Provenance

• 1889: bought through Wunderlich, New York dealers, by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) , Detroit; 1
• 1919: bequeathed to the Freer Gallery of Art.

This was the first watercolour bought by C. L. Freer, who was to become his greatest patron.

Further details are given in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 913).

Exhibitions

• 1884: possibly 'Notes' - 'Harmonies' - 'Nocturnes', Messrs Dowdeswell, London, 1884 or 1886 'Notes' - 'Harmonies' - 'Nocturnes', Second Series, Messrs Dowdeswell, London, 1886.
• 1887: probably Exposition Internationale de Peinture et de Sculpture, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 1887 (cat. no. 198) as 'Gris et or: Liverpool'.
• 1888: probably III. Internationale Kunst-Ausstellung, Königlicher Glaspalast, Munich, 1888 (cat. no. 39) as 'Stimmung in Grau: Liverpool'.
• 1889: “Notes” – “Harmonies” – “Nocturnes”, H. Wunderlich & Co., New York, 1889 (cat. no. 11) as 'Grey and Silver – Liverpool'.
• 1901: Pan-American Exposition, Buffalo, 1901 (cat. no. 98) as 'Grey and Silver. The Mersey'.
• 1904: Oil Paintings, Water Colors, Pastels and Drawings: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Mr. J. McNeill Whistler, Copley Society, Boston, 1904 (cat. no. 107) as 'Grey and Silver. The Mersey'.
• 1905: Œuvres de James McNeill Whistler, Palais de l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1905 (cat. no. 61) as 'Grey and Silver. The Mersey'.

Reviews of the New York exhibition appeared in The Epoch, 8 March 1889, The Sun, 10 March 1889, and Evening Sun, 16 March 1889.

By the terms of Freer's will, this work cannot be lent to another venue.