Grey and Silver–Purfleet F1902.117a-c: Curatorial Analysis | Whistler in Watercolor

Maker nationality and date: 1834-1903

Date(s): 1881-1883

Medium: Watercolor on paper

Dimension(s): H x W: 16.2 x 22.2 cm (6 3/8 x 8 3/4 in)

Credit Line: Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Object Number: F1902.117a-c

Alternate title: The Thames near Erith

Production location: England, London, near Erith

Theme: Riverview

Signature(s): Maroon butterfly in lower right

Inscription(s): Verso: Thames- near Erith / Butterfly signature

Provenance: From 1902 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Company of the Butterfly, London, in 1902 [1]

From 1920
Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [2]

Notes:

[1] See Original Whistler List, Paintings, pg. 17, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Society of the Butterfly [Company of the Butterfly] was James McNeill Whistler's London business through which he sold his works.

[2] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.

Exhibition History: Dowdeswell and Dowdeswell, "Notes"—"Harmonies"—"Nocturnes", May 1884
Dublin Sketching Club, Annual Exhibition of Sketches, Pictures, and Photography, 1884
Munich Glaspalast, Third Internationale Kunst-Ausstellung, 1888
H. Wunderlich & Co., "Notes"—"Harmonies"—"Nocturnes", March 1889
Copley Society of Art, Oil Paintings, Water Colors, Pastels and Drawings: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Mr. J. McNeill Whistler, February 23 to March 22, 1904

Selected Curatorial Remarks: 1. Lee Glazer, 2018:
Changed title from "The Thames near Erith" to "Grey and Silver--Purfleet." Added "The Thames near Erith" as alternate title. Changed date from 1883–1884 to 1881–1883.

Selected Published References: 1. Curry: James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art, Pg. 185
Whistler included enough information in this scene to let viewers identify the industrialized river, but he reduced what he saw to a subtle orchestration of gray and black, brightened with touches of rust at the center of the composition. In 1885, not long after this work was painted, Whistler delivered his Ten O' Clock Lecture. Whistler stated: "Nature contains the elements, in colour and form, of all pictures, as the keyboard contains the notes of all music. But the artist is born to pick, and choose, and group with science, these elements, that the result may be beautiful." Whistler's rust-colored butterfly marks the artist's presence. It is very carefully placed, counterbalancing all the visual information that "nature" provided.
2. Morning Post, May 24, 1884
"...productions crude, immature, and, like King Richard, 'but half made up.'"
3. Standard, January 2, 1889
"representing chiefly pale broken clouds, in a wan and watery sky..."
4. Home Journal March 15, 1889
"...remarkably clever in indicating cloud effects."

Catalogue Raisonne number: M883
MacDonald Catalogue number

Previous owner(s): Company of the Butterfly (C.L. Freer source) (1897-1903)
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

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Grey and Silver–Purfleet

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