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

 

Nocturne en bleu et argent [duplicate]

This painting, which was recorded as unidentified in YMSM 1980 [more] , can be identified with either Nocturne: Blue and Silver - Bognor [YMSM 100] or Nocturne: Blue and Gold - Old Battersea Bridge [YMSM 140], and is included in those catalogue entries.

The two paintings shown in the Exposition Brown, Boudin, Caillebotte, Lepine, Morisot, Pissarro, Renoir, Sisley, Whistler, Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris, 1888 (cat. nos. 39 and 42) with the title Nocturne en bleu et argent can be identified by circumstantial evidence.


                Nocturne: Blue and Gold – Old Battersea Bridge, Tate
Nocturne: Blue and Gold – Old Battersea Bridge, Tate

                Nocturne: Blue and Silver – Bognor, Freer Gallery of Art
Nocturne: Blue and Silver – Bognor, Freer Gallery of Art

Firstly, Nocturne: Blue and Silver - Bognor [YMSM 100], was lent by Alfred Chapman (1839-1917). 1 Secondly, Nocturne: Blue and Gold - Old Battersea Bridge [YMSM 140] was referred to in a letter by Theodore Child (1846-1892), who needed illustrations for an article about Whistler. 2 In that article, Nocturne: Blue and Gold - Old Battersea Bridge [YMSM 140] was reproduced as ‘Nocturne in Blue and Silver’; Whistler later re-titled it a ‘Nocturne in Blue and Gold’ for his 1892 exhibition at Goupil’s.

Notes:

1: Chapman to Whistler, 12 April 1888, GUW #00579, and to Dowdeswell, 25 April 1888, GUW #00582.

2: 'Why not tell Durand-Ruel to lend us one of those lovely nocturnes e.g. The Bridge or the other one?', T. Child to Whistler, 12 July 1888, GUW #00615.

Last updated: 13th December 2020 by Margaret