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NEWSLETTER No 15 April 2018

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NEWSLETTER No 15 April 2018 Whistler Society www.whistlersociety.org Hon Patrons: Dr. Stephen Bury, Frick Collection, New York; Dr. Lee Glazer, Freer Gallery, Washington; Dr.Charles Saumarez Smith, Royal Academy, London; Professor Margaret MacDonald, Glasgow University Patrons: Lady Armstrong of Ilminster; William Loschert; Laurent Lourson; Pemberton Greenish; Sloane Stanley Estate, John Thacker. NEWSLETTER No 15 April 2018 DATES FOR YOUR DIARY - SOCIETY EVENTS 25 APRIL WHISTLER, WILDE AND CHELSEA - Sold Out 15 MAY THE CRITICISM OF WHISTLER PRINTS 11 JULY ANNUAL WHISTLER DINNER AT THE CHELSEA ARTS CLUB Details to follow OTHER EVENTS EXHIBITION - RODIN AND THE ART OF ANCIENT GREECE, BRITISH MUSEUM, LONDON, 26 APRIL-29 JULY 2018 The exhibition will provide a new opportunity to focus on the Parthenon sculptures as individual works rather than as part of an ensemble and understand the extent of the influence of the art of antiquity on Rodin and his contemporaries. Rodin never actually visited Greece. His knowledge of the Parthenon came from books, and the sculptures in the Louvre and the British Museum. He first visited the Bloomsbury museum in 1881, and returned at least 15 times. In 1902 he said “in my spare time I simply haunt the British Museum”. His last visit was months before his death in 1917. He usually stayed in the Thackeray, directly opposite the main entrance of the museum. Rodin was a friend of Whistler and particularly when Whistler lived in Paris in the 1890s. Whistler had also been influenced by the British Museums collection when he was working and particularly the tanagra figures. PLAY - RODIN AND HIS LONDON FRIENDS Friday 18 May 2018, 18.30–19.45. British Museum £10 A specially commissioned play written by classicist Sue Blundell inspired by Auguste Rodin and his influential friendship group in London. Rodin met Eve Fairfax, Max Beerbohm and others while sketching some of the Parthenon sculptures in the British Museum. With their help, he travels back in time to revisit his former setbacks and triumphs. The dinner given in his honour at London's Café Royal in 1902 remains a highlight. In his speech that night, he said: 'In my life I have had some good and bad moments. This is one of the best.' Whistler was unable to attend the Café Royal Dinner but he invites Rodin for breakfast. Whistler says that Rodin was very distinguished, but he never asked to see any of Whistler's works. 'It seemed a lack of - well, of what West Point etiquette would have demanded in such a situation ....,'. Rodin could behave very arrogantly at times. (Courtesy Sue Blundell) https://www.eventbrite.com/e/rodin-and-his-london-friends-tickets-41491787052?aff=es2 EXHIBITION - PRINT REBELS, BANKSIDE GALLERY 25 APRIL - 13 MAY 2018 The Music Room, Whistler, 1858; Self Portrait, Haden,1862; This exhibition celebrates the 200th anniversary of the birth of the founder and first President of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers, Francis Seymour Haden. Prints by Haden and those who inspired him including Rembrandt and Durer will be included, along with works by his contemporaries including Palmer and Whistler; members of the RA who were closely associated with the RE and current members of the RE responding directly to their Society's heritage. EXHIBITION - WHISTLER AND PENNELL: ETCHING THE CITY LADY LEVER ART GALLERY, PORT SUNLIGHT, LIVERPOOL 4 MAY TO OCT 2018 Rotherhithe, The Lime-Burner, Edgar Thomson Steel Works, Pittsburg, Courtland Street Ferry, New York, The Bridges, New York, All Images courtesy of National Museums Liverpool The exhibition captures the changing landscape of New York and London in the final years of the industrial revolution. Featuring 38 prints from two of the most influential and innovative etchers - James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) and Joseph Pennell (1857-1926), the exhibition highlights an important period in the history of etching known as the 'Etching Revival'. It explores how both artists championed a declining art medium, and their motivation to create a definitive technique and style. The artists shared an interest in the role of architecture, engineering, industry and production, but differed in their approach. Whistler’s imagery captured the individual characteristics of the city and its workers, while Pennell’s provides an impersonal and more distant perspective. The exhibition also explores the lives of both American artists and their motivations for immigrating to Britain in the second half of the 19th century. NEWS BOOK LAUNCH: WHISTLER’S MOTHER AT FINE ART SOCIETY – 13 MARCH Top Row: Martin Riley, Cllr Ian Adams -Lord Mayor of Westminster, Charles Saumarez Smith – Royal Acadamy, Dan Sutherland and Georgia Toutziari (photos Mark Eastment) Charles Saumarez Smith says in his blog: I went to the launch last night of the new biography of Whistler’s Mother: Portrait of an Extraordinary Life by Daniel Sutherland and Georgia Toutziari (actually, I was speaking at it). The book contains an account of how Whistler’s picture of his mother was submitted to the annual Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy in April 1872 and very nearly turned down: too unfinished perhaps, too nakedly emotional, too monochrome (these were all comments of the critics when it was first shown). They had already turned down The White Girl, his great portrait of Joanna Hiffernan ten years earlier, now The Symphony in White No. 1, one of the masterpieces of the National Gallery of Washington. Then, Sir William Boxall RA, the Director of the National Gallery, a shy man, who had been a friend of Wordsworth, told Council that he would resign if they did not accept the picture. The picture was grudgingly accepted and is now recognised as one of the greatest pictures of the nineteenth century. We wanted to borrow it for our forthcoming exhibition about the ups and downs of the Summer Exhibition, The Great Spectacle (opens June 12th.), but sadly weren’t able to. I’m sorry because it might have been possible to judge what its impact must have been amidst acres of mediocre subject painting. ALEXENDER IONIDES GRAVESTONE, HASTINGS CEMETERY, EAST SUSSEX Top - The gravestone of Alexander Ionides (1810–1890), merchant, and art patron. He was one of the most important early patrons of Whistler. Alexander’s two sons Constantine and Aleco were friends of Whistler when they were studying in Paris. Alexander’s gravestone was commissioned by Constantine and designed by Philip Webb, and has recently been cleared of vegetation (2018) in contrast with a photograph taken in 2016 revealing its full splendor. Bottom - Alexander before leaving moving to Hastings had lived at 1 Holland Park, London, designed by Philip Webb and William Morris. The contemporary photographs above show the house and the Dining Room where can be seen Whistler’s self portrait, and bought from him by Alexander and now in Detroit Institute of Arts. IMPRESSIONISTS IN LONDON, TATE BRITAIN UNTIL 7 MAY 2018 Top - Whistler's Nocturne: Blue and Silver - Chelsea, 1871 is on display at the Tate's "Impressionists in London" exhibition until May. Whistler painted the Nocturne from a front window at 96 Cheyne Walk and is described by Whistler's mother. Bottom - Also in the exhibition is Monet’s Charing Cross Bridge (1899-1902) which was painted from the Savoy Hotel a few years after his friend Whistler had stayed at the Hotel and chosen the subject for a lithograph in 1896. REMEMBERING EUNAN KING The Whistler Society was stunned and saddened to learn of the passing of Eunan King last February 21. A native and resident of Ireland, Eunan was one of the Society’s most steadfast supporters. He eagerly attended Society meetings and events in London, and with a regularity that led many members to assume he lived in the city. He was last at the How Whistler Made Prints event in November at Michelle Avison’s print studio in the depths of Stockwell. He was quick to leave with a bag for the airport. Naturally, he admired Whistler’s art, but his abiding interest was in Joanna Hiffernan. Eunan had spent several years researching her life, to the point that he was arguably the leading authority on Whistler’s White Girl. Most recently, his knowledge and fascination with Jo had led him to write a novel about her relationship with Whistler. He had all but completed the book, and with every expectation of seeing it published, at the time of his passing. His family hopes that Eunan’s dream may still be realized in time for an exhibition that will feature Jo in 2020. Publication of his work will be the tribute Eunan would have most appreciated, but for his many friends, that happy event can hardly substitute for the memories of irrepressible good humour, insatiable curiosity, and infectious enthusiasm he left us. Daniel Sutherland .
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