The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler
YMSM 231
Blue Wave: Near the Casquet Rocks
Date
Blue Wave: Near the Casquet Rocks dates from 1881. 1
Whistler visited Guernsey and Jersey in October 1881. On 9 October he tried to persuade his friend, the artist Matthew Robinson Elden (1839-1885) to join him, saying 'I propose to be away for 10 days or a couple of weeks.' 2 Later he described the hazards of the trip to his sister-in-law, Helen ('Nellie') Euphrosyne Whistler (1849-1917):
'I only got here on Saturday morning - after a trip - if you can call it [a] trip - of the wildest - thirteen and a half hours of pitch and toss until it was a mere chance how I turned up - heads or tails! - At Guernsey then I chucked up the game and went ashore - There I stayed and struggled with wind and weather - and paintboxes with that perseverance that is the peculiarity of this family, as you will know - But what will you - quite hopeless - After being whisked about on the tops of very grand rocks and nearly blown into the sea canvas and all and dragging myself each evening back to the inn a dishevelled wreck of fright and disappointment I ceased a career only fit for an accrobat [sic] and came over to Jersey remembering that you had said it was comparatively flatter! ... not a single picture have I managed yet - though I have tried ever so hard ... However I shall still try - for a few days longer ...
I have had the folly to bring with me lots of boxes and traps enough to produce a Gallery of chef d'oeuvres!' 3
Thomas Robert Way (1861-1913) remembered a painting 'of a vast deep blue wave, painted near the Casquet rocks', as one of several 'which I have never seen since.' 4
Images
Blue Wave: Near the Casquet Rocks, Whereabouts unknown
Subject
Titles
Possible titles include:
- 'the vast deep blue wave ... near the Casquet rocks' (1912, T. R. Way). 5
- 'Blue Wave: Near the Casquet Rocks' (1980, YMSM). 6
'Blue Wave: Near the Casquet Rocks' is the preferred title.
Description
A seascape, with a 'deep blue wave': Thomas Robert Way (1861-1913) wrote 'I have a vivid recollection of the extraordinary liquidity and transparency of the water … given ... in one great sweep of the brush.' 7
Site
The Casquet Rocks are a navigational hazard eight miles west of the island of Alderney. Whistler visited Guernsey and Jersey in 1881.
Technique
Technique
Unknown. Thomas Robert Way (1861-1913) remembered 'the extraordinary liquidity and transparency of the water … all given, seemingly, in one great sweep of the brush.' 8
History
Provenance
Unknown. Thomas Robert Way (1861-1913) remembered the painting, 'one of a vast deep blue wave, painted near the Casquet rocks', as one of several 'which I have never seen since.' 9
Exhibitions
Unknown.
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. 231) as 'Blue Wave: Near the Casquet Rocks'.
Authored by Whistler
- None.
Catalogues 1855-1905
- None.
Journals 1855-1905
- None.
Monographs
- None.
Books on Whistler
- Way, Thomas Robert, Memories of James McNeill Whistler, the Artist, London and New York, 1912, p. 59.
Books, General
- None.
Catalogues 1906-Present
- None.
Journals 1906-Present
- None.
Websites
- None.
Unpublished
- Revillon, Joseph Whistler, Draft Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of J. McN. Whistler, [ca 1945-1955], Glasgow University Library (cat. no. 406).
Other
- None.
Notes:
1: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 231).
2: 9 October [1881], GUW #12818.
3: [17 October 1881], GUW #06700.
4: Way 1912 [more], p. 59.
5: Way 1912 [more], p. 59.
6: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 231).
7: Way 1912 [more], p. 59.
8: Way 1912 [more], p. 59.
9: Way 1912 [more], p. 59.