The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket probably dates from 1875. ¹

Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket, Detroit Institute of Arts

On 18 September 1875, Whistler's mother Anna Matilda Whistler (1804-1881) mentioned Whistler's 'Moonlight pictures' including 'one lately finished of Cremorne Gardens at Chelsea'. ² These probably included Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket.

It was first exhibited in the Ninth Winter Exhibition of Cabinet Pictures in Oil, Dudley Gallery, London, 1875 (cat. no. 170) as 'Nocturne, in Black and Gold – The Falling Rocket'.

Images

Subject

Titles

Several possible titles have been suggested:

• 'Nocturne, in Black and Gold – The Falling Rocket' (1875, Dudley). ⁴
• 'Nocturne in Black and Gold' (1877, Grosvenor). ⁵
• Probably 'Nocturne en noir et or' (1883, Petit). ⁶
• Possibly 'Nocturne' (1886, International Exhibition, Edinburgh). ⁷
• Probably 'Nocturne en noir et or' (1887, Petit). ⁸
• 'la fusée tombante' (1890, Exposition, Brussels). ⁹
• 'Nocturne en noir et or' (1890, Salon, Paris). ¹⁰
• 'Nocturne, In Black and Gold – the Falling Rocket' (1892, Goupil). ¹¹
• 'Fireworks' (1900, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts). ¹²
• 'Nocturne. Black and Gold' (1902, Society of American Artists). ¹³
• 'Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket' (1980, YMSM). ¹⁴

'Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket' is the preferred title, although after seeing the painting in the Goupil Gallery exhibition in 1892, Whistler wrote to his wife, 'it ought not to have been called Black & Gold - but Blue - of the most lovely - The sky is a marvel.' ¹⁵

Description

Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket, Detroit Institute of Arts

A night scene, in vertical format. Groups of figures and individuals are faintly seen, at left and in the foreground, watching the display of fireworks. In the middle distance, lights are reflected in a pool at left, and smoke rises in the centre; above and to right, rise two pointed towers illuminated with lights, and above, the sparks of rockets cascade across the sky.

At the Whistler v. Ruskin trial, the defendant’s counsel, the Attorney-General Sir John Holker (1828-1882), described his own impression of the painting: ‘I see the blackness of night with a falling star or some fireworks coming down from the top, and a sort of blaze at the bottom, perhaps a bonfire. That is all.’ ¹⁶

Site

Cremorne Gardens, the pleasure gardens by the river Thames in Chelsea. The gardens closed to the public in 1877. The pointed towers in the painting are the four turrets that rose from the fireworks platform. Whistler's paintings of Cremorne include Cremorne, No. 1 y163, Cremorne Gardens, No. 2 y164, Nocturne: Cremorne Gardens, No. 3 y165, Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Gardens y166, Nocturne: Black and Gold - The Fire Wheel y169, and Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket y170. Despite these recognisable features, Whistler said the Nocturne ‘was not painted to offer the portrait of a particular place, but as an artistic impression that had been carried away.' ¹⁷ In other words, it was painted from memory.

Comments

Whistler exhibited eight pictures at the Grosvenor Gallery in the summer of 1877: Nocturne in Blue and Silver y113, Arrangement in Grey and Black, No. 2: Portrait of Thomas Carlyle y137, Nocturne: Blue and Gold - Old Battersea Bridge y140, Nocturne: Grey and Gold - Westminster Bridge y145, Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket y170, Arrangement in Black and Brown: The Fur Jacket y181, Arrangement in Brown y182, and Arrangement in Black, No. 3: Sir Henry Irving as Philip II of Spain y187.

Of these, Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket, showing fireworks in Cremorne Gardens, is generally regarded as the main target of attack in the criticism of Whistler's work published by John Ruskin (1819-1900) in Letter 79 of Fors Clavigera for 2 July 1877. It was perhaps not the first comment on the painting but the most momentous, and certainly the most notorious:

'Lastly, the mannerisms and errors of these pictures [by Edward Burne-Jones], whatever may be their extent, are never affected or indolent. The work is natural to the painter, however strange to us; and it is wrought with utmost conscience of care, however far, to his own or our desire, the result may yet be incomplete. Scarcely so much can be said for any other pictures of the modern schools: their eccentricities are almost always in some degree forced; and their imperfections gratuitously, if not impertinently, indulged. For Mr. Whistler's own sake, no less than for the protection of the purchaser, Sir Coutts Lindsay ought not to have admitted works into the gallery in which the ill-educated conceit of the artist so nearly approached the aspect of wilful imposture. I have seen, and heard, much of cockney impudence before now; but never expected to hear a coxcomb ask two hundred guineas for flinging a pot of paint in the public's face.' ¹⁸

In a Statement of Claim delivered on 21 November 1877 Whistler claimed that Ruskin's criticism was libellous and had been 'falsely and maliciously printed and published by the Defendant of the Plaintiff. The Plaintiff's reputation as an artist has been much damaged by the said libel. The Plaintiff claims – 1. £1,000. 2. the costs of this action.' ¹⁹

The case of Whistler v. Ruskin was finally heard at the Queen’s Bench of the High Court on 25 and 26 November 1878, before Baron Huddleston and a Special Jury. Due to Ruskin's state of health he remained absent. Accounts in the press of the trial vary as to detail. Linda Merrill has compiled a transcript of the proceedings from contemporary London newspapers. ²⁰ Whistler's own account was published with expansions and variations in The Gentle Art of Making Enemies, and in part by the Pennells in their biography of the artist. ²¹

In his examination by the Attorney-General, Sir John Holker (1828-1882), Ruskin's counsel, Whistler was asked:

'HOLKER: The only picture you had in the Grosvenor Gallery for sale was the Nocturne in Black and Gold?

WHISTLER: Yes.

HOLKER: I suppose you are willing to admit that your pictures exhibit some eccentricities. You have been told that over and over again?

WHISTLER: Yes, very often. (Laughter)

HOLKER: You sent your pictures to the Grosvenor Gallery to invite the admiration of the public?

WHISTLER: That would have been such a vast absurdity on my part that I don't think I could have. (Laughter)

HOLKER: You don't expect your pictures not to be criticized?

WHISTLER: Oh, no, certainly - not unless they are altogether overlooked.

HOLKER: Did it take you much time to paint the Nocturne in Black and Gold? How soon did you knock it off? (Laughter)

WHISTLER: I beg your pardon?

HOLKER: I was using an expression which is rather more applicable to my own profession. (Laughter)

WHISTLER: Thank you for the compliment. (Laughter)

HOLKER: How long do you take to knock off one of your pictures?

WHISTLER: Oh, I "knock one off" possibly in a couple of days (Laughter) - one day to do the work and another to finish it. ...

HOLKER: The labour of two days is that for which you ask two hundred guineas?

WHISTLER: No. I ask it for the knowledge I have gained in the work of a lifetime. (Applause)' ²²

Under examination by his own Counsel, John Humffrey Parry (1824-1880), Whistler stated:

'WHISTLER: The Nocturne in Black and Gold, which has now been sent for, was the only picture at the Grosvenor for which I asked 200 guineas, and is therefore, I suppose, was the picture referred to in the libel. …

PARRY: Do you conscientiously form your idea and then conscientiously work it out?

WHISTLER: Certainly. I do not always sketch the subjects of my pictures, but I form the idea in my mind conscientiously and work it out to the best of my ability.

PARRY: And these pictures are published by you for the purpose of a livelihood?

WHISTLER: Yes.

PARRY: Your manual labour is rapid?

WHISTLER: Certainly. The proper execution of the idea depends greatly upon the instantaneous work of my hand. The pictures would not have the quality I desire to produce if I did not go on hammering away .' ²³

After Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket was produced in court, Whistler stated under cross-examination by Ruskin's counsel:

'WHISTLER: The picture represents a distant view of Cremorne, with a falling rocket and other fire-works.

HOLKER: How long did it take you to paint that?

WHISTLER: One whole day and part of another. It is a finished picture. … The frame is traced with black, and the black mark on the right side is my monogram, which was placed in its position so as not to put the balance of color out.

HOLKER: You have made the study of art your study of a lifetime. What is the peculiar beauty of that picture?

WHISTLER: I daresay I could make it clear to any sympathetic painter, but I do not think I could to you, any more than a musician could explain the beauty of a harmony to a person who has no ear.

HOLKER: Do you not think that anybody looking at that picture might fairly come to the conclusion that it has no peculiar beauty?

WHISTLER: I think there is distinct evidence that Mr. Ruskin did come to that conclusion.

HOLKER: Do you think it fair that Mr. Ruskin should come to that conclusion?

WHISTLER: What might be fair to Mr. Ruskin I can’t answer. No artist of culture would come to that conclusion. I have known unbiased people to recognize that [the nocturne] represents fireworks in a night scene.' ²⁴

Whistler's first witness, William Michael Rossetti (1829-1919), had already written about Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket when it was exhibited at the Dudley Gallery in 1875, and his notice was quoted during the trial. ²⁵

‘Another contribution of the same painter is named Nocturne in Black and Gold: the Falling Rocket. This is also extremely good, and in some sense even a bolder attempt than the firstnamed work [Nocturne: Grey and Gold - Westminster Bridge y145]; it cannot be properly called ad captandum, but its artificial subject-matter places it at a less high level. The scene is probably Cremorne Gardens; the heavy rich darkness of the clump of trees to the left, contrasted with the opaque obscurity of the sky, itself enhanced by the falling shower of fire-flakes, is felt and realised with great truth. Straight across the trees, not high above the ground, shoots and fizzes the last and fiercest light of the expiring rocket.’ ²⁶

At the trial, W. M. Rossetti was less enthusiastic. Cross-examined by Sir John Holker, he testified that the painting was neither exquisite nor very beautiful, but ‘unlike the work of most other painters.’ However, he said, it was a work of art ‘because it represents what was intended. It is a picture painted with a considerable sense of the general effect of such a scene and finished with considerable artistic skill.’ ²⁷ Further opinions of Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket were expressed at the trial by Whistler's other witnesses, Albert Joseph Moore (1841-1893) (‘Most consummate art … There is a decided beauty in the painting'), and William Gorman Wills (1828-1891) (‘I have never seen the Nocturne in Black and Gold before and it is too dark for me to see it now.’ ²⁸ Witnesses for John Ruskin (1819-1900) also commented on the painting, namely Edward Coley Burne-Jones (1833-1898) (‘It would be impossible to call it a serious work of art … This is only one of a thousand failures that artists have made in their efforts at painting night’), William Powell Frith (1819-1909) (‘The Nocturne in Black and Gold is not, in my opinion, worth two hundred guineas’), and Thomas Taylor (1817-1880) (‘I should not consider the Nocturne in Black and Gold a good picture; I do not think it a serious work of art.’). ²⁹

Whistler's immediate riposte to the verdict (damages of one farthing without costs) came with the publication in December 1878 of his first brown paper pamphlet, Whistler v. Ruskin, Art & Art Critics, which he dedicated to Albert Moore. ³⁰ Although Ruskin was not present at the trial, a manuscript by him, headed 'My own Article on Whistler' was posthumously published in Cook & Wedderburn's edition of Ruskin's Works. ³¹

The opinion of Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket expressed by Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) was scarcely more flattering than Ruskin's, and was not quoted during the trial. He had written that Nocturne: Blue and Gold - Old Battersea Bridge y140 was 'rather prettier' than Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket but both were 'worth looking at for about as long as one looks at a real rocket, that is, for somewhat less than a quarter of a minute.' ³²

According to the artist Sidney Starr (quoted by Pennell), Whistler showed Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket to him when he visited him in his Tite Street studio:

' "Well now, what do you think of that? What is it?" [Whistler asked.] I said fireworks, and I supposed one of the Cremorne pictures. "Oh, you know, do you? It's the finest thing that ever was done. Critics pitch into it. But bring tots, idiots, imbeciles, blind men, children, anything but Englishmen or Ruskin, here, and of course they know." ' ³³

Linda Merrill, in her brilliant analysis of Whistler's trial against John Ruskin (1819-1900), describes the painting as:

'the most abstract, and thus the most difficult to comprehend, of all Whistler’s paintings. To many observers it looked like nothing but “a tract of mud,” as Punch described it: “Above, all fog; below, all inky flood; For subject – it had none." ' ³⁴

The Detroit Institute of Arts commented:

'Whistler made this “artistic impression” based on an actual scene of fireworks (or “rockets”) exploding over London’s Cremorne Gardens at night. At the time, the public considered the fleeting display a questionable subject for a painting. For Whistler, it made a perfect theme for a Nocturne; as an urban, ephemeral, indescribable spectacle, fireworks were beautiful but meaningless. For American artists, the subject was intrinsically modern. As one critic observed, Whistler’s notorious Nocturne vindicated “the abstract appeal of painting, divorced as far as possible from any idea conveyable in words. Whistler never intended for the painting to be a realistic depiction of the lights over the gardens. Rather, he wanted it to convey the atmosphere and his memory of the place." ' ³⁵

John Siewert noted that 'For all its singularity, the fireworks theme perfectly embodies the painter's effort in all the Nocturnes to preserve the ephemera of perception through the resources of art.' ³⁶

Technique

Technique

Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket, Detroit Institute of Arts

Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket is painted thinly on a reddish brown base. The brushwork varies. Whistler used square brushes at the top, 7-14 mm (¼-5/8") wide; and much finer brushes to apply the vivid drops of orange and green fireworks (each separate fleck of colour applied individually), and the intricate diagonal shading around the showers of sparks. The dark water of the pool in the foreground was painted round the figure standing with one leg raised on the low wall around the pool. The only colour in this figure is the paint of the background.

Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket, photo 1892, Goupil Album, GUL Whistler PH5/2

In reproductions of Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket from 1892 to 1905 this figure cannot be seen, the two other figures in the foreground are barely visible, and the whole foreground is considerably simplified. Since the rest of the painting appears to have had much the same tonality as now (or perhaps to have been slightly lighter) darkening varnish in these early years cannot alone be held responsible. It therefore seems possible that it was Whistler himself who reworked the picture before October 1892, attempting to remove the foreground figures, which have a certain appeal and importance comparable to that of the elegant figures in Cremorne Gardens, No. 2 y164.

In April 1892 Walter Richard Sickert (1860-1942) found the painting without any technical problems: he remarked on 'the exquisite enamel of "The Falling Rocket" … perfect form, exquisite colour, and that peculiar triumph of execution which consists in the complete absence of all appearance of labour. It has no more technique than the night sky itself, or the scattering sparks, or the cold, dark grass.' ³⁷

Conservation History

Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket, photo 1892, Goupil Album, GUL Whistler PH5/2

Curiously, Richardson remarked in 1954 that 'An admirable photograph had been made at the time of its exhibition at the Goupil Gallery … in 1892; and when the panel was cleaned [in 1954], the delicate mists and sparkles of pigment showed scarcely any change from the state recorded there.' ³⁸ This does not seem to be accurate. In fact Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket showed more detail in the foreground in 1954 than it did in 1892.

See 'Technique' above, on the changes visible in the painting.

Frame

1878: According to the Globe, on 25 November 1878 Whistler stated that 'The frame is traced with black, and the black mark on the right side is my monogram.' The original frame – probably a reeded cassetta with painted decoration – has not been located.

Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket, Detroit Institute of Arts

1892: reframed by Frederick Henry Grau (1859-1892) for Whistler's Goupil Exhibition.

History

Provenance

• 1878: deposited by Charles Augustus Howell (1840?-1890) (on Whistler's behalf ) with, first, Jane Noseda (1814-ca 1894), and then H. Graves & Co., London, as security for loans;
• 1890/1891: Whistler settled his account with Graves and retrieved the painting;
• 1892: sold by Whistler to Samuel Untermeyer (Untermyer) (1858-1940), New York;
• 1940: Untermeyer family sale, Parke-Bernet, New York, 10 May 1940 (lot 29).
• Date unknown: Charles Sessler (1854-1935), Philadelphia dealer;
• 1946: Knoedler's, New York art dealers;
• 1946: Scott and Fowles, New York art dealers;
• 1946: gift of Dexter M. Ferry, Jr. to the Detroit Institute of Arts.

At the Dudley Gallery in 1875 (cat. no. 170) it was priced in the catalogue at £262.10.0; at the Grosvenor Gallery in 1877 (cat. no. 4) 'Nocturne in Black and Gold' and offered for sale at 200 guineas (£210.0.0).

Between the exhibition at the Grosvenor Gallery and Whistler v. Ruskin trial, Whistler apparently deposited Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket as 'a sort of pledge' with Jane Noseda (1814-ca 1894), a print dealer in the Strand. ³⁹ A draft statement recorded by James Anderson Rose (1819-1890), during preparations for the trial, confirms that Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket and the 'Arrangement in Brown', now identified as Arrangement in Black and Brown: The Fur Jacket y181 'are in the possession of Mrs Noseda Printseller of the Strand with several other pictures upon which she has advanced a sum of money to me', an adds:

'[They were so deposited with Mrs Noseda for such advance by Mr Charles Augustus Howell a friend of Mr Whistlers & as between Howell & Mrs Noseda they appear to be Mr Howells property] & so far as I know they are still in her possession at her Shop in the Strand aforesaid.' ⁴⁰

Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket was produced in court on the afternoon of 25 November 1878 as evidence in the libel suit Whistler brought against John Ruskin.

'HOLKER: What has become of the Nocturne in Black and Gold?

WHISTLER: I believe it is before you.

HOLKER: You have not sold it?

WHISTLER: No, but I have deposited it.

HOLKER: You can get it?

WHISTLER: It would be very difficult; I believe you have it. (Laughter).' ⁴¹

According to the report of the trial published in the Globe, John Humffrey Parry (1824-1880) stated that Noseda had been subpoenaed to produce the Nocturne. ⁴²

However, the painting was by the end of the year in the hands of the London art dealers and publishers H. Graves & Co. According to the statement of their account sent by Algernon Graves (1845-1922) to Whistler in 1888, Charles Augustus Howell (1840?-1890), acting on Whistler's behalf, had deposited the two Cremorne Nocturnes (Nocturne: Black and Gold - The Fire Wheel y169 and Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket y170), with Graves in 1878 as surety for a loan to Whistler of £85.0.0. ⁴³

In a letter of 17 March 1881 Algernon Graves wrote to Whistler that he had got back 'the three nocturnes ... but they must not stand over too long.' ⁴⁴ On 9 January 1882 Whistler wrote to ask Graves to lend him 'the two Nocturnes of Cremorne - the upright one with the fireworks (falling rocket)' to show in his studio. ⁴⁵ On 10 June of the same year, Graves wrote to Whistler and delivered two pictures on the condition that if unsold they should be returned, and if they were sold the money should be paid to his firm and 'all you get over £50 put to credit on account of payment still to be made by you on account of the purchase of the Carlyle [Arrangement in Grey and Black, No. 2: Portrait of Thomas Carlyle y137] & Mrs Whistler [Arrangement in Grey and Black: Portrait of the Painter's Mother y101] pictures.' ⁴⁶ On 19 June 1882 Whistler wrote to Henry Graves stating 'I will send you very soon a cheque on account of the two Nocturnes you were so good as to send.' ⁴⁷

On 26 April 1883 Whistler made a down payment of £50.0.0 towards the re-purchase of Nocturne: Black and Gold - The Fire Wheel y169 and Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket from Graves, leaving £35.0.0 plus interest of £9.18.4 still outstanding. ⁴⁸ The Graves were generous in allowing the works to be exhibited, presumably in hopes that they would be sold and Whistler would be able to return the money he owed. The painting went to Paris and to Wunderlich, New York dealers, in 1883. Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket may have been the 'Nocturne of fireworks at Vauxhall' seen by Joseph Pennell (1860-1926) in Whistler's house on 13 July 1884. ⁴⁹ It may have been in Edinburgh in 1886 and Paris in 1887. On 2 March 1889 Whistler suggested that if Graves could 'sell the Ruskin for 400 £', he could deduct the 10 per cent commission from the sale, as well as the £35 still due on the two Nocturnes. ⁵⁰ On its travels again, it was in New York in 1889, and Brussels and Paris in 1890. It was priced at 300 guineas in 1889, but remained unsold, and was returned to Whistler after the exhibition by Wunderlich's on the SS Servia. ⁵¹ Despite this setback, just over a year later, on 10 December 1890, Whistler promised Graves that he hoped to 'rapidly pay off the sums that remain still due upon the other Paintings', including the two Nocturnes, and it is likely that he did so soon after. ⁵²

According to the artist Sidney Starr (1857-1925), Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket was with Messrs Dowdeswell, London dealers, for some time 'and could have been bought for much less than its price in 1892 … Mr. Walter Dowdeswell … said that apparently few people thought as I did, for no one wished to buy it.' ⁵³ After his retrospective show at Goupil's in 1892 Whistler asked Richards, the picture restorer, to clean 'a large Nocturne of Cremorne', and remove the varnish 'so that I can paint upon it.' ⁵⁴ Shortly afterwards it was sold by Whistler to Samuel Untermeyer (Untermyer) (1858-1940), New York, in October 1892 for £840, on the advice of Sidney Starr (1857-1925), and despatched to America on 6 October. ⁵⁵

After the sale Whistler wrote to his publisher William Heinemann (1863-1920): 'You will be pleased to hear also that the cheque for the Pot of Paint four times over has been paid into the bank, and now you can tell the people'. ⁵⁶

The painting remained with the Untermeyer family until the auction of their collection at New York in 1940, when it was bought by the bookseller and art dealer Charles Sessler (1854-1935) for $7500. In 1944 it was with Knoedler's in New York, who lent it to an exhibition in Toronto. Knoedler's sold it to Scott & Fowles, also New York dealers, in 1946, and it was bought in the same year by Dexter M. Ferry, Jr, for the Detroit Institute of Arts, for $10,000.

Exhibitions

• 1875: Ninth Winter Exhibition of Cabinet Pictures in Oil, Dudley Gallery, London, 1875 (cat. no. 170) as 'Nocturne, in Black and Gold – The Falling Rocket'.
• 1877: I Summer Exhibition, Grosvenor Gallery, London, 1877 (cat. no. 4, in West Gallery) as 'Nocturne in Black and Gold'.
• 1883: Probably Exposition Internationale de Peinture, Galerie George Petit, Paris, 1883 (cat. no. 8) as 'Nocturne en noir et or'.
• 1883: “Arrangement in White and Yellow” - 50 Etchings and Drypoints (Venice Second Series), H. Wunderlich & Co., New York, 1883 (cat. no. 7). The exhibition travelled to Baltimore, Boston, Philadelphia, Detroit and Chicago.
• 1886: Either Nocturne: Black and Gold - The Fire Wheel y169 or Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket y170 was probably in International Exhibition, Edinburgh, 1886 (cat. no. 1399) as 'Nocturne' (see Nocturne y171).
• 1887: Either Nocturne: Black and Gold - The Fire Wheel y169 or Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket was probably in Exposition Internationale de Peinture et de Sculpture, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 1887 (cat. no. 212) as 'Nocturne en noir et or'.
• 1889: “Notes” – “Harmonies” – “Nocturnes”, H. Wunderlich & Co., New York, 1889 (cat. no. 55).
• 1890: Exposition Générale des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, 1890 (cat. no. 840) as 'la fusée tombante'.
• 1890: 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'.
• 1892: Nocturnes, Marines & Chevalet Pieces, Goupil Gallery, London, 1892 (cat. no. 10) as 'Nocturne, In Black and Gold – the Falling Rocket'.
• 1900: Sixty-ninth Annual Exhibition, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 1900 (cat. no. 30) as 'Fireworks'.
• 1902: 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'.

1875-1877: The Scotsman on 23 October 1875 described Whistler's nocturnes on exhibition at the Dudley as 'marvellous and bizarre'. The Examiner, on 13 November 1875, found it difficult to see the painting at all because it was so dark and was glazed. The London Evening Standard commented on 29 October 1875 that 'it shows us the effects of fire sparks seen against a sky of the hue of ebony'.

Thus in 1875 it seemed comprehensible to some art critics, but by 1877 one critic called Whistler's paintings 'eccentric performances' and another asked, 'What is meant by a Nocturne in black and gold?' ⁵⁷

1878: Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket was produced in court on the afternoon of 25 November 1878 as evidence in the libel suit Whistler brought against John Ruskin (1819-1900).

1882: On 9 June 1882 Whistler wrote to ask Graves to lend him 'the upright one with the fireworks (falling rocket) and the long one with the great Catherine Wheel' to show in his studio, and on 10 June Graves delivered five pictures to the artist on the condition that if unsold they should be returned. It is not clear if Whistler planned to exhibit them privately or publicly. ⁵⁸

Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket, Detroit Institute of Arts

1883: At the Galerie George Petit, Paris, the 'Nocturne en noir et or', was seen by Alfred de Lostalot (1837-1909) and Joris-Karl Huysmans (1848-1907). Lostalot commented:

'Passe pour le Nocturne en noir et or, le Nocturne en bleu et argent et les autres tableaux du même genre; ici le site ou l'action n'ont qu'une importance secondaire; tout l'intérêt récide dans la sensation produite par les variations des "taches" sur les deux thèmes choisis: feux d'artifice, dans le premier cas; marine au clair de la lune dans le second.' ⁵⁹

Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket, 1892, Goupil Album

In 1892 it was shown at Whistler's restrospective exhibition and a photograph was reproduced in the album published by the Goupil Gallery.

It was lent under the name of Mrs Untermeyer to an exhibition in Philadelphia in 1900. The Untermeyers were generous lenders, to exhibitions in New York, 1902, Pittsburgh, 1902-1903, Boston, 1904 and Paris, 1905, and they also lent the painting to the Metropolitan Museum, New York, in 1907 and 1910.

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. 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 y171).
• 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).