The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Note in opal – The Sands, Dieppe probably dates from 1885.

Note in opal – The Sands, Dieppe, Colby College Museum of Art

It is catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1033). The record has been updated.

Images

Subject

Site

Note in opal – The Sands, Dieppe, Colby College Museum of Art

Note in opal – The Sands, Dieppe was painted from the cliffs at Dieppe on the French coast.

Technique

Technique

Note in opal – The Sands, Dieppe, Colby College Museum of Art

It was painted quickly and simply. the brushstrokes go from left to right, right across the paper, probably working from the top down, but leaving spaces for the ships. Then the details of white waves, the sailing boats, and two of the figures, were added in gouache or body-colour, and the waves reinforced with another stroke of the same white. A very narrow, pointed brush was used to pick out the details of costume, attitude, and light and shadow on the figures along the shore.

History

Provenance

• 1886: bought by Edward William Hooper (1839-1901), Boston, 2 July 1886;
• 1901: passed by family descent to his daughter Mary ('Molly'), Mrs Roger S. Warner (1879-1972);
• 1972: passed by family descent to her son Sturgis Warner (1914-1995);
• 1996: at Sloan's auction house, Washington DC, 18-20 October 1996.
• 2013: given by Paula Crane Lunder (b. 1935) and Peter H. Lunder (b. 1933) to Colby College Museum of Art.

See details in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1033).

Exhibitions

• 1886: probably 'Notes' - 'Harmonies' - 'Nocturnes', Second Series, Messrs Dowdeswell, London, 1886 (cat. no. 54) as 'Note in opal – The Sands, Dieppe'.
• 1904: Oil Paintings, Water Colors, Pastels and Drawings: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Mr. J. McNeill Whistler, Copley Society, Boston, 1904 (cat. no. 88) as 'Marine'.

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 1033).

Catalogues 1855-1905

• Probably 'Notes' - 'Harmonies' - 'Nocturnes', Second Series, Messrs Dowdeswell, London, 1886 (cat. no. 54) as 'Note in opal – The Sands, Dieppe'.
• Oil Paintings, Water Colors, Pastels and Drawings: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Mr. J. McNeill Whistler, Copley Society, Boston, 1904 (cat. no. 88) as 'Marine'.

Websites

• Colby College Museum of Art website at https://www.colby.edu.