The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Nocturne in Blue and Gold dates from the early 1870s, probably between 1872 and 1875.

Whistler's earliest Nocturnes date from 1871. This one was first exhibited at the Second Annual Exhibition of Modern Pictures in Oil and Water Colour, Royal Pavilion Gallery, Brighton, 1875 (cat. no. 98).

Nocturne: Blue and Silver – Cremorne Lights, Tate Britain

Nocturne: Blue and Silver –Battersea Reach, Freer Gallery of Art

It may have been a known nocturne, such as Nocturne: Blue and Silver - Cremorne Lights y115 or Nocturne: Blue and Silver - Battersea Reach y119, which date from the early 1870s.

Images

Subject

Titles

Only one title is known, with varying capitalisation:

• 'Nocturne in blue and gold' (1875, Brighton). ¹
• 'Nocturne in Blue and Gold' (1980, YMSM). ²

Description

The Brighton Gazette on 9 September 1875 compared this painting with Nocturne: Blue and Gold - Old Battersea Bridge y140 and described them as 'all blue, almost monotone':

'Viewed by close inspection they appear like very bad attempts at scene painting; heavy leads of colour dashed with a few intermediate forms; nothing more. But we have need to retreat to a distance and ... there is nature itself painted in so few strokes that they can almost be counted.'

The Brighton Herald on 11 September 1875 commented,

'Mr. Whistler uses nothing but blue – light blue and dark blue, with drops of silver and gold for fire. The landscape, of course, is unimpeachable.'

Nocturne: Blue and Silver – Cremorne Lights, Tate Britain

Nocturne: Blue and Silver – Battersea Reach, Freer Gallery of Art

Unfortunately these descriptions could apply to several Nocturnes (such as Nocturne: Blue and Silver - Cremorne Lights y115 or Nocturne: Blue and Silver - Battersea Reach y119).

Site

Unknown.

Technique

Technique

An art critic commented on the technique and visual effect achieved: 'by close inspection they appear like very bad attempts at scene painting; heavy leads of colour dashed with a few intermediate forms', but from a distance, 'the significance of every stroke tells; there is nothing superfluous ... there is nature itself painted in so few strokes that they can almost be counted, and truthful work, though but a single colour has been used in different tones.' ³

The Brighton Herald , on 11 September 1875, added, 'Mr. Whistler uses nothing but blue – light blue and dark blue, with drops of silver and gold for fire.'

Conservation History

Unknown.

Frame

Unknown.

History

Provenance

• Unknown.

Exhibitions

• 1875: Second Annual Exhibition of Modern Pictures in Oil and Water Colour, Royal Pavilion Gallery, Brighton, 1875 (cat. no. 98) as 'Nocturne in blue and gold'.
• 1876: possibly 12th Exhibition, Society of French Artists, Deschamps Gallery, London, 1876 (cat. no. 56) as 'Nocturne in Blue and Gold'.

The price in the Brighton exhibition was quite high, at £420. The critic of the Brighton Gazette on 9 September 1875 classed this painting with Nocturne: Blue and Gold - Old Battersea Bridge y140 and commented:

'Everyone will be struck by two pictures, all blue, almost monotone, which will stand alone, and not a few perchance, may be inclined to ridicule them. Some may think that a guinea would be poorly spent over such works, and will be amazed when they find one of them valued at ... four hundred guineas!'

After describing their technique the critic went on to associate both paintings with Nocturne in Blue and Gold: Valparaiso Bay y076: 'There is scarcely a definite form ... and yet not a stroke out of place.'

The Brighton Herald on 11 September 1875 commented,

'Mr. Whistler uses nothing but blue – light blue and dark blue, with drops of silver and gold for fire. The landscape, of course, is unimpeachable; but then the medium in which it is painted is well nigh unapproachable. It harmonises with nothing near it – is either killed or kills.'

Bibliography

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. 141) as 'Nocturne in Blue and Gold'.

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• Second Annual Exhibition of Modern Pictures in Oil and Water Colour, Royal Pavilion Gallery, Brighton, 1875 (cat. no. 98) as 'Nocturne in blue and gold'.

Journals 1855-1905

• Brighton Gazette, Brighton, 9 September 1875.
• Brighton Herald, Brighton, 11 September 1875.

Monographs

• None.

Books on Whistler

• None.

Books, General

• None.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• None.

Journals 1906-Present

• None.

Websites

• None.

Unpublished

• None.

Other

• None.