The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Grey and Silver – Liverpool dates from 1883/1885.

Grey and Silver – Liverpool, Freer Gallery of Art

This work is fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 913).

Images

Subject

Site

Grey and Silver – Liverpool, Freer Gallery of Art

The river Mersey at Liverpool on the north-west coast of England.

Technique

Technique

See technical details in Whistler in Watercolour, Freer|Sackler, Washington, 2019, website.

History

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.

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 913) as 'Grey and Silver – Liverpool'.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• Possibly 'Notes' - 'Harmonies' - 'Nocturnes', Messrs Dowdeswell, London, 1884 or 'Notes' - 'Harmonies' - 'Nocturnes', Second Series, Messrs Dowdeswell, London, 1886.
• Probably Exposition Internationale de Peinture et de Sculpture, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 1887 (cat. no. 198) as 'Gris et or: Liverpool'.
• Probably III. Internationale Kunst-Ausstellung, Königlicher Glaspalast, Munich, 1888 (cat. no. 39) as 'Stimmung in Grau: Liverpool'.
• “Notes” – “Harmonies” – “Nocturnes”, H. Wunderlich & Co., New York, 1889 (cat. no. 11) as 'Grey and Silver – Liverpool'.
• Pan-American Exposition, Buffalo, 1901 (cat. no. 98) as 'Grey and Silver. The Mersey'.
• 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'.
• Œuvres de James McNeill Whistler, Palais de l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1905 (cat. no. 61) as 'Grey and Silver. The Mersey'.

Newspapers 1855-1905

• The Epoch, New York, 8 March 1889.
• The Sun, New York, 10 March 1889.
• Evening Sun, New York, 16 March 1889

Books on Whistler

• Glazer, Lee, Emily Jacobson, Blythe McCarthy, and Katherine Roeder, Whistler in Watercolor: Lovely Little Games, New Haven and London, 2019.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• Curry, David Park, James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art, New York and London, 1984, p. 14, 179, pl. 96.

Journals 1906-Present

• Curry, David Park, 'Charles Lang Freer and American Art', Apollo, vol. 118, no. 258, August 1983, new series, pp. 168-79, fig. 5.

Websites

• Freer Gallery of Art website at https://asia.si.edu/object/F1889.3a-c.
• Whistler in Watercolour, Freer|Sackler, Washington, 2019, website.