St. Ives: Sunset F1905.116a-c: Curatorial Analysis | Whistler in Watercolor

Maker nationality and date: 1834-1903

Date(s): 1883-1884

Medium: Watercolor on paper

Dimension(s): H x W: 12.3 x 17.2 cm (4 13/16 x 6 3/4 in)

Credit Line: Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Object Number: F1905.116a-c

Production location: England, Cornwall, St. Ives

Theme: Seascape

Signature(s): Unsigned.

Provenance: To 1905
Thomas Way Sr. (1827-1915), London, or Thomas Robert Way (1861-1913), London, to 1905 [1]

From 1905 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Thomas Way Sr. or Thomas Robert Way in 1905 [2]

From 1920
Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]

Notes:

[1] See Original Whistler List, Paintings, pg. 20A, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Thomas Way Sr. and his son, Thomas Robert Way, were lithographers who worked closely with Whistler on several of his projects. They helped with the printing of his etchings, as well as the printing of Whistler’s promotional materials. Both Thomas Way Sr. and Thomas Robert Way owned many Whistler works. Thomas Way Sr. acquired several of these works at the time of Whistler’s bankruptcy, and he passed some of them on to his son (see The Correspondence of James McNeill Whistler, 1855-1903, ed. Margaret F. MacDonald, Patricia de Montfort and Nigel Thorp, On-line Edition, People, biographies of Thomas Way and Thomas Robert Way; http://www.whistler.arts.gla.ac.uk/correspondence).

Charles Lang Freer acquired many Whistler pieces from the Ways. However, museum records do not always specify whether it was the younger or elder Way who was the source of a particular object. Further, archival sources indicate that the junior Way sometimes acted on behalf of his father: whilst negotiating the sale of his own Whistler works to C.L. Freer, he would concurrently negotiate the sale of some of his father’s Whistler works to Freer. In cases where it is unclear whether it was the junior or senior Way who actually owned a piece acquired by C.L. Freer, the provenance record will simply state that the object was purchased from “Thomas Way Sr. or Thomas Robert Way.”

[2] See note 1.

[3] 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: International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, Memorial Exhibition of the Works of the late James McNeill Whistler, February 22 to April 15, 1905

Selected Curatorial Remarks: 1. Glazer, Jacobson, McCarthy, Roeder, wall label, 2019:
Whistler traveled to St. Ives in southwest England in late 1883, intent on producing works to sell at a solo gallery show in London. He had recently purchased supplies to paint en plein air, including a travel stool and a pochade box, a small case for carrying art materials. The artist reported he was "tremendously busy with lots of pictures of all kinds." He moved easily between painting with watercolors or oils, as seen in The Sea and Sand. Even so, his touch is lighter and his palette appears brighter in the resulting watercolors. These three watercolors from St. Ives are linked by their paper. Each contains traces of kaolin, a fine clay found in the hills of Cornwall and used in porcelain production.

Selected Published References: 1. Curry: James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art, Pg. 187
Whistler left any sense of place behind in this liquid sunset view. Passages of gold, gray, and blue melt into one another, a few semi-transparent comma-shaped strokes manage to evoke small boats hurrying back to port. A single gull, black against the sunset, pulls the eye forward, reminding the viewer that St. Ives: Sunset is an artistic vision of the day's end, painted on a flat sheet of paper.

Catalogue Raisonne number: M918
MacDonald Catalogue number

Previous owner(s): Thomas Way Sr. (1837-1915)
Thomas Robert Way (C.L. Freer source) (1861-1913)
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

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St. Ives: Sunset

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