Documents associated with: Mr Whistler's Etchings, The Fine Art Society, London, 1883
Record 19 of 54
System Number: 09640
Date: [16 February 1883][1]
Author: JW
Place: London
Recipient: Théodore Duret[2]
Place: [London]
Repository: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Call Number: W57/W576
Document Type: ALS
BEEFSTEAK CLUB,
KING WILLIAM STREET,
STRAND, W.C.
Mon cher Duret -
Vous irez demain sans doute au "Private View"[3] of the Fine Art Society -
J'y serai probablement dans l'apres [sic] midi - disons vers trois heures -
Si non venez en tout [p. 2] cas à l'atelier lundi vers quatre heures -
J'aurai j'espere des choses à vous montrer - ainsi ne remettez pas votre visite à la nuit! -
Avez vous vu le World[4] de cette semaine? -
Pourquoi ne pas venir ici demain soir - tard - Je tacherai de vous y rencontrer -
Tout à vous
J McN. Whistler
This document is protected by copyright.
Translation:
My dear Duret -
You will doubtless be going to the "Private View" of the Fine Art Society tomorrow -
I shall probably be there in the afternoon - let us say at about three o'clock -
If not, come to the studio in any case on Monday at about four o'clock -
I shall I hope have things to show you - so do not delay your visit until the evening! -
Have you seen this week's World? -
Why not come here tomorrow evening - late - I shall try to meet you here -
Yours
J McN. Whistler
Notes:
1. [16 February 1883]
Dated from reference to private view (see note below).
2. Theodore Duret
Théodore Duret (1838-1927), art critic and collector [more].
3. Private View
The private view for Mr Whistler's Etchings, The Fine Art Society, London, 1883, which took place on 17 February (see Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 2 vols, London and Philadelphia, 1908, vol. 1, pp. 310-12).
4. World
A reference to the society paper, The World. It is unclear to what JW is referring. However, in a letter to T. W. Story, from around the same date, #05606, JW mentions a report on the fashionable Private View of the 5th Annual Exhibition, Société d'Aquarellistes, which had just taken place in Paris. The report noted the propensity for business and high-living of the artists included in the exhibition: 'All the Aquarellistes are high-life painters, they all live in beautiful houses, they all have fine horses and bibelots [...] they are all charming men and their business capacity is immense.' The artists mentioned included Alphonse-Marie De Neuville (1835-1885), battle painter and illustrator [more], Jules Bastien-Lepage (1848-1884), artist [more] and Paul Gustave Louis Christophe Doré (1832-1883), painter, illustrator, designer and sculptor [more]. See [Anon.,'Theoc'], 'Gossip from Paris,' The World, 7 February 1883, No. 449, p. 19. A long article on the subject of JW and art critics appeared in the paper on 21 February (later published by JW in his exhibition catalogue for Etchings & Drypoints. Venice. Second Series) but this would have been after the private view took place.