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diff --git a/41492-8.txt b/41492-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 377627f..0000000 --- a/41492-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1589 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Whistler, by T. Martin Wood - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: Whistler - Masterpieces in Colour Series - -Author: T. Martin Wood - -Editor: T. Leman Hare - -Release Date: November 26, 2012 [EBook #41492] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHISTLER *** - - - - -Produced by sp1nd and the Online Distributed Proofreading -Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from -images generously made available by The Internet Archive) - - - - - - - - -MASTERPIECES IN COLOUR - -EDITED BY--T. LEMAN HARE - - -WHISTLER - -1834-1903 - - - - -IN THE SAME SERIES - - ARTIST. AUTHOR. - VELAZQUEZ. S. L. BENSUSAN. - REYNOLDS. S. L. BENSUSAN. - TURNER. C. LEWIS HIND. - ROMNEY. C. LEWIS HIND. - GREUZE. ALYS EYRE MACKLIN. - BOTTICELLI. HENRY B. BINNS. - ROSSETTI. LUCIEN PISSARRO. - BELLINI. GEORGE HAY. - FRA ANGELICO. JAMES MASON. - REMBRANDT. JOSEF ISRAELS. - LEIGHTON. A. LYS BALDRY. - RAPHAEL. PAUL G. KONODY. - HOLMAN HUNT. MARY E. COLERIDGE. - TITIAN S. L. BENSUSAN. - MILLAIS. A. LYS BALDRY. - CARLO DOLCI. GEORGE HAY. - GAINSBOROUGH. MAX ROTHSCHILD. - TINTORETTO. S. L. BENSUSAN. - LUINI. JAMES MASON. - FRANZ HALS. EDGCUMBE STALEY. - VAN DYCK. PERCY M. TURNER. - LEONARDO DA VINCI. M. W. BROCKWELL. - RUBENS. S. L. BENSUSAN. - WHISTLER. T. MARTIN WOOD. - HOLBEIN. S. L. BENSUSAN. - BURNE-JONES. A. LYS BALDRY. - VIGÉE LE BRUN. C. HALDANE MACFALL. - CHARDIN. PAUL G. KONODY. - FRAGONARD. C. HALDANE MACFALL. - MEMLINC. W. H. J. & J. C. WEALE. - CONSTABLE. C. LEWIS HIND. - RAEBURN. JAMES L. CAW. - JOHN S. SARGENT T. MARTIN WOOD. - -_Others in Preparation._ - - - - -[Illustration: PLATE I.--OLD BATTERSEA BRIDGE. Frontispiece - -(In the National Gallery) - -This nocturne was bought by the National Collections Fund from -the Whistler Memorial Exhibition. It was one of the canvases -brought forward during the cross-examination of the artist in the -Whistler v. Ruskin trial.] - - - - -Whistler - -BY T. MARTIN WOOD - -ILLUSTRATED WITH EIGHT REPRODUCTIONS IN COLOUR - - -[Illustration] - - -LONDON: T. C. & E. C. JACK - -NEW YORK: FREDERICK A. STOKES CO. - - - -LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS - - - Plate - I. Old Battersea Bridge Frontispiece - In the National Gallery - Page - II. Nocturne, St. Mark's, Venice 14 - In the possession of John J. Cowan, Esq. - - III. The Artist's Studio 24 - In the possession of Douglas Freshfield, Esq. - - IV. Portrait of my Mother 34 - In the Luxembourg Galleries, Paris - - V. Lillie in Our Alley 40 - In the possession of John J. Cowan, Esq. - - VI. Nocturne, Blue and Silver 50 - In the possession of the Hon. Percy Wyndham - - VII. Portrait of Thomas Carlyle 60 - In the Corporation Art Galleries, Glasgow - - VIII. In the Channel 70 - In the possession of Mrs. L. Knowles - - - - -[Illustration] - -I - - -At the time when Rossetti and his circle were foregathering chiefly at -Rossetti's house, quiet Chelsea scarcely knew how daily were -associations added which will always cluster round her name. Whistler's -share in those associations is very large, and he has left in his -paintings the memory of many a night, as he returned beside the river. -Before Whistler painted it, night was more opaque than it is now. It had -been viewed only through the window of tradition. It was left for a man -of the world coming out of an artificial London room to paint its -stillness, and also to show us that we ourselves had made night more -beautiful, with ghostly silver and gold; and to tell us that the dark -bridges that sweep into it do not interrupt--that we cannot interrupt, -the music of nature. - -The figure of Whistler emerges: with his extreme concern as to his -appearance, his careful choice of clothes, his hair so carefully -arranged. He had quite made up his mind as to the part he intended to -play and the light in which he wished to be regarded. He had a dual -personality. Himself as he really was and the personality which he put -forward as himself. In a sense he never went anywhere unaccompanied; he -was followed and watched by another self that would perhaps have been -happier at home. Tiring of this he would disappear from society for a -time. Other men's ringlets fall into their places accidentally--so it -might be with the young Disraeli. Other men's clothes have seemed -characteristic without any of this elaborate pose. He chose his clothes -with a view to their being characteristic, which is rather different and -less interesting than the fact of their becoming so because he, -Whistler, wore them. Other men are dandies, with little conception of -the grace of their part; with Whistler a supreme artist stepped into the -question. He designed himself. Nor had he the illusions of vanity, but a -groundwork of philosophy upon which every detail of his personal life -was part of an elaborate and delicately designed structure, his art the -turret of it all, from which he saw over the heads of others. There is -no contradiction between the dandy and his splendid art. He lived as -exquisitely and carefully as he painted. Literary culture, merely, in -his case was not great perhaps, yet he could be called one of the most -cultured figures of his time. In every direction he marked the path of -his mind with fastidious borders. And it is interesting that he should -have painted the greatest portrait of Carlyle, who, we will say, -represented in English literature Goethe's philosophy of culture, which -if it has an echo in the plastic arts, has it in the work of Whistler. -In his "Heretics" Mr. G. K. Chesterton condemned Whistler for going in -for the art of living--I think he says the miserable art of living--I -have not seen the book for a long time, but surely the fact that -Whistler was more than a private workman, that his temperament had -energy enough to turn from the ardours of his work to live this other -part of life--indicates extraordinary vitality rather than any weakness. -Whistler was never weak: he came very early to an understanding of his -limitations, and well within those limitations took his stand. Because -of this his art was perfect. In it he declined to dissipate his energy -in any but its natural way. In that way he is as supreme as any master. -Attacked from another point his whole art seems but a cobweb of -beautiful ingenuity--sustained by evasions. Whistler, one thinks, would -have been equally happy and meteorically successful in any profession; -one can imagine what an enlivening personality his would have been in a -Parliamentary debate, and how fascinating. Any public would have -suited him. Art was just an accident coming on the top of many other -gifts. It took possession of him as his chief gift, but without it he -was singularly well equipped to play a prominent part in the world. As -things happened all his other energy went to forward, indirectly and -directly, the claims of art. Perhaps his methods of self-advancement -were not so beautiful as his art, and his wit was of a more robust -character. For this we should be very glad; the world would have been -too ready to overlook his delicate work--except that it had to feed his -inordinate ambition. At first it recognised his wit and then it -recognised his art, or did its level best to, in answer to his repeated -challenges. - -[Illustration: PLATE II.--NOCTURNE, ST. MARK'S, VENICE - -(In the possession of John J. Cowan, Esq.) - -This picture was first exhibited in the winter of 1886 at the Royal -Society of British Artists. The painter's election as President of the -Society taking place just after the hanging of the exhibition. A -newspaper criticism at the time was to the effect that the only -note-worthy fact about the painting was the price, £630, "just about -twenty shillings to the square inch." The figure of an investment, we -may add, which was to improve beyond the wildest calculations.] - -It is easier to explain Whistler's personality than his work. In his -lifetime most people had recognised all the force of his personality, -but it was not so with his art. In this he is as a player of violin -music, or a composer after the fashion of the masters of music--his -relationship to the subject which suggests the motif, of course, could -not be quite so slight as theirs--but it was their standpoint that he -adopted and so approached his art from another direction than the -ordinary one. To a great extent he established the unity of the arts. -Without being a musical man, through painting he divined the mission of -music and passed from the one art almost into the other. And the effort -above everything else for self-expression was in its essence a musical -one too, as also the fact that he never allowed a line or brushmark to -survive that was not as sensitively inspired--played we might almost -say--as the touch of a player, playing with great expression, upon the -keyboard of his piano. This quality of touch--how much it counts for in -the art of Whistler--as it counts in music. It is one of the essential -things which we have to understand about his work, to appreciate and -enjoy it. - -Both painting and music are so different from writing in this, that the -thoughts of a painter and musician have to issue through their fingers, -they have to clothe with their own hands the offsprings of their fancy. -They cannot put this work out, as the writer does, by dictation to a -type-writer. It is not in the style he lays the ink that the poet finds -the expression, its thickness or its thinness bears no resemblance to -his soul, but the intimacies of a painter's genius are expressed in the -actual substance of his paint and in the touch with which he lays it. So -in painting the mysterious virtue arises which among painters is called -"quality," a certain beauty of surface resultant from the perfection of -method. And it is "quality," which Whistler's work has superlatively, in -this it approaches the work of the old masters, his method was more -similar to the old traditions than to the systems current in the modern -schools. And part of the remote beauty, the flavour of distinction which -belongs to old canvases is simulated by Whistler almost unconsciously. - -Mr. Mortimer Mempes has put on record the painful care with which -Whistler printed his etchings. The Count de Montesquieu, whom Whistler -painted, tells of the "sixteen agonising sittings," whilst "by some -fifty strokes a sitting the portrait advanced. The finished work -consisted of some hundred accents, of which none was corrected or -painted out." From such glimpses of his working days we are enabled to -appreciate that desire for perfection which was a ruling factor both in -his life and work. In art he deliberately limited himself for the sake -of attaining in some one or two phases absolute perfection; he strained -away from his pictures everything but the quintessence of the vision and -the mood. He worked by gradually refining and refining upon an eager -start, or else by starting with great deliberation and proceeding very -slowly with the brush balanced before every touch while he waited for it -to receive its next inspiration. So he was always working at the top of -his powers. Those pleasant mornings in the studio in which the -Academy-picture painter works with pipe in mouth contentedly, but more -than half-mechanically, upon some corner of his picture were not for -him. Full inspiration came to him as he took up his brushes, and the -moment it flagged he laid them aside. So that in his art there is not a -brush mark or a line without feeling. His inspiration, however, was not -of the yeasty foaming order of which mad poets speak, but spontaneity. -Spontaneous action is inspired. And this is why his work looks always as -if it was done with grace and ease, and why it seemed so careless to -Ruskin. However, such winged moments will not follow each other all day -long, and though they take flight very quickly, work at this high -pressure--with every touch as fresh as the first one--cannot be -indefinitely prolonged. Whistler's friends regretted that he should -suddenly leave his work for the sake of a garden party. It is more -likely that he turned to go to the garden party just when the right -moment came for him to leave off working and so conserve the result, for -it is the tendency of the artist in inspired moments to waste his -inspiration by allowing the work of one moment to undo what was done in -the one before it. - - - - -II - - -The wit of Whistler was not like the wit, let us say, of Sheridan, but -it was the result of intense personal convictions as to the lines along -which art and life move together. About one or two things in this world -Whistler was overflowing with wisdom, and upon those things his -conversation was always salt, his sayings falling with a pretty and a -startling sound. He talked about things which were much in advance of -his day. His was not the wisdom of the past which always sounds -impressive, but the greater wisdom of the future, of instincts not yet -established upon the printed page. By these he formed his convictions as -he went, referring all his experiences, chiefly artistic ones, back to -his intelligence, which as we know was an extraordinarily acute one. -Other people's ideas, old-fashioned ones, coming into collision with the -intensity of his own, produced sparks on every occasion, and this -without over anxiety to be brilliant on Whistler's part. It is so with -original minds. - -There is a difference between artistic work and other sorts of work. -Outside the arts, in other professions, what a man's personality is, -whilst it affects the way his work is accomplished, does not alter the -nature of that work. Immediately, however, the work becomes of such a -nature that the word art can be inserted, then the personal equation is -before everything to be considered. "Temperament" meets us at every -turn, in the touch of brush to paper, in the arrangement of the design, -in the subject chosen, in the way of viewing that subject, in the shape -that subject takes. Also we can be sure that a picture suffers by every -quality, either of mere craftsmanship or surface finish, that tends to -obscure individuality of touch and feeling. Outside the arts every job -must be finished, if not by one man then by another. A half-built -motor-car means nothing to any one, it cannot be regarded as a mode of -personal expression, but in art it is otherwise, no one can finish a -work for some one else, and as Whistler pointed out, "A work of art is -finished from the beginning." In such a saying Whistler showed the -depths from which his wit spilt over. His intuitiveness in certain -directions was almost uncanny, taking the place of a profound -scholarship, and this saying is a case in point. For however fragmentary -a work of art is, if it contains only a first impulse, so far as the -work there is sufficient to explain and communicate that impulse, it is -finished--finish can do no more. And of course this is not to say that -art should never pass such an early stage. All this depends on what the -artist has to say: sometimes we have to value above everything the -completeness, the perfection of surface with which a picture has been -brought to an end. Whistler's paradox sums up the fact that finish -should be inextricably bound up with the method of working and the -personal touch never be so "played out" that resort is made to that -appearance of finish which can always be obtained by labour descending -to a mechanical character. This may sound rather technical, but it is -not so really. - -[Illustration: PLATE III.--THE ARTIST'S STUDIO - -(In the possession of Douglas Freshfield, Esq.) - -In this Whistler stands in profile before his easel. The picture belongs -to Mr. Douglas Freshfield. There is another version, in a lower key and -less finished, in the Lane gift at the City of Dublin Gallery, from -which this was perhaps painted.] - -Here we may remark on all that is due to Whistler, as to Manet, for -disturbing the dust in the Academies, at one time so thick that the -great difference between art and mere craft seemed almost totally -obscured. - - - - -III - - -Whistler's life is at present a skeleton of dates on which this incident -occurred or that, and at which the most notable of his pictures -appeared. And this must remain so until an authoritative biography of -the painter has appeared. With whom the authority rests was made the -subject of a recent Law Case. Till such a work appears we can only deal -with his art and with the Whistler legend, the impressions, recorded and -otherwise, he left upon those who were brought into contact with him.[1] -These are strangely at variance--some having only met him cloaked from -head to foot in the species of misunderstanding in which, as he -explained, in surroundings of antagonism he had wrapped himself for -protection; others remembering him for his kindliness and his -old-fashioned courtesy. - - [1] Since going to press, "The Life of Whistler," by E. R. and - J. Pennell has appeared. - -Permitting himself sufficient popularity with a few to be called -"Jimmy," Whistler's full name was James Abbot McNeill Whistler, and the -initials gradually twisted themselves into that strange arabesque with a -wavy tail which he called a butterfly and with which he signed his -pictures and his letters. Born on 11th July 1834 at Lowell, -Massachusetts, he was the descendant of an Irish branch of an old -English family, and in his seventeenth year he entered the West Point -Military Academy, where after making his first etchings on the margins -of the map which he should have been engraving, he decided to devote his -life to art. He was twenty when he left America and he never returned to -it, so that as far as America is concerned infancy can be pleaded. -America has since bought more than her share of the fruits of his -genius, finding in this open-handed way charming expression for her -envy. He went to Paris to study art, where he was gay, and attracted -attention to himself by the enjoyable way in which he spent his time. It -was not until he was twenty-five that he arrived in London, and a -little later moving to Chelsea commenced work in earnest. - -A charming picture suggests itself of the painter escorting his aged -mother every Sunday morning to the door of Chelsea old church, as was -his habit, bowing to her as she enters and hastening back to the studio -to be witty with his Sunday friends. - -Whistler's first important picture, "At the Piano," issued from Chelsea. -It was hung in the Academy in 1860 and was bought by a member of the -Academy. He followed the next year with "La Mère Gerard," which belongs -to Mr. Swinburne. He sent a picture called "The White Girl," to the -Salon of 1863. It was, however, rejected. It was then hung at the -collection called the "Salon des Refusés," an exhibition held as a -protest against the Academic prejudices which still marked the Salon. -There it met with an enthusiastic reception which set Whistler off on -his career of defiance. In 1865 the painter went to Valparaiso for a -visit, from which resulted the beautiful Valparaiso nocturnes. Back -again in Chelsea, he devoted himself to the river there. He was then -living in a house in Lindsay Row. At this time he was greatly affected -by Japanese art, and one or two pictures show curious attempts to adapt -scenes of the life of the West to the Eastern conventions. This phase of -his art was beautiful, but he passed it on the way to work of greater -sincerity, and more clearly the outcome of his own vision. In 1874 the -first exhibition of Whistler's work was held at a Gallery in Pall Mall, -containing among other things "The Painter's Mother," "Thomas Carlyle," -and "Miss Alexander." It is interesting that the Piano Picture, painted -just as he emerged from his studentship, is of the flower of his art; he -did things afterwards of great significance, and did them quite -differently, but the Piano Picture does not seem a first work preparing -his art for future perfection, it is so perfect in itself. And here -perhaps we may observe another fact in connection with Whistler, that in -the last days of his life he painted with the same genius for the -beautiful as at the beginning; none of that deterioration had set in, -which so often comes in the wake of flattery and belated public esteem. -He was never betrayed by success into over, or too rapid, production. He -never succumbed to the delight of anticipating a cheque by every post -instead of bills. He found no difficulty in declining the most tempting -offers. Well, work that is held thus sacred by its own creator, should -tempt people to search for all that made it seem so valuable to him. -Whistler had an intense dislike of parting with his work. When a picture -was bought from him he was like a man selling his child. Sometimes he -would see somewhere a picture he had painted, he would borrow it to add -to or improve it, but he would keep it and live with it and gradually -forget all about its possessor. Whatever qualms attacked his conscience -for this procrastination, it was no part of his genius to confess, -instead he would say "For years, this dear person has had the privilege -of living with that masterpiece--what more do they want?" At Whistler's -death, however, it was found that the circumstances under which a -picture had at any time been borrowed were methodically entered up, -with minute directions as to the return of one or two pictures, borrowed -thus, that were in his studio when he died. - -In Chelsea, Rossetti and Whistler were good friends, they shared a love -of blue china, in fact inventing the modern taste for certain kinds, -especially for what they called "Long Elizas," a specimen upon which -slim figures are painted,--"_Lange leises_"--tall damsels--as they were -called by the Dutch. One supposes that it is through Rossetti that he -came into contact with Swinburne, who was inspired to write the poem -called "Before the Mirror," by Whistler's picture "The White Girl," and -of which some of the verses were printed after the title in the -catalogue of the Royal Academy Exhibition. The first verse in itself -suggests a scheme of white:-- - - "White rose in red rose-garden - Is not so white; - Snowdrops that plead for pardon - And pine for fright - Because the hard East blows - Over their maiden rows - Grow not as this face grows from pale to bright." - -The poem was printed on gilded paper on the frame; this was however -removed on the picture going to the Academy, and in the catalogue the -two following verses were printed after the title:-- - - "Come snow, come wind or thunder - High up in air, - I watch my face, and wonder - At my bright hair; - Nought else exalts or grieves - The rose at heart, that heaves - With love of her own leaves and lips that pair. - - "I cannot tell what pleasure - Or what pains were; - What pale new loves and treasures - New years will bear: - What beam will fall, what shower, - What grief or joy for dower; - But one thing knows the flower; the flower is fair." - -Later on, Swinburne did not allow the Ten o'clock lecture to go -unchallenged, and he subjects its glittering rhetoric to a not unkind -but cold analysis which, however, Whistler has the grace to print with -marginal reflections in "The Gentle Art of Making Enemies," the book -which contains the paradoxes which reflect so well his powers as a -thinker. It is doubtful whether Whistler in kinder circumstances would -have produced his brilliant theories. The irritation caused by -misconception, the necessity of justifying even his limitations to a -world which was apparently prepared to consider nothing else about him -at one time--these were the wine-press of his eloquence. He disliked the -rôle of teacher and apologised for it at the beginning of his "Ten -o'clock," and when, in later life, following the fashion, he started a -school, he relied upon the example of his own methods of setting the -palette rather than upon precept, with a little banter to keep good -humour in his class-room. A young lady protested "I am sure that I am -painting what I see." "Yes!" answered her master, "but the shock will -come when you see what you are painting." A student at the short-lived -Académie-Whistler has written that merely attempting to initiate them -into some purely technical matters of art, he succeeded--almost without -his or their volition--in transforming their ways of seeing! "Not alone -in a refining of the actual physical sight of things, not only in a -quickening of the desire for a choicer, rarer vision of the world about -them, but in opening the door to a more intimate sympathy with the -masters of the past." - -[Illustration: PLATE IV.--PORTRAIT OF MY MOTHER - -(In the Luxembourg Galleries, Paris) - -This was first exhibited in the Royal Academy in 1872. For many years it -remained in the painter's possession. It left this country to become the -property of the French Government in the Luxembourg at the sum of £120. -In "The Gentle Art of Making Enemies" Whistler writes of the picture as -an "Arrangement in Grey and Black." "To me," he adds, "it is interesting -as a picture of my mother; but what can or ought the public to care -about the identity of the portrait?"] - -The thing that strikes one in reading "The Gentle Art" is how badly -those who entered into combat with its author came off in the end, some -of them in what they consider their witty replies committing suicide so -far as their reputation as authorities on art went. Notable is the case -of the critic of _The Times_, replying "I ought to remember your -penning, like your painting, belongs to the region of chaff." We have -indicated the source of Whistler's success as a wit--at that source we -find the reason why he always scored when talking about painting. He is -playing something more than a game of repartee. His best replies are -crystallised from his inner knowledge. In them we get bit by bit the -revelation which he had received as a genius in his craft. - -It was the force of his personality that obtained for Whistler's evasive -art such recognition in his lifetime as in the natural course only -falls to fine painters of the obvious, whom every one delights to -honour. He had said that "art is for artists," and it is true that the -perfection of his own art is the pleasure of those who study it. It -reached heights of lyrical expression where life in completeness has not -yet been represented in painting; reached them perhaps because so -lightly freighted with elementary human feeling. His work so often -leaves us cold, and we turn seeking for art mixed further with the fire -of life and alight with everyday desire. - -But nature showed many things to this her appreciator--I write, her -intimate friend. As a moth which goes out from the artificial atmosphere -of a London room into the blue night, I think of the painter of the -nocturnes--yet always as a lover of nature, never more so than when his -subject is the sea. For he has a greater consciousness of the salt wet -air than any other sea painter, of the veil behind which all ships are -sailing and through which the waves break, the atmosphere which descends -so mystically and invisibly and yet which if not accounted for in a -canvas leaves ships with their sails set in a vacuum and the waves as if -they were crested with candle-grease. Is it not absence of this -atmosphere which has tortured us on so many occasions when with -everything quite real a picture has not brought us pleasure. Pleasure -comes to us always with reality in art, and the end of art is realism. -All is real even around a mystic, though his thoughts are out of our -sight. Whistler was not a mystic but above everything he wished to -suggest the atmosphere which is invisible except for its visible effect, -and I cannot help thinking his vision essentially abstract. - -He did not paint subject pictures. To make our meaning quite clear, let -us say such pictures as Frith's, or better still, as Hogarth's in which -we have the extreme. The art of Hogarth moved upon a plane lower down, -but there it had a strength unknown to Whistler, a careless and lavish -inspiration of life itself. He had to find speech for all sorts of -things in his art, beauty was but one of these, creeping in less as a -deliberate aim than as the accident of a nature artistic. Whistler in -painting desired to express nothing but his sense of beauty. For the -rest of his nature, he found expression altogether outside his art in -enthusiasm for life itself, its combats, difficulties, and its -opportunities for saying brilliant things at dinner. His dinner -conversation, I have been told, was like the abstract methods of his -etching, always cryptic, full of suggestion,--wonderful conversation, -full of short ejaculations which carried your imagination from one point -to another with hints that seemed to throw open doorways into passages -of thought leading right behind things. - -[Illustration: PLATE V.--LILLIE IN OUR ALLEY - -(In the possession of John J. Cowan, Esq.) - -This study in brown and gold was made about the time (1865) when the -Little Rose of Lyme Regis was painted, one of the most beautiful -portraits of an English child. The latter picture unfortunately left -these shores and is now in the Boston Museum, U.S.A.] - -He had a remarkable regard for purity of speech, as became the painter -of such spiritual types of womanhood. It would seem that women liked -him, and readily apprehended in his art his sensitive view of life. At -table he drank but little and was a slender eater. When alone he would -sometimes forget all about his meals, or eat scarcely anything; in later -years, feeling the necessity of taking care of himself he would guard -against his indifference by always seeking companionship when away from -his house. His nervous disposition forced him to content himself with -little sleep, his active brain keeping him awake conceiving witticisms -and planning the battle for the morrow. - - - - -IV - - -It would be incomplete in any memoir of Whistler to omit the most -thrilling battle of his life. To all adventurers there comes at last the -event which knocks all their venturousness out of them or is the -beginning of a triumphant way. Whistler had been before the footlights a -long time, but it was his contact with Professor Ruskin which brought -him into the full lime-light, which he was so much prepared to enjoy. -Ruskin paid him the only tribute strength can pay to strength when it is -not on the same side--with a prophetic instinct that as regards picture -exhibitions Whistler's art was the sign of a coming, and licentious, -freedom from the old rules of the game. He saw in Whistler's work the -end of old fair things, the laws of those old things all set aside. In -reading the so well-known criticism of Whistler one has a feeling that -after all Ruskin has only half expressed his feelings in it--however it -resulted in the famous libel action. Whistler received one farthing -damages, which sum he afterwards magnanimously returned to his eminent -critic, as his contribution towards the subscription set on foot to pay -Ruskin's legal expenses. - -Ruskin's criticism was as follows:-- - - "For Mr. Whistler's own sake, no less than for the protection of - the purchaser, Sir Coutts Lindsay ought not to have admitted works - into the gallery in which the ill-educated conceit of the artist so - nearly approached the aspect of wilful imposture. I have seen, and - heard much of cockney impudence before now, but never expected to - hear a coxcomb ask two hundred guineas for flinging a pot of paint - in the public's face." - -The case came on in the Court of Exchequer Division before Baron -Huddleston on November 15, 1878, Whistler claiming £1000 damages. "The -labours of two days, then, is that for which you ask two hundred -guineas!" asked the Attorney-General representing Ruskin. "No," replied -Whistler, "I ask it for the knowledge of a lifetime." "Do you think now -that you could make _me_ see the beauty of that picture?" asked the -Attorney-General. "No!" he replied. "Do you know I fear it would be as -hopeless as for the musician to pour his notes into the ear of a deaf -man." In resuming the Attorney-General said: "Let them examine the -nocturne in blue and silver, said to represent Battersea Bridge. What -was that structure in the middle? Was it a telescope or a fire-escape? -Was it like Battersea Bridge? What were the figures at the top of the -bridge? And if they were horses and carts, how in the name of fortune -were they to get off?" - -Mr. W. P. Frith, R.A., was examined and in his evidence said that in his -opinion Mr. Whistler's pictures were not serious works of art. In the -margin of the account of the trial in "The Gentle Art" Whistler quotes -from that painter's "It was just a toss up whether I became an artist or -an auctioneer," and adds, "He must have tossed up." There was a time -when policemen had to keep the crowd away from Frith's Margate Sands. -There was a time when Whistler's pictures were hissed when they were put -on the easel at Christie's? If the attitude towards these so different -kinds of art is changed, it is the resolution Whistler showed in life as -well as in his art that changed it. And have we not in the above -interchange of points of view at the court the whole vexed question--the -issue around which the battle of Whistler's life always raged? Whistler -explained to the court that his whole scheme was only to bring about a -certain harmony of colour. He tried to dispel the illusion that the -painter's craft forms itself upon the desire to communicate a story. It -may be so with the literary craft, but there is no life in the drawing -or painting that is not inspired by the delight of the artist in the -mere outside of things. Where there is the expression of that delight, -there may be the expression of much beside, of the spiritual meanings -behind all beauty--though Whistler did not take this flight in his -reply. He himself tried to limit the meaning of art almost as narrowly -as Ruskin. He had this advantage over Ruskin, that whatever he said -about painting was from the inside knowledge of his genius in painting. -Ruskin's genius was always approaching that subject from the outside. We -could not on any account dispense with what was said at any time by -either of them. It was impossible for them to see each other except as -enemies across a wide gulf, all speech with each other drowned by the -rapids of misunderstanding. The gulf is nearly bridged. In viewing art -in its relation to life no one wrote more profoundly than Ruskin, but he -failed in knowledge of the beautiful and inner mysterious delights of -the craft of painting. Whilst exalting the mission of painting, he -degraded its craft, he seemed to fail in appreciation of the fact that -at its highest this is as mystical as inspired--and as unaccountable as -the craft in Shelley's lyrics. The number of rules he laid down, the -gospels he preached upon them reveal always the irritating scholiast -and pedant. How eloquently Whistler expresses his irritation in the Ten -o'clock lecture! - -In his account of the trial in "The Gentle Art of Making Enemies," -Whistler fills the margin with quotations from Ruskin so dexterously -opposed to the matter in hand as seemingly to discredit for ever -Ruskin's writings upon art and the mode of thought therein. But at the -bidding of Whistler, and those who boast his opinions second hand, we -cannot abjure all this order of thought. One passage which Whistler -quotes: "Vulgarity, dulness, or impiety will indeed always express -themselves throughout, in brown and grey as in Rembrandt" is not without -its bearing on his own art--which has since then quite altered the -meaning of the word grey. And despite the perhaps unfortunate naming of -Rembrandt one divines that Ruskin is here speaking in the light of the -highest intuitive knowledge. - -It must be remembered that in prose, which may accept its motif from -anything, from art if it likes, Ruskin could sometimes lose himself as -completely as Whistler often did in the beauty of his own art. And with -the waters of beauty closing over their heads, one was as deaf and blind -as the other. That trial was Ruskin's Waterloo. If there is one thing -that would make me doubt that Whistler was a great man, it is the fact -that he never had a Waterloo, but perhaps that is reserved for those who -have been successful right from the beginning. The light air with which -Whistler carried his own early troubles is misleading as to their -extent. Without the thread of coarser stuff that crossed his otherwise -over-refined nature some such sadness of fate might have awaited him as -awaited Meryon, the French etcher, for possessing motives too far in -advance of those accepted by his time. For really at first no one hardly -seemed to have understood the delicate order of things that Whistler was -trying to do, especially in his later etchings, in which everything is a -symbol counting upon our imagination; everything a pleasure to its -creator and nothing a labour; every line one of nervous impulse, the -whole etching an inspiration of such impulsive threads. In what -loneliness he must have possessed his abnormal delicacy of perception. -He hugged to himself the delusion that a knowledge of his craft enabled -artists to understand him--but it is common for artists of abundant -gifts not to have the necessary refinement of sense, and after all -artists are not so numerous that these appreciators will be many. But in -the wide world outside the studios there are many people thus delicately -attuned, their numbers to be increased when Whistler in his subtlety of -vision is less ahead of the world in point of evolution. He brought -recognition to himself before his time by strident challenges, -aggressive at every point and scornful--as they could not have been had -the real nature of his superiority dawned on him at the first. In the -first Thames etchings he has not received his revelation: they do not -show his hand quite so conscientiously, nervously, awaiting its -inspiration for every movement. - -[Illustration: PLATE VI.--NOCTURNE, BLUE AND SILVER - -(In the possession of the Hon. Percy Wyndham) - -Painted at Westminster, looking towards Lambeth. On the back of the -picture is a card bearing the artist's signature and the butterfly, with -title "Westminster, Blue and Silver, J. McNeill Whistler, 2 Lindsay -Houses, Old Chelsea." This places the date of its execution about 1866.] - -Nothing can make us realise the great significance of the Whistler -influence in art more than the contrast between the esteem in which -his etchings are now held and the early criticisms of them which he -collected and scornfully embodied in his book. These are indeed the most -depressing reading--and Whistler's quaint termination to those pages, -"they roar all like bears," does very aptly express the feeling of -desolation that must overcome any one who appreciates the spirit of his -etchings. When praise is forthcoming it is only for the early etchings -at the expense of those later ones in which he conceived such an -inspired use of the needle. By the criticisms in this book we know the -exhausting struggle and how right it was that a life, the first half of -which had been spent thus, should have no "Waterloo," but end with -rest--and with honour, accorded to this "Merlin," so evidently great, if -only a few knew why. - -It was 1878, the year of the Ruskin trial, that he started working in -lithography as a medium, being initiated into the technicalities by Mr. -Thomas Way. In the "Fair Women" Exhibition held by The International -Society, which is open whilst I write, there are some lithographs by -Whistler, which suggest purity of type and the charm of beautiful -womanhood in a manner that puts to flight the claims of many a famous -canvas in the gallery. It is the most delicate of all mediums; it suited -his touch and the sensitive order of his perceptions. - -After the Ruskin case Whistler left London for Venice for about a year; -upon his return he exhibited at the Fine Art Society the first series of -Venice pastels, and a little later at the same gallery fifty-three -pastels of Venice. He also held exhibitions at the Dowdeswell Gallery in -1883, Etchings in 1884 in "Notes, Harmonies, and Nocturnes," in 1886 all -the time still continuing to exhibit at the Grosvenor Gallery some of -his most famous portraits, nocturnes, and marines. - - - - -V - - -On 31st December 1884 the following amusing letter appeared in _The -World_, signed with the well-known butterfly. "Atlas, look at this! It -has been culled from the _Plumber and Decorator_, of all insidious -prints, and forwarded to me by the untiring people who daily supply me -with the thinkings of my critics. Read, Atlas, and let me execute -myself. 'The "Peacock" drawing-room of a well-to-do shipowner, of -Liverpool, at Prince's Gate, London, is hand painted, representing the -noble bird with wings expanded, painted by an Associate of the Royal -Academy, at a cost of £7000, and fortunate in claiming his daughter as -his bride, and is one of the finest specimens of high art in decoration -in the kingdom. The mansion is of modern construction.' - -"He is not guilty, this honest Associate! It was I, Atlas, who did this -thing--alone I did it--I 'hand painted' this room in the 'mansion of -modern construction.' Woe is me! I secreted, in the provincial -shipowner's home, the 'noble bird with wings expanded'--I perpetrated in -harmless obscurity, 'the finest specimen of high-art decoration'--and -the Academy is without stain in the art of its member. Also the -immaculate character of that Royal body has been falsely impugned by -this wicked _Plumber_! Mark these things, Atlas, that justice may be -done, the innocent spared, and history cleanly written." - -Whistler's picture "La Princesse du Pays de la Porcelaine" had been hung -by Mr. F. R. Leyland in his mansion at Prince's Gate, and Whistler could -not reconcile himself to its appearance against the valuable Spanish -leather on the walls. He was to correct this by treating a little of the -wall; meanwhile Mr. Leyland went down into the country. When he returned -it was to find that Whistler was painting over the whole of the room. -Much money had already been spent on the original leather scheme, and -Whistler had quickly effaced all appearance of its intrinsic worth, but -he was in the rapid process of creating the famous Peacock Room. -Dissension took place as to terms under the circumstances, and Whistler -finished the room with a panel of two peacocks fighting, emblematic of -the quarrel. Mr. Leyland was considered one of the most discriminating -patrons of his time. Just previous to the above events the interior of -the house had been reconstructed and decorated in accordance with -designs by Norman Shaw and Jekyll. The leather had been the latter -architect's scheme for the room where the "Princesse du Pays de la -Porcelaine" was hung. The walls were fitted with shelves designed for -the display of blue china. Whistler painted all the window shutters with -gold peacocks on a blue ground, and a panel at the end of the room, -which had been reserved for a picture commissioned from him; into this -panel he put the fighting peacocks, whose eyes were real jewels, the one -a ruby and the other a diamond. It was found possible to move all the -decoration without injury and some time after the original owner's death -this was done, the purchaser taking it to America. Before it left -England it was set up temporarily for the purpose of its exhibition at -Messrs. Obach's Gallery. The picture "The Princesse du Pays de la -Porcelaine," the key-note, was however missing from the scheme, having -found another purchaser. - -The room was the finest example of a less known side of Whistler's art. -His designs sprung straight from himself, they had no connection with -any European tradition. He accepted in their entirety the conventions, -the arrangements and devices of the Japanese designers. Yet his designs -could not have been created by any of the great artists of Japan. There -is too much vitality about them, and these peacocks which belong to a -pattern and are conventionalised to the last degree, have a more -startling reality than any peacock painted in a modern picture. No one -knows how Whistler came to know so much about peacocks. A duffer can -paint the bird until he comes to the neck--and then we have to turn to -photographs for the reality that gives us pleasure, it eludes all modern -genius. So for the most part, fortunately, peacocks are left severely -alone. The dancing of the _première danseuse_ at the Empire, perfected -with ardent years of study, is a less recondite theme of movement than a -peacock raising its head. It is a delight, to all those who love it, -beside which all dancing pales, more gracious and stately in movement -than the accumulated grace of many women. That is how it must always -seem to those who really know it. Whistler arrived at perfect -understanding by the instinctive route on which he never went astray. - -After the peacock-room incident the wildest legends were afloat about -the whole matter, one of them that the architect had been driven mad by -the sight of what had happened to his leather, and that later he was -found at home painting peacocks blue and gold all over the floor. - - - - -VI - - -In 1885 Whistler's lecture on art was given in London, Oxford, and -Cambridge; to suit the convenience of Londoners who liked to linger over -dinner, he fixed the hour of delivery rather later than usual. This was -the famous "Ten o'clock lecture"--so vague and shadowy in its facts at -the beginning, so brilliant at the end, and dispelling the æsthetic fog -in which the æsthetes elected to dwell. It is significant of the slight -heed given to Whistler's real beliefs that characteristics of his -appearance were at one time satirised in W. S. Gilbert's "Bunthorne," -confusing him as was common with the æsthetic craze. In "The Ten -o'clock" his scorn is eloquent enough of the weird cult "in which," -as he says, "all instinct for attractiveness--all freshness and -sparkle--all woman's winsomeness--is to give way to a strange vocation -for the unlovely--and this desecration in the name of the Graces!" But -for all that the principles which governed in L'art nouveau which -followed and may be said to be a part of the movement, are prominent in -those two "arrangements" of his own, the portrait of Carlyle and the -portrait of his Mother. - -[Illustration: PLATE VII.--PORTRAIT OF THOMAS CARLYLE - -(In the Corporation Art Galleries, Glasgow) - -This portrait is in the possession of the Glasgow Corporation, the only -public body in these islands whose appreciation of the painter was not -belated. In spite of protests, to their credit the purchase was made, -and direct from the artist for £1000. The picture was first seen at the -artist's exhibition in 1874, and was painted in the same period as the -"Portrait of My Mother."] - -No doubt the fame of an _objet d'art_ can last for ever with -connoisseurs, if rare enough in itself and rare in the skill displayed, -and many a painting is destined to live on these same grounds. But there -is a destiny too for the spirit of a picture of which all this valuable -perfection is but the outward shrine. Where human experience rises to -intensity of expression in art it is born into life anew and less -perishably. It is thus that the picture of Whistler's Mother is by -common consent enthroned above the level of criticism, what we say for -and against it being only as water lapping at the foot of a cliff. -Incorporate with the traditions of a race it is acknowledged a classic, -and of a classic one may speak as one does of life, with freedom as to -how it affects oneself. I have challenged the effect of this picture -upon myself. The trail of the age seems over it, the self-consciousness -which is like a blight upon modern arts and crafts. Instead of its -figure being painted in some such accidental contact with its -environment as would naturally occur, we have an _arrangement_. In -rearranging things thus for itself, art is at least one remove farther -away from things as they are, and as things as they are reflect the -influences that brought them together, art must come closer to life by -the interpretation of this reflection than by its alteration. There must -be an arrangement in every picture, but the improbability of this one, -outside of a studio, spoils the picture for me. The figure is placed in -position as we should place a piano. It is not very likely that a lady -would sit at right angles to the wall with no fire in front of her, no -work-table, no books. These thoughts rise unbidden when I look at the -picture--but Whistler begs us in a printed letter to consider it as an -_arrangement_. Incidentally, he says it is interesting to him as a -portrait of his mother. Yet he misunderstood when he thought the -artist's rights extended beyond his creations to the attitude in which -one should approach them, and the picture is famous for the beautiful -rendering of the lady and to us only incidentally interesting as an -arrangement. One does not escape the music of the outline of the figure -in the picture, the balance of all parts of the design, the refreshing -convention in comparison with other conventions. Only conventions -perhaps are best left for portraits where the traditional environment -connected with the high social status or office of the sitter, supplants -in our imagination the more everyday aspect of their life. The -unnaturalness of the photographer's art may require concessions from -every one; though even here as in painting, the art which conceals art -must save the situation; and Whistler managed this gracefully enough in -all his other portraits. - -It was Gainsborough who was haunted by the smile of a woman. It is -Whistler who represents her movement as she turns into the room, his art -seeming to show a consciousness that the body that turns thus, the grace -of the clothes, are but a temporary habitation of swiftly passing -spirit. - -In his early piano picture the trembling white dress of the child -surprises him into the representation of stuff itself; later his art -passes to an almost ecstatic obliviousness to the quality of things -themselves and he surrenders the representation of their surface -qualities for a fluid, musical, all-embracing quality of paint in which -the artist can render his theme as a virtuoso, ever striving to overtake -some almost impossible inflection of tone. And as his art becomes thus -abstract, as it assumes such a mission as music, he finds musical terms -for the names of his pictures to give the public the clue. - -His water-colours are executed with an extremely pleasant touch of -brush to paper in which he himself delighted, and here, as also in the -case of etching, he made the most of the particular qualities of the -medium and as ever was careful not to out-step the limitations which an -appreciation of those qualities imposed. They do not do much more than -register the incident of colour which interested him in any particular -scene. It was to register his pleasure in that, rather than to make a -full record of surrounding country that he made his water-colours, and -the spectator will understand them only by the responsiveness of his -imagination to artistic suggestion. - -By the process of what is termed in the language of art "suggestion" -(that is, interpretation by thoughtful, economical, and expressive -touches instead of a photographic imitation) all merely mechanical -labour is eliminated and there is a consequent spiritualising of the -whole method by which the artist makes his communication to our -imagination. He infers that we have advanced beyond an understanding -merely of the capital letters of art, and that this autographic -handling of the brush or etching needle is as intelligible to us as the -characteristic penmanship of our friends and as charming. - - - - -VII - - -The second great public event in Whistler's career was his election in -1886 to the Presidency of the Society of British Artists in Suffolk -Street, which made exciting history at the time. Whistler was just one -of those people who want everything in the world arranged after some -secret pattern of their own. They make the best reformers. But what -could be a more strange spectacle than the revolutionary Whistler in the -presidential chair of the staidest of art societies? The desire for -advertisement overcoming the scruples of older members, Whistler's -election as a member took place just before their winter exhibition in -1884. _The Times_ of the 3rd of December 1884 recorded the fact that -artistic society was startled by the news that this most wayward of -painters had found a home among the men of Suffolk Street--of all -people in the world. - -His humour did not forsake him in this new environment. Mr. Horseley, -R.A., lecturing before the Church Congress, attacked the nude models, -especially and in particular at the Royal Academy Schools. Shortly after -this, in sending a pastel of a nude to the Society of British Artists, -Whistler attached the words "Horseley soit qui mal y pense," and was -only prevailed upon to remove them by the fear of older members that the -attack upon an Academician might lead up to a libel case with the Royal -Academy. The Royal Academy students at the time used to drape the legs -of the chairs and tables when Mr. Horseley visited the schools. That was -in 1885. It was the following year that Whistler was elected President -of the Society for which he got a Royal Charter, and to which by his -methods--as President--he brought fame for ever as the R.B.A. - -Many of the electors who had supported his membership had concluded that -he was not likely to take much part in the workings of the Society. -However, he came to the meetings and to their surprise took an interest -in the proceedings, proffering advice, intruding new ideas, not often -welcomed by the older artists. He invited some of the members to one of -his famous Sunday breakfasts at his studio in Tite Street, and regaled -them with his theories of art. They were influenced by his personality -and the character of the elections altered, men of the newer movements -were elected, and they soon formed a small but very energetic and loyal -group around Whistler, finally acquiring sufficient power to elect him -as we have shown into the President's chair. After that the meetings of -the Society were exhilarating in the extreme, and Whistler talked with -extreme brilliance to the members, and somehow got his way until their -Gallery was hung with one line of pictures upon a carefully chosen -background. - -But the opposition became too strong from members who wished to run the -exhibition on its old lines, and certainly the funds were suffering from -these very high ideals. His opponents "brought up the maimed, the halt, -and the blind," "all except corpses, don't you know!" as Whistler put -it, the oldest members, the fact of whose membership had up to that time -lingered only perhaps in their own memory, and thus effected his -out-voting at the next election. Whistler congratulated them, for, as he -explained, no longer was the right man in the wrong place. "You see," he -said, referring to the group of his followers who resigned with him, -"the 'Artists' have come out and the 'British' remain." - -It was the first time in England that pictures had been so artistically -arranged. No pictures were badly hung, no member had anything to -complain of as far as that went. But they were disturbed at the loss of -probable sales which they calculated the empty spaces on the walls might -be taken to signify. - -On the night of the election which ended the Whistler dynasty there was -great excitement, and the younger members let off steam by playing in -the passages during the counting of the votes. - -[Illustration: PLATE VIII.--IN THE CHANNEL - -(In the possession of Mrs. L. Knowles) - -In this impression of grey sea-weather we have the colour equivalent of -that expressive economy which Whistler practised with his line; and the -butterfly touch--like a butterfly alighting.] - -The Society had come into existence with aims of its own. An order of -art was represented which had to be represented somewhere. A great -amount of capable work for which the Academy had not room was on view -here, representative of the everyday activity of London studio life. It -was amusing to think of Whistler as the President of this Society as it -was constituted in those days--and absurd. He could have nothing in -common with its homely aims. But it was an advertisement for the Society -and for him, he probably did not share the illusions of his followers -that he was in the right place. - -When in after years the leaders of the modern movement formed themselves -into the International Society, in 1898, through the organisation of Mr. -Francis Howard, it was inevitable and natural that Whistler should be -the President, but at the British Artists it was simply a case of cuckoo -and the sparrow's nest. With his success, the original element of the -Society must have gone elsewhere leaving him in possession of their -building. - -It was fitting that Sir Joshua Reynolds should be the President of an -Academy whose theories he embraced but exposited with greater genius. -But Whistler's theories had no relation whatever to the body of which he -was thus made the head, and he did not surpass in everything as Sir -Joshua; the significance of his genius resting rather with the fact that -it is epochal. - -However, as all this affair happened just at the time when paradox was -coming into vogue, there was that much only about it that was fitting. -After these events Whistler, who was invited on to the Jury of the "New -Salon" then forming, left for Paris. - - - - -VIII - - -In 1892 the painter returned and held an exhibition at the Goupil -Gallery, and from the date of this exhibition everything altered in his -favour. For years he had found it impossible to sell his pictures except -to a circle of wealthy patrons. The prejudice excited against his work -after the issue with Ruskin had closed all other markets for him. He had -remained the "impudent coxcomb" in so many people's minds, and his -challenge to the omnipotence of Ruskin had not been forgiven him. A ban -was upon his works. He said that for nearly twenty years the Ruskin case -affected his sales. But fame he desired more ardently, and this he -had,--like Prometheus,--and of a kind that would keep till the day came -when it could be changed for a quantity of money. When the Goupil show -was open he found this day was already upon him, and the Americans -coming over, began to buy his works, and early acquaintances who had -acquired them at small prices, themselves sold out, of course much too -soon. That was the time when a purchase for the nation should have been -made. - -Later he toured through France and Brittany until he settled again in -Paris in the Rue de Bac, having married Mrs. E. W. Godwin, the widow of -the eminent architect, builder of the White House in Tite Street, -Chelsea, which had been Whistler's former home. In the old days in the -White House he had furnished one or two rooms elaborately, and others, -perhaps for lack of funds to make them perfect, hardly at all. It was -then he collected the blue china with Rossetti as a friendly rival. This -was the house in which he instituted his famous Sunday breakfasts, and -to which everybody used to come who was distinguished. The -breakfast-time was twelve o'clock, cook permitting. On one occasion, -through some untoward circumstances in the kitchen, it was not placed -upon the table until nearly three. Mr. Henry James was there that day, -and has been heard to speak of it since, and how he took a walk to bring -him nearer breakfast-time. But all this had to be given up after the -expenses of the Ruskin Trial, and the blue china was "knocked down." -Whistler wrote a characteristic letter to _The World_ in 1883 upon the -alterations then being made in the White House by his successor, one of -"Messieurs les Ennemis" a critic. In those days his wit and vivacity had -already made him a host of acquaintances, and distinguished men were -glad to count him as one among themselves,--whilst reserving their -opinion on his painting. But now things were very different, and he was -referred to as "the Master"--and the house in the Rue de Bac thoroughly -furnished, partly from designs made by his gifted wife. - -He came to England in 1895 and painted at Lyme Regis, painting "The -Little Rose of Lyme Regis"--which shows that his art is purely -English--though he had said that one might as well talk of English -Mathematics as of English Art. For in this little girl's face something -there is that is only found in English Art. She descends directly from -the beautiful tradition of Walker and Sir John Millais. In December he -exhibited a collection of lithographs at the Fine Art Society's Gallery. -He was again in London in 1896. About this time he painted upon a small -scale an almost full-length portrait called "The Philosopher." It was of -the artist, Holloway. Holloway died on the 5th March 1897, and in the -sadness of the attendant circumstances the kindness of Whistler will -always be remembered. - -There were qualities in Holloway's art of which Whistler was -appreciative, and a characteristic story can be connected with this. -There is a picture of the sea in the National Gallery at Milbanke called -"Britain's Realm," by John Brett, R.A. It had great success in its year, -at the Academy. Everybody went to see it, and it was eventually bought -for the Chantry Bequest. It had figured also in an exhibition of -sea-pieces at the Fine Art Society. Whistler happened to be at this -exhibition when somebody very enthusiastic over the picture brought him -up to it expecting him to admire it also, but Whistler glanced at it -through his eye-glass, turned and emphasising his words with a very -significant gesture towards the representation of sea--as if knocking at -a door--said with his sardonic Hé, Hé,--"Tin! if you threw a stone on to -this, it would make a rumbling noise," and turning to a picture by -Holloway said--"_This_ is art!" - -Also in this year Whistler was very preoccupied with the art of -lithography. His wife was ill, and they were staying at the Savoy Hotel. -Whistler used to sit at the window all day looking out upon the river, -and in these circumstances he made one of the best series of -lithographs. With the recovery of Mrs. Whistler they moved up to -Hampstead, where he said "he was living on a landscape." At the same -time he was renting a studio in Fitzroy Street, at No. 8, now called the -Whistler Studios. In choosing it, Whistler had said, "After all, this is -the classic ground for studios," and he had as neighbour a tried friend. - -On May the 7th, 1896, Mrs. Whistler died, and she was buried on the -14th. The next day he came down to the studios and walked with his -friend. They took lunch in the neighbourhood of Tottenham Court Road. -Whistler spoke of the strangeness of fatality. He had postponed his -wife's funeral a day to escape the 13th, the 14th was her birthday. They -sat on, Whistler in the deepest depression, and to divert him his -companion, Mr. Ludovici, pointed to a print exactly over his head. It -was of Frith's Margate Sands! - -After the death of his wife, Whistler lived much in retirement, though -travelling a little. He returned to Chelsea, and died there in his 70th -year in July 1903. His life added as richly to its associations as the -lives of his two great contemporaries Rossetti and Carlyle, both of whom -are commemorated upon the embankment of the river close to the places -where they lived. There is now a movement well on foot to place a -memorial there to Whistler, to be designed by that other artist, -Monsieur Rodin, who on so different a scale has been inspired by the -same half mystic motives. To appeal to us, not with fairy tales, but -with art imaginative in its deference to our imagination. - -Whistler was without excessive, spendthrift, creative power. In many -ways his art was slight. Yet even so, not because it is empty, but -because it outlines for us so much that is only visible to thought, -though thought always in relation to external beauty. - -And the indefiniteness of his art, the grey of its colour, they are -emblematic of the times, as the plain red and blue of Titian belonged to -those days, and are resemblant of the plainer issues that then divided -men's thoughts. - -Admitting all his own limitations to himself Whistler admitted none of -them to other people, and to those who divined his weaknesses at certain -points he seemed somewhat of a charlatan. Perhaps in the near future his -fame will again seem to suffer, from the strict analysis of the -pretensions put forward in his name, but if so, only to triumph again as -the true character of his achievement comes to be distinguished. - -He was such an instinctive artist that the explanation of his art must, -to some extent, have remained hidden from himself, and Art fixing his -place among her masters, will remember that great limitation in some -ways is always the price of a new and instinctive knowledge in others. - - -The plates are printed by BEMROSE & SONS, LTD., Derby and London - -The text at the BALLANTYNE PRESS, Edinburgh - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Whistler, by T. 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