Catalogues Raisonnés

• Young, Andrew McLaren, Margaret F. MacDonald, Robin Spencer, and Hamish Miles, The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler, New Haven and London, 1980 (cat. no. 170) as 'Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket', plates 153, 403.

Authored by Whistler

• Whistler, James McNeill, The Gentle Art of Making Enemies, London, 1890, pp. 3-5, 9-10, 15, 304; repr. in Whistler, James McNeill, The Gentle Art of Making Enemies, 2nd edition, London and New York, 1892.
• Nocturnes, Marines & Chevalet Pieces, Goupil Gallery, London, 1892 (cat. no. 10).
• Goupil Gallery and James McNeill Whistler, Nocturnes, Marines & Chevalet Pieces [portfolio of photographs published after the Goupil Gallery Exhibition, March-April 1892], London, 1892, repr. pl. 4.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• Ninth Winter Exhibition of Cabinet Pictures in Oil, Dudley Gallery, London, 1875 (cat. no. 170) as 'Nocturne, in Black and Gold – The Falling Rocket'.
• I Summer Exhibition, Grosvenor Gallery, London, 1877 (cat. no. 4, in West Gallery) as 'Nocturne in Black and Gold'.
• Probably Exposition Internationale de Peinture, Galerie George Petit, Paris, 1883 (cat. no. 8) as 'Nocturne en noir et or', described by Lostalot and Huysmans.
• “Arrangement in White and Yellow” - 50 Etchings and Drypoints (Venice Second Series), H. Wunderlich & Co., New York, 1883 (not numbered in catalogue).
• Possibly in International Exhibition, Edinburgh, 1886 (cat. no. 1399) as 'Nocturne' (see Nocturne [YMSM 171]).
• Possibly in Exposition Internationale de Peinture et de Sculpture, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 1887 (cat. no. 212) as 'Nocturne en noir et or'.
• “Notes” – “Harmonies” – “Nocturnes”, H. Wunderlich & Co., New York, 1889 (cat. no. 55).
• Exposition Générale des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, 1890 (cat. no. 840) as 'la fusée tombante'.
• Ouvrages de peinture, sculpture, architecture, gravure et lithographie des artistes vivants, 105th exhibition, Salon de la Société des artistes français, Palais des Champs Elysées, Paris, 1890 (cat. no. 2440) as 'Nocturne en noir et or'.
• Nocturnes, Marines & Chevalet Pieces, Goupil Gallery, London, 1892 (cat. no. 10) as 'Nocturne, In Black and Gold – the Falling Rocket'.
• Sixty-ninth Annual Exhibition, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 1900 (cat. no. 30) as 'Fireworks'.
• Twenty-fourth Annual Exhibition, Society of American Artists, New York, 1902 (cat. no. 241) as 'Nocturne. Black and Gold'.
• A Loan Exhibition of Paintings at the Carnegie Institute, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, 1902 (cat. no. 150) as 'The Falling Rocket: Nocturne in Black and Gold'.
• Comparative exhibition of native and foreign art, Society of Art Collectors, New York, 1904 (cat. no. 184) as 'Nocturne in Black and Gold – The Falling Rocket'.
• Oil Paintings, Water Colors, Pastels and Drawings: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Mr. J. McNeill Whistler, Copley Society, Boston, 1904 (cat. no. 64) as 'Nocturne in Black and Gold / "The Falling Rocket" '.
• Œuvres de James McNeill Whistler, Palais de l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1905 (cat. no. 66) as 'Nocturne en noir et or. La fusée qui retombe. – (Nocturne in Black and Gold. the Falling Rocket'.

Newspapers 1855-1905

• Anon., 'The Dudley Gallery – Winter Exhibition', The Scotsman, Edinburgh, 23 October 1875, p. 7.
• Anon., 'The Dudley Gallery', London Evening Standard, London, 29 October 1875, p, 2.
• Anon., 'The Dudley Gallery', Globe, London, 30 October 1875, p. 6.
• Anon., 'The Dudley Gallery', The Graphic, London, 30 October 1875, p. 10.
• Anon., 'The Dudley Gallery', The Examiner, London, 13 November 1875, p. 21.
• Anon., 'The Dudley Gallery', The Examiner, London, 13 November 1875, p. 21.
• Anon., 'Our London Correspondence', Glasgow Herald, Glasgow, 27 November 1875, p. 5.
• Anon., 'The Grosvenor Gallery', Morning Post, London, 1 May 1877, p. 6.
• Anon., 'The Grosvenor Gallery', Naval & Military Gazette and Weekly Chronicle of the United Service, London, 9 May 1877, p. 4.
• Taylor, Tom, 'The Grosvenor Gallery', The Graphic, London, 12 May 1877.
• Anon., [Grosvenor Gallery], Truth, London, 17 May 1877, p. 6.
• Anon., 'Action for libel against Mr. Ruskin', The Globe & Traveller, London, 25 November 1878.
• Anon., 'Law and Police: Mr. Whistler and Mr. Ruskin', The Pall Mall Gazette, London, 25 November 1878, pp. 6-7.
• Anon., 'Law and Police: Mr. Whistler and Mr. Ruskin', The Pall Mall Gazette, London, 26 November 1878, p. 7.
• Anon., 'Law Report, Whistler v. Ruskin', The Times, London, 26 November 1878, p. 9.
• Anon., 'Law Report, Whistler v. Ruskin', The Times, London, 27 November 1878, p. 11.

See Merrill, Linda, A Pot of Paint: Aesthetics on Trial in 'Whistler v. Ruskin', Washington and London, 1992, p. 300 etc., for survey of reports on the Whistler v. Ruskin trial of 1878.

Journals 1855-1905

• Rossetti, William Michael, 'The Dudley Gallery', The Academy: A Weekly Review of Literature, Science, and Art, vol. 8, no. 182, 30 October 1875, new series, p. 462.
• [Stephens, Frederick G.], 'The Winter Exhibition, Dudley Gallery', The Athenaeum, 30 October 1875, pp. 580-81, at p. 581.
• Ruskin, John, 'Letter the Seventy-ninth', Fors Clavigera, 2 July 1877, pp. 181-213, at p. 201; repr. in Ruskin, John, 'Letter 79: Life Guards of New Age', in The Works of John Ruskin, vol. 29, edited by E. T. Cook and Alexander Wedderburn, London, George Allen, 1907, pp. 146-69.
• Wilde, Oscar, 'The Grosvenor Gallery', Dublin University Magazine, vol. 90, no. 535, July 1877, pp. 118-26, at p. 124.
• Brownell, William C., 'Whistler in Painting and Etching', Scribner's Monthly, vol. 18, no. 4, August 1879, pp. 481-95.
• Lostalot, Alfred de, 'Exposition internationale de peinture. Galerie Georges Petit', Gazette des beaux-arts, vol. 28, July 1883, pp. 77-80, at p. 80.
• Sickert, Walter Richard, 'Whistler To-day', The Fortnightly Review, vol. 57, new series, vol. 51, April 1892, pp. 543-47, at p. 547.
• MacColl, Dugald Sutherland, 'Mr Whistler’s Paintings in Oil', The Art Journal, 1893, pp. 88-93, repr. p. 90.
• Alexandre, Arsène, 'J. McNeill Whistler', Les Arts, October 1903, pp. 22-32, at p. 22, repr. p. 25.
• Graves, Algernon, 'James Abbott McNeill Whistler', Printseller and Print Collector, vol. 1, August 1903, pp. 341-45, at p. 341.
• Bénédite, Léonce, 'Artistes Contemporains: Whistler', Gazette des beaux-arts, vol. 33, 1905, pp. 403-10, 496-511; vol. 34, 1905, pp. 142-58, 231-46, in vol. 34 at pp. 151-52.
• Bénédite, Léonce, L'Oeuvre de James MacNeill Whistler, Paris, 1905, repr. pl. 38.

Monographs

• None.

Books on Whistler

• Cary, Elizabeth Luther, The Works of James McNeill Whistler: A Study, with a Tentative List of Artist’s Works, New York, 1907 (cat. no. 64).
• Curry, David Park, James McNeill Whistler: Uneasy Pieces, New York, 2004, pp. 14, 59, 184-86, 189, 207-08, 222, 414 notes 89 and 98.
• Duret, Théodore, Histoire de J. McN. Whistler et de son oeuvre, Paris, 1904, p. 65.
• Glazer, Lee, Emily Jacobsen, Blyth McCarthy, and Katherine Roeder, Whistler in Watercolor. Lovely Little Games, Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 2019, p. 231, repr. p. 230.
• Holden, Donald, Whistler Landscapes and Seascapes, New York, 1969, p. 38, pl. 9.
• MacDonald, Margaret F., Susan Galassi, Aileen Ribeiro, and Patricia de Montfort, Whistler, Women and Fashion, New Haven and London, 2003, p. 129.
• Merrill, Linda, A Pot of Paint: Aesthetics on Trial in 'Whistler v. Ruskin', Washington and London, 1992.
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 2 vols, London and Philadelphia, 1908, vol. 1, pp. 199, 211, 213, 228, 234, 235, 237-44, repr f.p. 232, vol. 2, pp. 4, 127.
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Whistler Journal, Philadelphia, 1921, pp. 4-5, 316-27.
• Petri, Grischka, Arrangement in Business: The Art Markets and the Career of James McNeill Whistler, Hildesheim, 2011, pp. 187, 227, 250-51, 262, 265, 284, 295, 299, 304, 310, 321, 331, 334, 360, 444, 467, 533, 551-53, 664, 707.
• Spencer, Robin (ed.), Whistler: A Retrospective, New York, 1989, pp. 119, 128-29, 130, 149, 166 pl. 53, 258, 278.
• Spencer, Robin, Whistler, New York, 1990, pp. 22-25, 96-97.
• Sutherland, Daniel E., Whistler: A Life for Art's Sake, New Haven and London, 2014, pp. 138-39, 146, 158, 183, 262-63, 265.
• Sutton, Denys, Nocturne: The Art of James McNeill Whistler, London, 1963, pl. iv.
• Sutton, Denys, James McNeill Whistler: Paintings, Etchings, Pastels and Watercolours, London, 1966, p. 191, pl. 70.

Books, General

• Cook, E. T., and Alexander Wedderburn (eds), The Works of John Ruskin, 39 vols., London, 1903-1912, vol. 29, pp. xxii-xxiv, xxix, pp. 160, 580-87.
• Denney, Colleen, At the Temple of Art: The Grosvenor Gallery, 1877-1890, Madison, NJ, 1999, pp. 11, 113, 116.
• Huysmans, Joris Karl, Certains: G. Moreau - Degas - Cheret - Wisthler [sic] - Rops - Le Monstre - Le Fer, etc., Paris, 1889, p. 67.
• Ludovici, Anthony, An Artist's Life in London and Paris 1870-1925, New York, 1926, pp. 90-91.
• Moore, George, Modern Painting, London, 1893, p. 23.
• Novak, Barbara, American Painting of the 19th century, New York, 1969, p. 255.
• Prettejohn, Elizabeth, Art for Art’s Sake: Aestheticism in Victorian Painting, New Haven and London, 2007, pp. 254, 262-63, 278.
• Pyne, Kathleen A., Art and the Higher Life: Painting and Evolutionary Thought in Late Nineteenth-Century America, Austin, TX, 2010, pp. 121-22.
• Reynolds, Donald Martin, The Nineteenth Century, Cambridge, 1985, pp. 105-06.
• Rossetti, William Michael, Some Reminiscences of William Michael Rossetti, 2 vols., London, 1906, 1, pp. 182-83.
• Sullivan, Michael, The Meeting of Eastern and Eastern Art, Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1989, p. 229.

Catalogues 1906-Present

COLLECTION:

• Detroit Institute of Art Handbook, Detroit, 1971, p. 144.
• 100 Masterworks from the Detroit Institute of Arts, New York, 1985, pp. 202-03 (repr).

EXHIBITION:

• Paintings in oil and pastel by James McNeill Whistler, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1910 (cat. no. 12).
• The Navy League of Canada (Ontario Division) (eds), Loan Exhibition of Great Paintings, in Aid of Allied Merchant Seamen, Toronto, 1944 (cat. no. 89).
• McIntyre, Robert G., Whistler: Loan Exhibition, New York, Macbeth Gallery, 1947 (cat. no. 16).
• J. A. McNeill Whistler, Lyman Allyn Museum, New London, 1949 (cat. no. 15).
• Land Marks in American Art, 1670-1950, for the benefit of the American Federation of Arts, Wildenstein Gallery, New York, 1953 (cat. no. 27).
• Sweet, Frederick A. (ed.), Sargent, Whistler and Mary Cassatt, Art Institute of Chicago and Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1954 (cat. no. 105).
• International Masterpieces, Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, 1956 (cat. no. 35).
• Young, A. McLaren, James McNeill Whistler, Arts Council Gallery, London, and Knoedler Galleries, New York, 1960 (cat. no. 33).
• The Quest for Unity: American Art Between the Worlds’ Fairs 1876-1893, Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, 1983, p. 250 (cat. no. 159).
• Curry, David Park, James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art, New York and London, 1984, p. 70, repr. (not exhibited).
• Henning, Edward B., Creativity in Art and Science, 1860-1960, Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH, 1987, p. 38 (fig. 2).
• The Art of Seeing: John Ruskin and the Victorian Eye, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, 1993, p. 116 (fig. 83).
• Merrill, Linda, et al., After Whistler: The Artist and His Influence on American Painting, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, 2003, pp. 14, 19, 21, 26, 31, 52-53, 106, 112-15, 148, 180, 184, 220, repr. p. 113 (cat. no. 7).
• MacDonald, Margaret, and Patricia de Montfort, An American in London: Whistler and the Thames, Dulwich Picture Gallery, Addison Gallery of American Art, Freer Gallery of Art, 2013-2014, pp. 10, 29, 44 (not exhibited).
• Siewert, John, 'Art, music, and an aesthetics of place in Whistler's Nocturne paintings', Lochnan, Katharine, Turner, Whistler, Monet, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris; Tate Britain, London, 2004-2005, pp. 141-47, at pp. 143-44, (cat. no. 50) repr. fig. 51 and p. 159.
• Simpson, Marc, 'Whistler, Modernism, and the Creative Afflatus', in Simpson, Marc, Like Breath on Glass: Whistler, Inness, and the Art of Painting Softly, Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MA, 2008, pp. 24-51, at 35-37, repr. p. 34.
• Ayako Ono, ホイッスラー展. James McNeill Whistler Retrospective, National Museum of Modern Art, Kyōto, 2014, and Yokohama Museum of Art, 2014–2015, p. 179, repr.
• Russon, John, Sites of Exposure: Art, Politics, and the Nature of Experience, Bloomington, 2017, pp. 131-35, 147, (fig. 4.2).
• Schaefer, Barbara, and Anita Hachmann (eds), Es War Einmal in Amerkika: 300 Jahre US-Amerikanische Kunst, Wallraf das Museum. Cologne, 2018, p. 126 (repr. cat. no. 12).

Journals 1906-Present

• Cumming, Robert, ART A Field Guide, New York, 2001. p. 274 (repr.).
• Gallatin, E. A., 'The Gentle Art of Showing Whistler', Art News, vol. 46, no. 3, May 1947, p. 18.
• Gilman, Richard, 'Americans Abroad,' American Heritage, vol. 12, no. 6, October 1961, p. 20.
• Greenwald, Diana Seave, 'Used Cars and Canvases: Information Economics, Art History, and the Art Market,' American Art: Smithsonian American Art Museum, Fall 2019, 5-9, p. 7, repr.
• Parry, His Honour Judge [Edward A.], 'Whistler versus Ruskin', Cornhill Magazine, vol. 50 (new series), January 1921, pp. 21-33.
• Richardson, Edgar P., 'Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket by Whistler', Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts, vol. 36, 1946-1947, pp. 72-74 (reprinted in Art Quarterly, vol. 10, Winter 1947, pp. 3-10), at p. 72.
• Richardson, Edgar P., The Art Quarterly, vol. 10, no. 1, winter 1947, p. 3.
• Richardson, Edgar P., 'Sophisticates and Innocents Abroad', Art News, vol. 53, April 1954, pp. 20-23, 61-62, at pp. 20-23.
• Rivard, Nancy, 'American Paintings at the DIA', Antiques, vol. 114, November 1978, p. 1050, no. 3.
• Palmer, Charles, 'A Case of Libel: The Artist versus the Critic', Art and Museum law Journal, vol. 1, no. 1, 2004, pp. 77-90.
• Parkes, Adam, 'A Sense of Justice: Whistler, Ruskin, James, Impressionism', Victorian Studies, vol. 42, 1999, pp. 593-629, at p. 597.
• Starr, Sidney, 'Personal Recollections of Whistler', Atlantic Monthly, vol. 101, April 1908, pp. 528-37, at p. 536.

Websites

• Detroit Institute of Art website at https://www.dia.org.
• Wilmer, Clive, 'The Falling Rocket: Ruskin, Whistler and Abstraction in Art', The Victorian Web, 2012, website, at http://www.victorianweb.org,

Unpublished

• None.

Other

• Ruskin, John, 'My own article on Whistler', in: E. T. Cook and Alexander Wedderburn (eds), The Works of John Ruskin, vol. 29, London, 1907, pp. 585-87 (published posthumously).