The collection was compiled from a series of accessions donated between 1959 and 2003. Most of the items in the collection were given to the Archives of American Art by Charles Feinberg in 1959. The pamphlet
The Archives holds several collections relating to James McNeill Whistler including the Katherine Prince collection relating to James McNeill Whistler, 1835- 1892; Edward Guthrie Kennedy papers concerning James McNeill Whistler in the New York Public Library, 1850-1902 and Selected papers concerning James McNeill Whistler in the New York Public Library, 1830-1950 (available on microfilm only, reel N25; originals reside at the New York Public Library); and James McNeill Whistler collection in the University of Glasgow, Special Collections, circa 1830-1963 (available on microfilm only, reels 4600-4611 and 4683-4699; originals reside in the Glasgow University Library, Dept. of Special Collections).
This site provides access to the
The collection was fully processed and a finding aid prepared by Stephanie Ashley in 2011. The collection was digitized in its entirety in 2011. Processing and digitization of the collection were funded by the Terra Foundation for American Art.
James McNeill Whistler collection, 1863-1906, circa 1940. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
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The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the
London-based painter and etcher, James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) was born in Lowell, Massachusetts and lived in St. Petersburg and London as a child before returning to the United States on the death of his father in 1849. After a failed attempt at a military career at West Point from 1851-1853, he worked as a draftsman for the Coast Survey from 1854-1855 where he received technical instruction in etching. Whistler then left for Paris and remained an expatriot for the rest of his life, living alternately in Paris and London. He studied briefly in Paris at the Ecole Impériale, but was influenced more heavily by his own studies of the great masters and his contemporaries, including Henri Fantin-Latour, Charles Baudelaire, Gustave Courbet, and Edouard Manet.
Whistler's reputation as an etcher was firmly established with the 1858 publication of his group of "French Set" etchings. Shortly thereafter he settled in London and began work on his first major painting
When art critic John Ruskin wrote a scathing review of the "Nocturnes" exhibition, Whistler sued for libel and won, although the resulting legal fees drove him into bankruptcy. He spent 14 months in Venice on a commission for the Fine Art Society and produced a succession of etchings and pastels that were subsequently exhibited in 1883 and helped to stabilize his financial situation.
In 1885 Whistler, famous for his witty and flamboyant personality, published his
In 1890 Whistler published
Toward the end of his life Whistler focused increasingly on etching, drypoint and lithography, in addition to interior decoration such as the Peacock Room for Frederick Leyland's London residence begun in 1876. A happy marriage to Beatrix Godwin in 1888 ended in her death in May 1896. By the time of his death in London in 1903, Whistler was regarded as major artist of international renown.
The collection measures 0.2 linear feet and provides scattered documentation of the career of American-born British-based painter and etcher James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) through 39 items from Whistler to various recipients, including 25 letters, 9 telegraphs, 3 invitations, one thank you card and a postcard. The collection also contains 4 letters from others, 7 catalogs of Whistler exhibitions, a note from the back of Whistler's painting
The Whistler letters found here touch on some important events in Whistler's career. One letter to George Lucas, an American art dealer in Paris, discusses his plans to send
Also found are a circa 1879 letter to the eldest son of Robert E. Lee, General George Washington Custis Lee, with whom Whistler had been a cadet at West Point, recommending sculptor Joseph Boehm for an equestrian statue for memorializing Lee and expressing Whistler's veneration for the Confederate general; a circa 1880 letter from Whistler, written during his 14 months in Venice, to Katharine de Kay Bronson, who presided over the expatriate community there; 2 circa 1892-1893 letters documenting Whistler's determination to pursue Sheridan Ford through the courts in response to Ford's publication of a contraband version of Whistler's book
Although few, if any, records survive about the creation of The Company of the Butterfly, a syndicate established in 1897 for selling Whistler's work, the collection contains one letter from Christine Anderson, the secretary of the Company, to one of it's first clients, Herbert Charles Pollitt.
The collection also contains an 1883 invitation from Whistler to Dr. Swan Burnett and his wife, children's author Frances Hodgson Burnett, to view etchings and drypoints and a note written by Whistler and signed with the butterfly, taken from the back of the painting
Seven catalogs dating from 1892-1910 and circa 1940 document Whistler exhibitions in London and the United States.
Seven of the Whistler items are signed with his butterfly signature and all letters sent after his wife's death in May 1896 are on mourning stationary.
The collection is arranged as 1 series:
Letters, invitations, telegraphs and cards from Whistler are arranged alphabetically by recipient, either in individual named folders or grouped by letter. These are followed by letters from others. The pamphlet
From Whistler to Frederick H. Allen
(reports that Sheridan Ford has left Paris for New York under an assumed name and is anxious that the "shocking scoundrel" not "slip through the very clever fingers of the New York Police.")
From Whistler to Correspondents, B
(correspondents include Carolline Van H. Bean, Miss Bird, and W.H.J. Boot)
From Whistler to J. W. Beck
(handwritten copies of letter from and response to, J. W. Beck insulting the Royal Academy's president Sir. Frederick Leighton and stating his belief that "no previous desire on his part ever to deal with work of mine, has prepared me with the proper sort of acknowledgment. No! no Mr. Beck-"Once hung-twice Sky!")
From Whistler to C. B. Bigelow
(mentions the advance he gave to Sheridan Ford that was was never returned and refers to Ford's upcoming prosecution in Antwerp, Belgium)
From Whistler to Katharine de Kay Bronson
From Whistler to Dr. Swan Burnett and Mrs. Burnett (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
From Whistler to Mr. Dubourg
From Whistler to Katherine Bayard Heyward
From Whistler to George Washington Custis Lee
(draft of a letter recommending the sculptor Joseph Boehm for the commission of an equestrian statue of Lee's father Robert E. Lee. Whistler and G. W. Custis Lee had been cadets at West Point when Robert E. Lee had been the Academy's superintendent. Letter closes with "Let me recall myself to your recollection as an old West Point comrade who has never forgotten the high opinion all held of yourself and the veneration we had of your Father.")
From Whistler to George Lucas
(states he is sending the "White Girl" to the Paris exhibition. "I have set my heart upon this succeeding, as it would be a crusher for the Royal Academy here..." He asks Lucas to meet the painting and deliver it)
From Whistler to W. Nicholson
From Whistler to Correspondents, P
(includes letter to William Patten regarding being an agent for Whistler's paintings; see also letter from Voglein to Patten)
From Whistler to Herbert Charles Pollitt
(includes card on mourning stationary postmarked 12 days after the death of his wife Beatrix, thanking Pollitt for "kind expressions")
From Whistler to Correspondents Illegible/Unidentified
(includes 1902 letter probably to rare prints dealer Frederick Keppel)
From Christine Anderson to Herbert Charles Pollitt
(October letter from secretary of the "The Company of the Butterfly" to one of it's first clients requesting that Pollitt send a check "for the baby you so brilliantly carried off...")
From W. Nicholson to Herbert Charles Pollitt
From Voglein to William Patten
(letter asking Patten to be an agent for Whistler's paintings; see also related Whistler letter to Mr. Patten)
Note from
(Whistler note with butterfly signature found pasted on the back of "Beach at Selsey Bill" stating that the "rag of canvas" was "never meant to be signed"; also a printed note stating Whistler's request that "the public should be warned against the possible purchase of a picture in no way representative, and in its acutal condition absolutely worthless.")