The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Nocturne: Battersea Reach probably dates from the early 1870s; it was first mentioned in 1874. ¹ On 22 June 1874 Whistler sold Alfred Chapman (1839-1917) a ' "Nocturne in Grey & Silver"- (Battersea)' and Nocturne: Blue and Gold - Southampton Water y117 for 200 guineas. ² He was concerned that Chapman should hang 'the picture' tilted forward so that it could be seen properly. ³

Images

Subject

Titles

Several possible titles have been suggested:

• 'Nocturne in Grey & Silver" - (Battersea)' (1874, Whistler). ⁴
• ' "Nocturne". Battersea Reach' (1892, Goupil). ⁵
• 'Nocturne: Battersea Reach' (YMSM, 1980). ⁶

The original 1892 title was altered in 1980 to 'Nocturne: Battersea Reach' to conform with other titles.

Description

It was probably a river scene in horizontal format.

Site

Battersea Reach on the Thames in London.

Nocturne: Battersea, Private collection

Nocturne: Blue and Silver - Battersea Reach, I.S. Gardner Museum

The painting might possibly be identified with Nocturne: Battersea y120 or Nocturne: Blue and Silver - Battersea Reach y152, or a similar subject.

Technique

Technique

Unknown.

Conservation History

Unknown.

Frame

Unknown.

History

Provenance

• 1874: sold by Whistler to Alfred Chapman (1839-1917).

On 22 June 1874 Whistler sold Chapman a ' "Nocturne in Grey & Silver"- (Battersea)' with Nocturne: Blue and Gold - Southampton Water y117 for 200 guineas. ⁷

This might be Nocturne: Battersea y120 or Nocturne: Blue and Silver - Battersea Reach y152.

Several paintings at one time owned by Chapman have never been identified (see Blue and Gold: Channel y159).

Exhibitions

• 1892: Nocturnes, Marines & Chevalet Pieces, Goupil Gallery, London, 1892 (cat. no. 25) as '"Nocturne". Battersea Reach'.

Alfred Chapman lent several paintings to the Goupil exhibition, Nocturne: Grey and Gold - Chelsea Snow y174, Nocturne: Blue and Gold - Southampton Water y117, Blue and Gold: Channel y159, Nocturne: Blue and Silver - Bognor y100 and this one, Nocturne: Battersea Reach y160, which has not been identified.

A review of another unidentified picture, (Blue and Brown - San Brelade's Bay m0856) was used by Whistler to comment on Nocturne: Battersea Reach y160 in the Goupil catalogue but does not help to identify it. The original review, dating from ten years earlier than the Goupil show, reads as follows:

'A few smears of colour, such as a painter might make in cleaning his paint brushes, and which, neither near at hand nor far off, neither from one side nor from the other, nor from in front, do more than vaguely suggest a shore and bay, was described as a Note in Blue and Brown ... One who found these pictures other than insults to his artistic sense could never be reached by reasoning.' ⁸

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. 160) as 'Nocturne: Battersea Reach'.

Authored by Whistler

• Nocturnes, Marines & Chevalet Pieces, Goupil Gallery, London, 1892 (cat. no. 25) as ' "Nocturne". Battersea Reach'.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• Nocturnes, Marines & Chevalet Pieces, Goupil Gallery, London, 1892 (cat. no. 25) as ' "Nocturne". Battersea Reach'.

Journals 1855-1905

• None.

Monographs

• None.

Books on Whistler

• Getscher, Robert H., and Paul G. Marks, James McNeill Whistler and John Singer Sargent. Two Annotated Bibliographies, New York and London, 1986, p. 191, J. 101.

Books, General

• None.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• None.

Journals 1906-Present

• None.

Websites

• None.

Unpublished

• None.

Other

• None.