The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler
YMSM 299
Note in Grey: Holland
Date
Note in Grey: Holland probably dates from between 1884/1885. 1
It was first exhibited in The sixty-second Annual Exhibition, Society of British Artists, London, 1885 (cat. no. 234).
Images
Note in Grey: Holland, Whereabouts Unknown
Subject
Titles
Suggested titles include:
- 'Note in Grey, Holland' (1885, Society of British Artists). 2
- Possibly 'Note Grise: Hollande' (1887, Petit). 3
- 'Note in Grey: Holland' (1980, YMSM). 4
The preferred title 'Note in Grey: Holland' is based on the original title with punctuation altered to conform with other titles.
Description
The Illustrated London News, 25 April 1885, described this painting and Grey and Brown: A South-West Wind y300 as 'studies of Dutch scenery' (see Note en gris: Dordrecht y293). In Truth, 7 May 1885, they were both described as 'little oil paintings of yellow seas.'
Site
The coast of Holland.
Technique
Technique
The technique is unknown.
Conservation History
Unknown.
Frame
Unknown.
History
Provenance
- Unknown.
Exhibitions
- 1885: The sixty-second Annual Exhibition, Society of British Artists, London, 1885 (cat. no. 234) as 'Note in Grey, Holland'.
- 1887: possibly Exposition Internationale de Peinture et de Sculpture, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 1887 (cat. no. 202) as 'Note Grise: Hollande'.
It was priced £31.10.0 in the SBA catalogue.
In the review of Whistler's work at the SBA published in Truth in 1885, which was probably written by Walter Richard Sickert (1860-1942), Whistler's two seascapes were described favourably:
'two little oil paintings of yellow seas are also full of brilliant colour, brilliant by means of being very calm and truthful. They are entirely personal in their selection and composition. They have a marvellous luminous quality, unknown in the usual studio landscape ... Devoid of all palpable evidence of labour, the drawing of these pictures speaks of the masterly precision of the hand trained to trace its lines irrevocably on copper.' 5
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. 299) as 'Note in Grey: Holland'.
Authored by Whistler
- None.
Catalogues 1855-1905
- The sixty-second Annual Exhibition, Society of British Artists, London, 1885 (cat. no. 234) as 'Note in Grey, Holland'.
- Possibly Exposition Internationale de Peinture et de Sculpture, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 1887 (cat. no. 202) as 'Note Grise: Hollande'.
Newspapers 1855-1905
- Daily Telegraph & Courier (London), London, 23 April 1885, p. 4.
- Anon., 'The Society of British Artists', Illustrated London News, London, 25 April 1885, p. 22.
Journals 1855-1905
- Anon., [W. R. Sickert], 'Whistler by a Whistlerite', Truth, 7 May 1885.
Monographs
- None.
Books on Whistler
- None.
Books, General
- Robins, Anna Gruetzner (ed.), Walter Sickert: the Complete Writings on Art, Oxford, 2000, pp. 5-7.
Catalogues 1906-Present
- None.
Journals 1906-Present
- None.
Websites
- None.
Unpublished
- None.
Other
- None.
Notes:
1: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 299).
2: The sixty-second Annual Exhibition, Society of British Artists, London, 1885 (cat. no. 234).
3: Exposition Internationale de Peinture et de Sculpture, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 1887 (cat. no. 202).
4: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 299).
5: Truth, 7 May 1885 [more]. Press cutting in GUL Whistler 6, p. 11.