lovely Nocture "Blue & Silver, Battersea Reach". Also there is the Rosa Corder to see, and the Valparaiso of Mr Graham Robertson's[6]*, *To say nothing of the "Little White Girl" altogether they tell me I have a splendid show in Antwerp - and no true admirer could possibly miss the occasion! -
I[7] may here say that if there were a question of the "Firewheel", I have kept that famous picture in spite of offers - and am determined that "pot of paint" shall be paid 1000 gs for - to me. The Nocturne Blue & Silver I will take £800. net
Write to me by tomorrow nights post that I may get your news on Sunday morning - and send me back Mr Pearce's[8] letter -
[butterfly signature]
This document is protected by copyright.
Notes:
1. [1/3 August 1894]
Dated by the reference to a letter from C. S. Pearce dated 28 July 1894 (see below).
2. David Croal Thomson
David Croal Thomson (1855-1930), art dealer [more].
3. photograph
For reproduction in the Art Journal.
4. Antwerp
JW exhibited Symphony in White, No. 2: The Little White Girl (YMSM 52), Crepuscule in Flesh Colour and Green: Valparaiso (YMSM 73), Arrangement in Black: Portrait of Señor Pablo de Sarasate (YMSM 315), Nocturne: Black and Gold - The Fire Wheel (YMSM 169), Nocturne: Blue and Silver - Battersea Reach (YMSM 119), and Arrangement in Brown and Black: Portrait of Miss Rosa Corder (YMSM 203) at the Exposition Universelle des Beaux-Arts, Antwerp, 1894.
5. man
Possibly Alfred Atmore Pope (1842-1913), manufacturer and collector [more].
6. Mr Graham Robertson's
Walford Graham Robertson (1867-1948), painter, designer and collector [more], owned Crepuscule in Flesh Colour and Green: Valparaiso (YMSM 73).
7. I
'I may ... net' is written in the left margin of p. 1, and the rest in the top, at right angles to the main text.
8. Mr Pearce's
Charles Sprague Pearce (1851-1914), genre and portrait painter [more], who had written to JW on 28 July 1894 (#00192).