The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler
YMSM 293
Note en gris: Dordrecht
Date
Note en gris: Dordrecht probably dates from between 1884 and 1886 and certainly before 1887 when it was exhibited at the Galerie Georges Petit. 1
Images
Note en gris: Dordrecht, Whereabouts Unknown
Subject
Titles
Only one title is known:
- 'Note en gris: Dordrecht' (1887, Petit). 2
- Possibly 'Grey note: A Rainy Day – Dordrecht' (1889, Wunderlich). 3
Description
Possibly showing the buildings and canals of the town of Dordrecht.
Site
Dordrecht, in the western Netherlands, is bounded by several rivers, the Oude Maas, Beneden Merwede, Nieuwe Merwede, Hollands Diep, and Dordtsche Kil, and in Whistler's time was a busy port.
Note in Rose and Silver – Dordrecht, Colby College Museum of Art
Gold and grey – The Sunny Shower, Dordrecht, The Hunterian
Two of Whistler's paintings include the city in their title (this painting and Bleu et argent: Dordrecht y294), as do several watercolours, some identified (Dordrecht m0876, r.: Gold and Brown: Dordrecht; v.: Dordrecht m0968, A Little Red Note: Dordrecht m0969, Grey and Green - Dordrecht m0976, and the two reproduced above, Note in Rose and Silver - Dordrecht m0970, and Gold and grey - The Sunny Shower, Dordrecht m0973). In addition several have not been located (Silver and Red: Dordrecht m0971, A silver note: Dordrecht m0972, Note en gris: Dordrecht m0974 and Dordrecht m1709). The recurrence of grey and silver in the titles make it difficult to identify the painting exhibited at Petit's in 1887.
In addition Whistler etched small plates showing boats and canals in Dordrecht: Little Dordrecht [260] (G260), Barges, Dordrecht [262] (G262), and Dordrecht [259] (G259) in 1885 or 1886.
Technique
Technique
It is not known if the painting exhibited in 1887 was an oil or watercolour. However, if it is the same painting that was shown in 1889 under a slightly different title, then it was an oil.
Conservation History
Unknown.
History
Provenance
- Unknown.
Exhibitions
- 1887: Exposition Internationale de Peinture et de Sculpture, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 1887 (cat. no. 178) as 'Note en gris: Dordrecht'.
- 1889: possibly “Notes” – “Harmonies” – “Nocturnes”, H. Wunderlich & Co., New York, 1889 (cat. no. 42) as 'Grey note: A Rainy Day – Dordrecht'.
The painting shown in Paris in 1887 could have been an oil or watercolour (see Note en gris: Dordrecht m0974).
However, the painting shown in New York in 1889 was probably an oil, being priced at 75 guineas; it remained unsold and was returned to Whistler on the SS Servia. 4
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. 293) as 'Note en gris: Dordrecht'.
- MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 974) as 'Note en gris: Dordrecht'.
Authored by Whistler
- None.
Catalogues 1855-1905
- Exposition Internationale de Peinture et de Sculpture, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 1887 (cat. no. 178) as 'Note en gris: Dordrecht'.
- Possibly “Notes” – “Harmonies” – “Nocturnes”, H. Wunderlich & Co., New York, 1889 (cat. no. 42) as 'Grey note: A Rainy Day – Dordrecht'.
Journals 1855-1905
- None.
Monographs
- None.
Books on Whistler
- None.
Books, General
- None.
Catalogues 1906-Present
- None.
Journals 1906-Present
- None.
Websites
- None.
Unpublished
- None.
Other
- None.
Notes:
1: Exposition Internationale de Peinture et de Sculpture, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 1887 (cat. no. 178). YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 293).
2: Exposition Internationale de Peinture et de Sculpture, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 1887 (cat. no. 178).
3: “Notes” – “Harmonies” – “Nocturnes”, H. Wunderlich & Co., New York, 1889 (cat. no. 42).
4: G. Dieterlen, H. Wunderlich & Co., to Whistler, 1 November 1889, GUW #07187.