Documents associated with: 4th [Exhibition], Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1894
Record 3 of 35
System Number: 03360
Date: [24 December 1893][1]
Author: JW
Place: Paris
Recipient: Thomas Robert Way[2]
Place: London
Repository: Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Call Number: FGA Whistler 116
Credit Line: Charles Lang Freer Papers, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.: Gift of the Estate of Charles Lang Freer
Document Type: ALS[3]
110. Rue du Bac - Paris -
My dear Tom -
The new proofs[4] have come and are delightful - Your own drawings are capital - and show certainly what wonderful things can be done with the stump! - Is the work done on the stone? or is it only on the paper? -
A very jolly portrait[5]! and the modelling and colour charming -
What, by the way, is the white [p. 2] paper? It seems to be sort of hand made business - as if you had pasted together two or more sheets - after the manner of the Jappanese [sic] stuff of Monsieur Marty's[6] -
Have you heard from him? He was enchanted with his proofs - He came here and took them away after I had signed them - but I have heard no more of him since -
The transfer of the Luxembourg[7] I thought, upon the whole, perhaps a little coarse, as you had forseen - I mean that I had better appear with something else to greater advantage in the Art Journal[8] - and so I had better draw something with the chalk alone - for it is as you say evident that the stump can only do itself justice in the hand printing of proofs -
About the "Studio" - You had better as you proposed, show the "Gants de Suède" to Mr Gleeson White[9] and tell him that is what I propose for his magazine - Also you might ask him what they would be prepared to pay me [for] the use of the work for one of [their] numbers - He might prefer to be approached by you on the subject -
You might do this at once Tom, as his office is I [p. 3] believe close by you -
I shall send a set of these proofs to the Salon at the Champ de Mars[10]! - Perhaps I may send one or two to the Grafton Gallery[11] - what do you think?
With kindest regards & our best wishes to you all for a Merry Christmas & happy New Year -
Always Sincerely
J McN Whistler
This document is protected by copyright.
Envelope:
ToThomas Way. Junr.
21. Wellington Street -
Strand
London -
Angleterre
[stamp:] POSTE / 25 / REPUBLIQUE FRANCAISE
[postmark:] PARIS - 80 / R. DU BAC / 7E 24 / DEC / 93
[postmark on verso:] LONDON W. C / C. X. / B A / DE 25 / 93
Notes:
1. [24 December 1893]
Dated from the postmark. Dated in pencil, in another hand, on p. 1, '24 Decr 93'.
2. Thomas Robert Way
Thomas Robert Way (1861-1913), printer, lithographer and painter [more].
3. ALS
Published in Spink, Nesta R., The Lithographs of James McNeill Whistler, gen. eds Harriet K. Stratis and Martha Tedeschi, Chicago, 1998, vol. 2, p. 86, no. 73.
4. proofs
Proofs JW had ordered on 15 December 1893, #03359.
5. portrait
Not identified. Way was a proficient draughtsman, who mostly worked on land- and city-scapes.
6. Marty's
André E. Marty (b. 1857), journalist, illustrator and print publisher [more]. The 107 impressions of The Draped Figure, Seated (C.72) for L'Estampe originale; see #06107.
7. Luxembourg
Conversation under the Statue, Luxembourg Gardens (C.69).
8. Art Journal
JW made a separate lithograph, Nursemaids: 'Les Bonnes du Luxembourg' (C.81), for The Art Journal; see #03362.
9. Mr Gleeson White
Joseph William Gleeson White (1851-1898), writer on art, first editor of the Studio [more]. See #03362.
10. Champ de Mars
JW exhibited a number of lithographs at the 4th Exhibition, Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1894 (cat. nos. 250-256): 'La Danseuse' (The Dancing Girl (C.29)), 'Les Perrons: Luxembourg' (The Steps, Luxembourg (C.68)), 'Vitré' (Vitré: The Canal (C.63)), 'La Fille couchée' (Nude Model, Reclining (C.73)), 'La Songeuse' (The Draped Figure, Seated (C.72)), 'Conversation: Luxembourg' (Conversation under the Statue, Luxembourg Gardens (C.69)), and 'Portrait de Stéphane Mallarmé' (Stéphane Mallarmé (C.60)) respectively. He also sent three recent marine paintings (cat. nos 1136-8), 'Violet et Argent: La Mer profonde' (Violet and Silver: A Deep Sea (YMSM 411)); 'Le Danger: Bleu foncé et argent' (Dark Blue and Silver (YMSM 412)) and 'Bleu et Violet: Parmi les coulants' (Violet and Blue: Among the Rollers (YMSM 413)).
11. Grafton Gallery
JW exhibited three marines and six lithographs at Fair Women, Grafton Galleries, London, 1894; see #03363. According to T. R. Way's titles, the lithographs were 'Nude Model, Reclining' (Nude Model, Reclining (C.73)), 'The Draped Figure, Seated' (The Draped Figure, Seated (C.72)), 'The Dancing Girl (The Dancing Girl (C.29)), 'Vitré: The Canal' (Vitré: The Canal (C.63)), 'The Steps, Luxembourg' (The Steps, Luxembourg (C.68)), and a Luxembourg drawing, possibly Conversation under the Statue, Luxembourg Gardens (C.69) (see #06111). The lithographs were probably the same as those shown at the Salon, except that the portrait of Mallarmé was not included in London. Some titles were changed: 'The Draped Figure, Seated' was called 'La Songeuse', although it had been published in L'Estampe originale as 'Danseuse' (see #03347). The Dancing Girl (C.29), exhibited as 'The Dancing Girl' in London, was entitled 'La Danseuse' for the Salon. JW ordered twelve proofs of each of these subjects (#03364).