Whistler moved to London in 1859. His views of the Thames, depictions of London gardens and neighborhoods, and portraits of London characters are among Whistler\u2019s most famous subjects. In London he formed new relationships, including with artists of the Pre-Raphaelite circle and literary figures including Algernon Swinburne and Oscar Wilde. His home was a social hub, host to dinner parties and Sunday breakfasts featuring American pancakes. London was the site of one of the most important galleries associated with Whistler, the Grosvenor Gallery, which helped promote the Aesthetic Movement. And, London saw two of Whistler\u2019s most notorious controversies, his dispute with patron Frederick Leyland over the Peacock Room, and, shortly thereafter, the trial in which Whistler sued art historian John Ruskin for libel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While controversial, he also received accolades. By 1886 he was elected President of the Society of British Artists, at the time a sleepy alternative to the Royal Academy, but due to conflicts with members, he was forced to resign by 1888. While he continued to live primarily in England, by the end of his life his thoughts on the British art world had soured. In his will he instructed his executrix that regarding works remaining in his studio \u201cnone of them should ever find a place in an English Gallery.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
[UD_EXHIBITION_ITEM]<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n James McNeill Whistler (American, 1834\u20131903) When Whistler arrived in London in 1859, he chose to live in Wapping, a working-class district on the Thames. He wanted to understand life on the river. Wapping was filled with wharves, taverns, boarding houses, fishmongers, dock workers, and all manner of labor associated with the river.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The detailed line-work seen here was characteristic of Whistler\u2019s early etching style. The worker in a barge in the immediate foreground is a compositional device that arrests the viewer\u2019s eye before proceeding to the far shore and a ramshackle collection of buildings. The title of the print comes from a sign on a building at upper right, reading \u201cBlac Lion Wharf\u201d (with no \u201cK\u201d).<\/p>\n\n\n\n This print was published much later, in 1871 as part of the Series of Sixteen Etchings of Scenes on the Thames<\/em>, commonly called the \u201cThames Set.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n [UD_EXHIBITION_ITEM]<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sir Francis Seymour Haden (British, 1818\u20131910) Francis Seymour Haden made this sweeping view of the Thames from his brother-in-law Whistler\u2019s window at 7 Lindsay Row in Chelsea. There, Whistler was ensconced in a cultural neighborhood that included Dante Gabriel Rossetti (and for a time his housemates, the poet Algernon Swinburne and the novelist George Meredith), Walter Greaves and his brother Henry, among others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [UD_EXHIBITION_ITEM]<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sir Francis Seymour Haden (British, 1818\u20131910) This etching is something of a reversal of the view of the Thames from Whistler\u2019s window produced by Francis Seymour Haden (nearby). Here, Haden depicts Whistler\u2019s house in the Chelsea neighborhood of London at 7 Lindsay Row. Whistler moved there in 1863, the year this print was produced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [UD_EXHIBITION_ITEM]<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sir Francis Seymour Haden (British, 1818\u20131910) Francis Seymour Haden, like his brother-in-law Whistler, frequently turned to the Thames as a source of inspiration. Here, Haden evokes a serene sense of the river. Yet, this was a highly traveled commuter spot. He is depicting the landing area for the ferry that conveyed travelers between Brentford and Kew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [UD_EXHIBITION_ITEM]<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Walter Greaves (British, 1840\u20131930) Walter Greaves and his brother Henry were among Whistler\u2019s earliest devotees and assistants. They were the sons of a boatman who made his living on the Thames. Walter Greaves spent a great deal of time rowing with Whistler on the river as he observed life on the Thames and the river\u2019s atmosphere. The Thames was one of the subjects for which Whistler was best known.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This etching depicts two subjects greatly familiar to Whistler, Lindsey Wharf in the Chelsea neighborhood of London where Whistler lived for many years, and Battersea Bridge in the distance, which Whistler depicted in his own art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [UD_EXHIBITION_ITEM]<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n James McNeill Whistler (American, 1834\u20131903) Bridges over the Thames in London were some of Whistler\u2019s favorite subjects in painting and works on paper. The bridge, which connects the districts of Fulham on the north bank and Putney on the south bank, in this print was also the subject of a watercolor. Some of his views of bridges over the river were soft, atmospheric and moody, evoking London fog. Others, as with this example, emphasize detailed line work and convey a sense of the life and work that occurred on and around the Thames.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bridge motifs are also found in his works from Amsterdam and Venice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [UD_EXHIBITION_ITEM]<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n James McNeill Whistler (American, 1834\u20131903) This is one of Whistler\u2019s most celebrated etchings, depicting one of his most recognizable models, Joanna Hiffernan. She featured in major paintings including Symphony in White, No. 1: The White Girl<\/em>, 1863, and Symphony in White, No. 2: The Little White Girl<\/em>, 1864 (a period photograph of this painting, on view nearby). Hiffernan lived with Whistler in the 1860s, handling much of his business affairs. Her relaxed, informal pose suggests the intimacy between artist and model. Whistler\u2019s concentration of detail around her shoulders and face highlights her most remarkable feature\u2014her bountiful red hair. The lounging posture evokes a Pre-Raphaelite sensibility and at the time Whistler was close with Dante Gabriel Rossetti, his neighbor in Chelsea. Whistler\u2019s composition can be seen in conversation with more than one of Rossetti\u2019s works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [UD_EXHIBITION_ITEM]<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Dante Gabriel Rossetti (British, 1828\u20131882) Dante Gabriel Rossetti\u2019s drawing of Jane Morris recalls the mood of Whistler\u2019s earlier, famous drypoint, Weary <\/em>(nearby). The two artists were friends and had a mutual impact on each other\u2019s work. The drawing is also an example of the type of art for which Dante Gabriel Rossetti was best-known, depictions of beautiful women in both literary subjects and modern domestic scenes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jane Morris was the wife of William Morris, the renowned designer, writer, and activist associated with the Arts and Crafts Movement. A talented craftsperson herself, she became Rossetti\u2019s principal model and muse in the 1860s and the couple had a love affair. This drawing belonged to the artist\u2019s brother, William Michael Rossetti, an important art critic and supporter of Whistler. William Rossetti testified on Whistler\u2019s behalf in the 1878 trial between Whistler and Ruskin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [UD_EXHIBITION_ITEM]<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Walter Greaves (British, 1846\u20131930) This uniquely retouched print is by one of Whistler\u2019s earliest followers, Walter Greaves. It is a delicate depiction of his sister, Alice Greaves, who was also occasionally a model for Whistler. Significantly, the Greaves family introduced Whistler to the Cremorne Gardens in London. Alice was known to accompany Whistler to the decadent pleasure gardens known for entertainments of all variety, including fireworks displays. These fireworks provided the subject matter for one of Whistler\u2019s most notorious, and nearly abstract paintings, Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket<\/em>, 1875.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [UD_EXHIBITION_ITEM]<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n John Robert Parsons (Irish, c. 1826\u20131909), after James McNeill Whistler (American, 1834\u20131903) Whistler\u2019s major painting, originally titled The Little White Girl<\/em>, completed in 1864, portrays Joanna Hiffernan, (the same model for the etching Weary,<\/em> nearby) standing in front of the fireplace in the drawing room of Whistler\u2019s house in Lindsey Row. The pose and the accessories\u2014porcelain and a Japanese export market fan\u2014show the artist\u2019s increasing interest in Asian art. The painting inspired Algernon Swinburne to write a poem \u201cBefore the Mirror.\u201d This photograph shows it as originally exhibited at the Royal Academy, in a special frame\u2014now lost\u2014with the \u201cverses under a picture\u201d printed on gold paper. The \ufb01nal text appeared in Swinburne\u2019s Poems and Ballads<\/em>, 1866.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [UD_EXHIBITION_ITEM]<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Algernon Charles Swinburne (British, 1837\u20131909) This is one of several surviving manuscripts of the poem Algernon Swinburne wrote upon seeing Whistler\u2019s painting Symphony in White, No. 2: The Little White Girl, <\/em>1864, in which he added the dedication to Whistler. Swinburne sent an earlier draft to John Ruskin, hoping to interest him in Whistler\u2019s work\u2014without success. Long after their friendship ended, Whistler was still able to praise Swinburne\u2019s poetic tribute, calling it in 1900, \u201ca rare and graceful tribute from the poet to the painter – a noble recognition of a work by the production of a nobler one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n [UD_EXHIBITION_ITEM]<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Dante Gabriel Rossetti (British, 1828\u20131882) Here, Dante Gabriel Rossetti sensitively depicts young lyric poet Algernon Swinburne, who was often associated with Pre-Raphaelite circles. Swinburne even lived for a time in Rossetti\u2019s house, 16 Cheyne Walk in Chelsea, only a few minutes from Whistler\u2019s house. Rossetti, Whistler and Swinburne were constantly in each other\u2019s company in the 1860s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The relationship between Swinburne and Whistler dissolved in the mid-1880s over Swinburne\u2019s negative review of Whistler\u2019s \u201cTen O\u2019Clock\u201d lecture. By this time, Swinburne, once notorious for his sexually-charged verse, radical politics, and alcoholism, had become a respectable resident of a London suburb, Whistler referring to him as \u201coutsider – Putney\u201d who was not qualified to speak about art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [UD_EXHIBITION_ITEM]<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Dante Gabriel Rossetti (British, 1828\u20131882) A self-made shipping magnate, Frederick Leyland was also a major art patron. By the early 1870s he assembled a remarkable collection of Italian Renaissance art and paintings by Pre-Raphaelite artists, including Dante Gabriel Rossetti, who depicted him in this sensitive portrait. Whistler, too, came into Leyland\u2019s orbit and they developed a close association. Leyland commissioned Whistler to make portraits of his family and he purchased the artist\u2019s painting The Princess from the Land of Porcelain<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Two major scandals would fracture the relationship. One involved rumors of an affair between Whistler and Frances Leyland, Frederick\u2019s wife and Whistler\u2019s friend and model. The other involved Whistler\u2019s elaborate\u2014and largely unsolicited\u2014additions to the dining room in Leyland\u2019s London home, known as the Peacock Room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [UD_EXHIBITION_ITEM]<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Obach Galleries In 1876, Frederick Leyland asked Whistler to complete the dining room quickly at his London house when original decorator, Thomas Jeckyll left the project. Instead, Whistler made elaborate interventions for nearly two years, covering the Spanish leather and walnut paneling with blue-green paint and gold gilding, complementing his own painting, The Princess from the Land of Porcelain<\/em> above the fireplace. When Leyland paid half of what Whistler asked for the unauthorized work, Whistler added a final element: a twelve-foot mural of two fighting peacocks representing artist and patron. The stunning Aesthetic interior became known as the Peacock Room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This booklet promoted the sale of the Peacock Room when it was dismantled after Leyland\u2019s death. The photographs document Whistler\u2019s decorations and open shelving designed to display Leyland\u2019s collection of ceramics. Charles Lang Freer purchased and moved the room to his home in Detroit. It was later relocated to the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, where it remains today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [UD_EXHIBITION_ITEM]<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sir Henry Thompson (British, 1820\u20131904) In the 1860s and 1870s, Chinese porcelain and British porcelain modeled on Chinese designs were fashionable among artists and collectors in London. Whistler, Frederick Leyland, and Dante Gabriel Rossetti had collections. Blue and white porcelain became an important feature in Aesthetic Movement interiors, meant to infuse beauty into every aspect of life. Collecting was highly competitive\u2014there are even reports of collectors stealing pieces from one another. This elaborate privately printed book catalogues ceramics owned by Henry Thompson, a rich physician and amateur painter and friend to Whistler in the 1870s. Whistler made sixteen full-page illustrations for this book, as well as a cover design in the style of a Japanese lacquer box.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The catalogue was limited to only 220 copies circulated privately among a select milieu. This copy is inscribed by Thompson to a well-known authority on Chinese porcelain, Stephen Wootton Bushell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [UD_EXHIBITION_ITEM]<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Minton and Company This plate is an example of a late nineteenth-century form made by Minton and Company, which had been originally founded in 1793 by Thomas Minton. The design was derived from Chinese export porcelain, which had become popular in England. Both Whistler and his patron Frederick Leyland were known for their love of blue and white porcelain. The Peacock Room in Leyland\u2019s London home was filled with open shelving to display his extensive collection of porcelain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Whistler moved to London in 1859. His views of the Thames, depictions of London gardens and neighborhoods, and portraits of London characters are among Whistler\u2019s most famous subjects. In London he formed new relationships, including with artists of the Pre-Raphaelite circle and literary figures including Algernon Swinburne and Oscar Wilde. His home was a social […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":58,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-exhibition.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-178","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhibitions.lib.udel.edu\/whistler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/178"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhibitions.lib.udel.edu\/whistler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhibitions.lib.udel.edu\/whistler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhibitions.lib.udel.edu\/whistler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhibitions.lib.udel.edu\/whistler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/exhibitions.lib.udel.edu\/whistler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/178\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":660,"href":"https:\/\/exhibitions.lib.udel.edu\/whistler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/178\/revisions\/660"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhibitions.lib.udel.edu\/whistler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/58"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhibitions.lib.udel.edu\/whistler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Black Lion Wharf<\/em>, 1859
etching on paper
Special Collections<\/strong>, A. J. Rosenfeld Etchings Collection<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Battersea Reach,<\/em> 1863
etching on paper
Mark Samuels Lasner Collection
Recent Acquisition<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Whistler\u2019s House at Old Chelsea<\/em>, 1863
etching on paper
Delaware Art Museum, Gift of Dr. Charles Lee Reese, 1940<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Brentford Ferry<\/em>, 1865
etching on paper
Museums Collections, Gift of Mrs. John Sloan<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Coal Barges Unloading<\/em>, 1872
etching on paper
Mark Samuels Lasner Collection
Recent Acquisition<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Old Putney Bridge<\/em>, 1879
etching and drypoint on paper
Mark Samuels Lasner Collection<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Weary<\/em>, 1863
drypoint and roulette on Japanese paper
Mark Samuels Lasner Collection<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Jane Morris<\/em>, 1870
pencil on paper
Mark Samuels Lasner Collection<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Portrait of a Lady Wearing a White Cape<\/em>, c. 1877
etching with drypoint, retouched with pencil and wash on paper
Mark Samuels Lasner Collection
Recent Acquisition<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Symphony in White, No. 2, The Little White Girl<\/em>, 1865
albumen photograph on mount
Inscribed on mount \u201cTo Swinburne. from J. McNeill Whistler\u201d and signed with the \u201cbutter\ufb02y\u201d
Mark Samuels Lasner Collection<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Before the Mirror: Verses under a Picture, Inscribed to J.A. Whistler<\/em>, 1865
autograph manuscript
Mark Samuels Lasner Collection<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Algernon Charles Swinburne<\/em>, 1860
pencil on paper
Mark Samuels Lasner Collection<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Head of Frederick Leyland<\/em>, 1879
pastel on paper
Delaware Art Museum, Samuel and Mary R. Bancroft Memorial, 1935
Exhibited Spring 2021<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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The Peacock Room: Painted for Mr. F. R. Leyland by James McNeill Whistler; Removed in its Entirety from the Late Owner’s Residence & Exhibited at Messrs. Obach’s Galleries. <\/em>London: The Galleries, 1904
Courtesy, the Winterthur Library: Printed Book and Periodical Collection<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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A Catalogue of Blue and White Nankin Porcelain: Forming the Collection of Sir Henry Thompson, Illustrated by the Autotype Process from Drawings by James Whistler, Esq., and Sir Henry Thompson.<\/em> London: Ellis and White, 1878
Mark Samuels Lasner Collection<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Dinner plate, c. 1878
painted earthenware
Mark Samuels Lasner Collection<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n