Detail from The Canal, Amsterdam, 1889, James McNeill Whistler, The Hunterian, University of Glasgow

 

Nocturne in Black and Gold: Entrance to Southampton Water

Titles

Several possible titles have been suggested:

  • Possibly 'Nocturne, in Black and gold' (1876, Society of French Artists). 1
  • 'Nocturne in Black and Gold. Entrance to Southampton water' (1882, Grosvenor). 2
  • Possibly 'Nocturne. Black and Gold' (1892, Goupil). 3
  • 'Southampton Harbor' (1897, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh). 4
  • ' "Portsmouth [sic] Harbour", (Nocturne)' (1900, C. L. Freer). 5
  • 'Southampton – Nocturne' (1901, Pan-American Exposition, Buffalo). 6
  • 'Nocturne in Black and Gold: Entrance to Southampton Water' (1980, YMSM). 7

'Nocturne in Black and Gold: Entrance to Southampton Water' is the preferred title.

Description


                    Nocturne in Black and Gold: Entrance to Southampton Water, Freer Gallery of Art
Nocturne in Black and Gold: Entrance to Southampton Water, Freer Gallery of Art

A very dark night scene, in horizontal format. It appears to show the prow of a boat, and a mast, looming in the foreground, possibly with the entrance to a harbour beyond.

Site

Southampton, a major port on the south coast of England, UK. Whistler painted another Nocturne of Southampton about 1871/1872 (Nocturne: Blue and Gold - Southampton Water [YMSM 117]).

Notes:

1: 12th Exhibition, Society of French Artists, Deschamps Gallery, London, 1876 (cat. no. 150).

2: VI Summer Exhibition, Grosvenor Gallery, London, 1882 (cat. no. 106).

3: Nocturnes, Marines & Chevalet Pieces, Goupil Gallery, London, 1892 (cat. no. 32).

4: Second Annual Exhibition, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, 1897 (cat. no. 237).

5: Freer to Whistler, 1 December [1900], GUW #01519.

6: Pan-American Exposition, Buffalo, 1901 (cat. no. 101).

7: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 179).

Last updated: 6th February 2021 by Margaret