J. Craibe Angus

Identity:

John Craibe Angus was a Glasgow art dealer.

He died at 16 Lansdowne Crescent, Glasgow. He was survived by his widow, Eleanor Jones Angus.

Life:

Angus was a member of the Glasgow firm of art dealers Craibe Angus & Son. The firm held a position of some importance in the Glasgow art world, exhibiting works by contemporary European artists, particularly those of the Hague school and the works of Corot, Monticelli and the Barbizon school. These it sold to local collectors such as John Forbes White, Hugh Laird, John Kirkhope, William McEwan and W. A. Coats.

The firm of Craibe Angus & Son was also interested in the work of Whistler and on 15 August 1882 Whistler offered it Arrangement in Grey and Black, No. 2: Portrait of Thomas Carlyle y137 for 500 guineas. According to M. D. Macaulay, Andrew Carnegie of Pittsburgh promised to contribute £100 but the company failed to persuade its other customers to raise the rest of the capital. Whistler also offered Craibe Angus & Son Nocturne in Black and Gold: Entrance to Southampton Water y179 for 130 guineas and suggested that it could sell it on for £200. Whistler further offered some of his small watercolours and Venice etchings which he described as 'very rich in quality, & I believe quite as beautiful as any thing I have ever done' (#00166).

The Angus firm persuaded William Burrell to buy Arrangement in Black and Brown: The Fur Jacket y181 for £400, receiving £60 commission for the deal. It was also involved in the reselling of the work to Smythe, a New York art dealer. The firm attempted to sell eleven of Whistler's pen and wash drawings of Nankin china to Pennell in 1905, including Oviform Vase m0596, Oviform Vase and Cover m0603, Large Bowl and Cover m0605, Oviform Vase m0609, Ewer and Cover m0610, Tall Vase, with Bulging Body m0611, Beaker m0615, Vase with slightly bulging body and expanding neck m0619, Large Bowl and Cover m0634, Teapot in the form of a pomegranate m0641 and Teapot, in the form of a pomegranate m0642. They were not bought by Pennell but later purchased by a Scottish collector.

Bibliography:

Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 2 vols, London and Philadelphia, 1908 ; Young, Andrew McLaren, Margaret F. MacDonald, Robin Spencer, and Hamish Miles, The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler, New Haven and London, 1980 ; MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 Smith, George Fairfull, 'Glasgow', The Grove Dictionary of Art Online, ed. L. Macy, http://www.groveart.com (accessed 12 July 2002).