The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Green and Gold: A Shop in Calais dates from 1896.

Green and Gold: A Shop in Calais, The Hunterian

On 16 September 1896 Whistler wrote to his sister-in-law, Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958), from Calais, 'I began a little shop here - but it was a queer hard day today & I have done no good - Perhaps I had better get at some thing else', and on the following day he wrote that he had stayed on 'in the hope of finishing one small shop I had begun - It would be worth while.' ¹

Images

Subject

Titles

Whistler's original title is not known. Suggested titles are as follows:

• ' "Vert et Gris" (Dieppe)' (1904, Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts). ²
• 'Vert et Gris: A Shop, Dieppe' (1915, Colnaghi). ³
• 'Green and Gold – A Shop in Calais' (1935, Glasgow University). ⁴
• 'Green and Gold: A Shop in Calais' (1980, YMSM). ⁵

'Green and Gold: A Shop in Calais' is the preferred title.

Description

Green and Gold: A Shop in Calais, The Hunterian

A small shop front, depicted in vertical format. On the ground floor, at left is a window. To right of centre is a dark doorway with a green quadrilateral panel across it (rather like the swing-door on a saloon), and to right of this there is a narrow green full-length door, shutter or panel. On the floor above, at left is a large open window with white curtains; it has a slightly arched lunette above, and there are flowers on the narrow balcony. The wall to right of this window is painted dark yellow.

Site

The town of Calais, a busy port and ferry terminal on the north French coast overlooking the Strait of Dover.

Comments

This is a rare example in Whistler's work of a totally unpeopled street scene.

Technique

Technique

Green and Gold: A Shop in Calais, The Hunterian

It is painted thinly in pale shades of yellow ochre and bottle green on a grey primed panel. The design was roughly outlined with a finely pointed brush. The half door is painted a little more thickly, with careful diagonal strokes. The subtle asymmetrical arrangement of geometrical shapes and the textured surfaces of gold and green are visually satisfying.

Conservation History

It is in a stable condition. ⁶

Frame

Green and Gold: A Shop in Calais, The Hunterian

Green and Gold: A Shop in Calais, frame detail

A Grau-style, 1890s, frame. ⁷

History

Provenance

• 1903: in Whistler's studio at his death and bequeathed to his sister-in-law and executrix Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958);
• 1935: given by her to the University of Glasgow.

A note by Miss Birnie Philip dating from about 1901 or 1902 lists 'Green shop. Calais', which may have been this painting, sold to the Paris dealer, Hessele (possibly Charles Hessele (fl. 1892-1914). ⁸ However, perhaps the sale fell through, for this painting was certainly in Whistler's studio at his death in 1903.

Exhibitions

• 1904: Ouvrages de Peintures, Sculpture, Dessin, Gravure, Architecture et Objets d'Art, 14th exhibition, Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1904 (cat. no. 1316) as ' "Vert et Gris" (Dieppe)'.

There is a 'Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts' label on the back of the frame.

It was not, as has been suggested, exhibited in the Exposition Nationale des Beaux-Arts, 7th exhibition, Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Champs de Mars, Paris, 1897 (cat. no. 1257) as 'Vert et violet': the painting intended for that exhibition was almost certainly Green and Violet: The Evening Walk, Dieppe y328, but in fact Whistler withdrew his exhibits at the last minute. ⁹

The label on the verso actually refers to the 1904 Salon, where ' "Vert et Gris" (Dieppe)' (cat. no. 1316) was described by Pierre Baudin (1863-1917) as 'petite façade de maison dieppoise d'une intimité discrète et accueilante.' ¹⁰ In 1904 Miss Birnie Philip noted the size of the painting exhibited in Paris as 48 x 38 cm framed. ¹¹ This is close to the frame of Green and Gold: A Shop in Calais y474 and also to A Shop y376, and La Blanchisseuse, Dieppe y527, and helps to confirm its identity.

It had, incidentally, been suggested that the 1904 exhibit was The Priest's Lodging, Dieppe y482, which is admittedly a similar subject, but this is incorrect.

By the terms of Miss Birnie Philip's gift to the University of Glasgow, Green and Gold: A Shop in Calais y474 cannot be lent.

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. 474), plate 345, as 'Green and Gold: A Shop in Calais'.

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• Ouvrages de Peintures, Sculpture, Dessin, Gravure, Architecture et Objets d'Art, 14th exhibition, Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1904 (cat. no. 1316) as ' "Vert et Gris" (Dieppe)'.

Journals 1855-1905

• Baudin, Pierre, 'Les Salons de 1904: Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, II', Gazette des beaux-arts, vol. 31, 1904, pp. 468-82, at p. 476.

Monographs

• None.

Books on Whistler

• Young, Andrew McLaren, James McNeill Whistler, Milan, 1963, repr. pl. 14.
• Young, Andrew M., James McNeill Whistler, New York, 1978, repr. pl. 14.

Books, General

• None.

Catalogues 1906-Present

COLLECTION:

• Hopkinson, Martin J., James McNeill Whistler at the Hunterian Art Gallery, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, 1990, pp. 46-47, repr.

EXHIBITION:

• Loan Exhibition of Works by James McNeill Whistler to aid the Professional Classes War Relief Council, Messrs Colnaghi, London, 1915 (cat. no. 26) as 'Vert et Gris: A Shop, Dieppe'.
• James McNeill Whistler, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, 1935 (cat. no. 6) as 'Green and Gold – A Shop in Calais'.

Journals 1906-Present

• None.

Websites

• The Hunterian website at http://collections.gla.ac.uk/#/details/ecatalogue/41152.
• Art UK website at https://artuk.org.

Unpublished

• Revillon, Joseph Whistler, Draft Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of J. McN. Whistler, [ca 1945-1955], Glasgow University Library (cat. no. 353).

Other

• Parkerson, Sarah Lawrence, Variations in Gold: The Stylistic Development of the Picture Frames used by James McNeill Whistlers, PhD thesis, University of Glasgow, 2007.