The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

YMSM 171
Nocturne

Nocturne

Artist: James McNeill Whistler
Date: 1875/1877
Collection: Whereabouts Unknown
Accession Number: none
Medium: oil
Support: unknown
Size: unknown
Signature: unknown
Inscription: unknown
Frame: unknown

Date

Nocturne may date from the mid-late 1870s, as do most of Whistler's nocturnes, but the sole reference to it is when it was exhibited at the International Exhibition, Edinburgh, 1886 (cat. no. 1399). 1

Nocturne: Black and Gold – The Fire Wheel, Tate Britain
Nocturne: Black and Gold – The Fire Wheel, Tate Britain

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

It is possible that it was either Nocturne: Black and Gold - The Fire Wheel y169 or Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket y170.

Images

Nocturne, Whereabouts unknown
Nocturne, Whereabouts unknown

Nocturne: Black and Gold – The Fire Wheel, Tate Britain
Nocturne: Black and Gold – The Fire Wheel, Tate Britain

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

Subject

Titles

Only one title has been suggested:

Description

A night scene.

Site

Unknown.

Technique

Technique

Unknown.

Conservation History

Unknown.

Frame

Unknown.

History

Provenance

Unknown.

Exhibitions

Whistler lent two paintings to Edinburgh in 1886 (Arrangement in Black and Brown: The Fur Jacket y181, Arrangement in Yellow and Grey: Effie Deans y183) which had been deposited with the London dealers, H. Graves & Co., as security for money lent him. This Nocturne may also have been borrowed for the occasion from Graves and should perhaps be identified with either Nocturne: Black and Gold - The Fire Wheel y169 or Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket y170.

It was hung too high to make out details, according to a review of the show, 'The Edinburgh International Pictures', Glasgow Herald, 16 August 1886, p. 8

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

Authored by Whistler

Catalogues 1855-1905

Newspapers 1855-1905

Journals 1855-1905

Monographs

Books on Whistler

Books, General

Catalogues 1906-Present

Journals 1906-Present

Websites

Unpublished

Other


Notes:

1: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 171).

2: International Exhibition, Edinburgh, 1886 (cat. no. 1399).

3: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 171).