The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Bleu et argent: Dordrecht probably dates from between 1884 and 1886 and certainly before 1887 when it was exhibited at the Galerie Georges Petit. ¹

Images

Subject

Titles

Only one title is known :

• 'Bleu et argent: Dordrecht' (1887, Petit). ²

Description

Possibly a view of the houses or canals in the city 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.

Two of Whistler's paintings have the city in their title: Note en gris: Dordrecht y293 and the painting under discussion, 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, Note in Rose and Silver - Dordrecht m0970, Gold and grey - The Sunny Shower, Dordrecht m0973, and Grey and Green - Dordrecht m0976) and several unlocated (Silver and Red: Dordrecht m0971, A silver note: Dordrecht m0972, Note en gris: Dordrecht m0974, and Dordrecht m1709). However, this is the only painting where 'blue' is given in the title as the dominant colour, and it is not obvious in any of the extant pictures.

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

This may have been an oil or watercolour.

Conservation History

Unknown.

Frame

Unknown.

History

Provenance

• Unknown.

Exhibitions

• 1887: Exposition Internationale de Peinture et de Sculpture, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 1887 (cat. no. 192) as 'Bleu et argent: Dordrecht'.

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. 294) as 'Bleu et argent: Dordrecht'.
• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 972) as 'Bleu et argent: Dordrecht'.

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• Exposition Internationale de Peinture et de Sculpture, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 1887 (cat. no. 192) as 'Bleu et argent: Dordrecht'.

Journals 1855-1905

• None.

General