Provenance

• 1873: sold by Whistler to Louis Huth (1821-1905) ;
• 1899: sold through David Croal Thomson (1855-1930) to Cyril Flower (1843-1907) ;
• 1899: sold through Agnew's, London art dealers, to John James Cowan (1846-1936) ;
• 1902: bought by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) , Detroit;
• 1919: bequeathed by C.L. Freer to the Freer Gallery of Art.

It was sold by the artist to Louis Huth in February 1873 for 250 guineas. 1 It is not known exactly when he sold it.

J. J. Cowan told Whistler on 22 May 1899, 'Thomson has a tempting picture by you - the shape of the Thames in Ice of a pier with some small figures in foreground. He shewed me a picture photograph of it.' 2 Whistler said, rather inaccurately,

'That picture first belonged to Louis Huth, millionaire in the City, who passed it on to Cyril Flower (now Battersea).

I was given for it perhaps 50, or possibly 30 guineas, and the noble Lord has not done badly on my brains!'

But why not leave these former works alone - Of course they have all now achieved their recognition - and are all in the "many hundreds" - but the lesson they teach is quite unperceived by the dealers clients! -

Each new work is received in absolutely the same spirit of antagonism and deprecation, with which the earlier ones were welcomed.' 3

It was sold by Flower through Agnew's to Cowan on 29 May 1899, for £700. Cowan wrote:

'No, it isn't Valparaiso, but Chelsea reach in pink & grey, lately the property of Lord Battersea, but now added to my collection - price £700 Stg. It is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen, & I have told Thomson he'll have to give me a very long price to get it back again!' 4

Whistler replied that it was 'full of quality.' 5 In 1901 Cowan told Whistler that he had people interested in buying his pictures, and he offered Whistler a brace of grouse, presumably as compensation. 6 Finally the painting was bought by C. L. Freer in December 1902 for £1000 plus £50 commission.

Exhibitions

• 1873: 7th Winter Exhibition of Cabinet Pictures in Oil, Dudley Gallery, London, 1873 (cat. no. 193) as 'Variations in Pink and Gray'.
• 1892: Nocturnes, Marines & Chevalet Pieces, Goupil Gallery, London, 1892 (cat. no. 27) as 'Pink and Grey, Chelsea'.
• 1901: The Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture, MCMI. The Seventy-fifth, Edinburgh, 1901 (cat. no. 346) as 'Pink and Grey, Chelsea'.
• 1904: Oil Paintings, Water Colors, Pastels and Drawings: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Mr. J. McNeill Whistler, Copley Society, Boston, 1904 (cat. no. 57).

The Times included it among 'good work' depicting 'coast and river scenery', describing it as 'Mr Whistler's "Variations in Pink and Gray" (193), one of his dreams of Thames, reduced from forms to tones'; the critic blamed 'the peculiar idiosyncrasies and special gifts' of Whistler for creating 'a school of such "harmonists" ' as Walter Greaves (1846-1930), who also exhibited a 'harmony in "blue-gray" (134).' 7 In 1892, Whistler chose an uncomplimentary 1882 review for the catalogue entry on this painting, which referred to 'the insolent madness of that school of which Mr. Whistler is the most peccant – we wish we could say the only – representative. Knowledge.' 8

By the terms of C. L. Freer's bequest to the Freer Gallery of Art, the painting cannot be lent to another venue.