portrait<\/a> of the French aristocrat, dandy, collector, and arch-aesthete Count Robert de Montesquiou, painted by her husband in 1892 (The Frick Collection). Both James and Beatrix set to work on a lithographic version of the portrait for a French art journal in the summer of 1894. However, neither artist was satisfied with the results, so the portraits were never published. This proof print is a rare example of Beatrix Whistler\u2019s work held outside of the Whistler collection at the University of Glasgow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n [UD_EXHIBITION_ITEM]<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\nJames McNeill Whistler (American, 1834\u20131903)
The Thames<\/em>, 1896
lithotint with scraping on paper
Mark Samuels Lasner Collection
Recent Acquisition<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nOne of Whistler\u2019s most complex and evocative nocturnes, The Thames<\/em> was also the last image he created while living at London\u2019s Savoy Hotel with his wife Beatrix in early 1896. Many of Whistler\u2019s lithographs from this period were printed using transfer paper, but he drew this image directly on a stone, which his printers had prepared and delivered to the hotel. Whistler worked on the stone on his balcony for several weeks, eventually capturing the effects of the silvery mist and delicate lights of the Thames at dusk. At this point Beatrix was quite ill with cancer, but when possible her bed was moved near the windows so that she too could take in the view of the river and the city. She died in May 1896.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nWhistler and Wilde<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\nIt was almost inevitable that Whistler’s friendship with writer Oscar Wilde would end with enmity. The men were too much alike: wits, dandies, self-promoters, and outsiders\u2014one American, one Irish\u2014clamoring for attention. A leading proponent of the Aesthetic Movement, Wilde is best known for his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray <\/em>(1891), his comic play The Importance of Being Earnest<\/em> (1895), and the 1895 trial that led to his imprisonment for homosexuality.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhen Wilde met Whistler around 1879, he quickly fashioned himself as the artist\u2019s disciple. As his popularity eclipsed Whistler\u2019s in the 1880s, a battle of wits began to play out in private and in the press. Whistler grew to resent the ways Wilde had adopted not only his ideas, but also elements of his speech and style. Once, after hearing Whistler make a clever remark at a party, Wilde exclaimed that he wished that he had said it. Whistler retorted \u201cYou will, Oscar, you will.\u201d Despite their ultimate falling out, Whistler and Wilde\u2019s repartee helped to shape the public\u2019s perception of both men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
[UD_EXHIBITION_ITEM]<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\nOscar Wilde (Irish, 1854\u20131900)
Poems<\/em>. London: David Bogue, 1881
Author’s presentation copy to Violet Fane, with original manuscript poem
Mark Samuels Lasner Collection<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nOscar Wilde’s volume of verse reflects the significance of writers and artists associated with Aestheticism, including Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Algernon Swinburne, to his writing. Wilde\u2019s admiration for Whistler is apparent in the poem \u201cImpression du Matin.\u201d The opening lines evoke the combination of music and color Whistler sought to convey in his work:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Thames nocturne of blue and gold
Changed to a Harmony in grey<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wilde gave this copy of Poems<\/em> to the writer Violet Fane (pseudonym of Mary Singleton), who was also a friend of Whistler.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n[UD_EXHIBITION_ITEM]<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\nNapoleon Sarony (American, b. Canada, 1821\u20131896)
Oscar Wilde<\/em>, 1882
albumen cabinet card
Mark Samuels Lasner Collection<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nIn January 1882, shortly after arriving in America for a year-long lecture tour, Oscar Wilde posed for a series of photographs in the New York studio of Napoleon Sarony. The portraits were used to advertise his lectures, which were intended to promote Gilbert and Sullivan\u2019s opera Patience<\/em>. Like Whistler, Wilde purposefully shaped his image by adopting distinctive dress. His velvet jacket, knee breeches, and silk stockings quickly became fodder for caricatures and were adopted by his admirers. In this photograph he is holding a volume of his first book, Poems<\/em> (1881). The influence of Whistler was equally evident in the substance of Wilde\u2019s lectures, which addressed art, design, and Aesthetic theory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n [UD_EXHIBITION_ITEM]<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\nJames McNeill Whistler (American, 1834\u20131903)
Mr. Whistler\u2019s \u201cTen O\u2019Clock.\u201d<\/em> London: [Chatto and Windus], 1888
Author\u2019s presentation copy to Beatrix Whistler, accompanied by a printed invitation to the lecture
Mark Samuels Lasner Collection<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nOn February 20, 1885, Whistler delivered his \u201cTen O\u2019Clock\u201d lecture, an hour-long evening talk in London later published in this volume. He carefully orchestrated the event, from the unusual time to the composition of the audience, which included fashionable artists, patrons, and writers. Whistler challenged contemporary ideas about art, arguing that it should not seek to copy nature, have literary meaning, or serve a social purpose. The talk was also a rebuke to Oscar Wilde, who watched from the third row. Whistler felt Wilde had plagiarized his artistic theories. Wilde responded to the lecture with critical articles in the Pall Mall Gazette<\/em>, setting off a series of acerbic exchanges in the press that led to further estrangement.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhistler inscribed this copy of the published lecture to his wife Beatrix using her pet name \u201cTo my \u2018luck\u2019\u201d and signed it with his signature butterfly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n[UD_EXHIBITION_ITEM]<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\nOscar Wilde (Irish, 1854\u20131900)
Wilde v. Whistler: Being an Acrimonious Correspondence on Art between Oscar Wilde and James McNeill Whistler.<\/em> London: Privately Printed, 1906
Special Collections<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nBased on the format of Whistler\u2019s pamphlets, Wilde v. Whistler <\/em>offers insight into the notorious feud between the writer and the artist. Wilde\u2019s canny publisher, Leonard Smithers, produced this small volume as a rare collector\u2019s item, taking advantage of the burgeoning market for both Wilde and Whistler after their deaths. The contents were nothing new, comprising letters and reviews published in London newspapers between 1885 and 1890. The book begins with Wilde’s negative review of Whistler\u2019s \u201cTen O\u2019Clock\u201d lecture and chronicles their ongoing clashes in the press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
[UD_EXHIBITION_ITEM]<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\nAubrey Beardsley (British, 1872\u20131898)
Autograph letter signed to G. F. Scotson-Clark, 9 August 1891
Mark Samuels Lasner Collection<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nAubrey Beardsley was a leading English illustrator of the 1890s and a central figure in the Decadent Movement. He is best known for his striking illustrations for Oscar Wilde\u2019s play, Salome.<\/em> In this letter to a former school friend, the nineteen-year-old artist indicates his great admiration for Whistler and the Arrangement in Grey and Black: Portrait of the Painter\u2019s Mother<\/em>. He had recently seen the painting at the Society of Portrait Painters exhibition in London. Beardsley describes Whistler\u2019s work as \u201ca truly glorious, indescribable, mysterious & evasive picture\u2026the curtain marvellously painted, the border shining with wonderful silver notes.\u201d Beardsley includes a sketch of himself in the same pose as the seated figure of Whistler\u2019s mother, going as far as to sign it with an imitation of Whistler\u2019s butterfly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
[UD_EXHIBITION_ITEM]<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\nHarry Furniss (British, 1854\u20131925)
Sketches of \u201cPatience\u201d at the Opera Comique,<\/em> from Punch<\/em>, June 17, 1881
hand-colored lithograph on paper
Mark Samuels Lasner Collection
Recent Acquisition<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nThis print by illustrator Harry Furniss records scenes from the opening night of Gilbert and Sullivan\u2019s comic opera, Patience<\/em>, which satirized the Aesthetic Movement. Published in the popular magazine Punch<\/em>, the lithograph includes images of the actor George Grossmith in the role of the \u201cfleshly\u201d poet Reginald Bunthorne, who sings:<\/p>\n\n\n\nAm I alone, And unobserved? I am!
Then let me own I’m an aesthetic sham!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With his monocle and dark curly hair with a white streak, Bunthorne\u2019s costume clearly references Whistler, but his knee breeches are reminiscent of Wilde. The show was a commercial success and was one of the few satirical depictions of their identities that both Whistler and Wilde enjoyed. Patience<\/em> helped ensure that the two men were tied together in the public eye as exponents of Aestheticism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n[UD_EXHIBITION_ITEM]<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\nMax Beerbohm (British, 1872\u20131956)
Oscar Wilde<\/em>, late 1890s
pencil and watercolor on paper
Mark Samuels Lasner Collection<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nThe celebrated caricaturist Max Beerbohm depicted Oscar Wilde repeatedly over the course of his career, capturing the controversial writer\u2019s evolving public image and physical appearance. Although Beerbohm knew and greatly admired Wilde, his caricatures often cruelly exaggerated Wilde\u2019s features and emphasized his increasingly corpulent body. When this caricature was produced in the late 1890s, Wilde had reached the height of fame and success with his plays and had met a swift downfall following his conviction for \u201cgross indecency.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although their friendship was over, Whistler followed the legal proceedings and found the prison sentence\u2014two years of hard labor\u2014too harsh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n[UD_EXHIBITION_ITEM]<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\nGeorge Du Maurier (British, b. France, 1834\u20131896)
Maudle on the Choice of a Profession,<\/em> 1881
ink on paper
Mark Samuels Lasner Collection<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nIllustrator and author, George Du Maurier, was a long-term contributor to the satirical magazine Punch<\/em>, where his drawings critiqued Victorian society. Du Maurier helped to create an interest in Aestheticism through his mocking cartoons, many of which featured the characters Maudle and Postlethwaite, who resembled Wilde and Whistler. In this drawing Maudle is shown leaning in to speak to a woman at a fashionable event. The caption clarifies that the Wilde-like figure is arguing that existing beautifully is occupation enough for a young man, an exaggeration of Aesthetic values:<\/p>\n\n\n\nMaudle: \u201cHow consummately lovely your son is, Mrs. Brown!\u201d
Mrs. B (a Philistine from the country): \u201cWhat? He’s a nice, manly boy, if you mean that Mr. Maudle. He has just left school you know and wishes to be an artist.\u201d
M.: \u201cWhy should he be an artist?\u201d
Mrs. B.: \u201cWell, he must be something?\u201d
M.: \u201cWhy should he be anything — why not let him remain for ever content to exist Beautifully!\u201d (Mrs. B. determines that at all events her son shall not study art under Maudle.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n[UD_EXHIBITION_ITEM]<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\nGeorge Du Maurier (British, b. France, 1834\u20131896)
Trilby,<\/em> in Harper\u2019s New Monthly Magazine<\/em>, March 1894
Mark Samuels Lasner Collection<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nTrilby<\/em> was one of the most popular novels of the Victorian era. Set in Paris of the 1850s, it was based on George Du Maurier\u2019s experiences when he and Whistler were students in the studio of painter Charles Gleyre. By 1894, when the story first appeared in installments in Harper\u2019s New Monthly Magazine<\/em>, the once close relationship between Whistler and Du Maurier had grown distant. Whistler was outraged to discover an unflattering and thinly veiled portrait of himself\u2014pictorial as well as textual\u2014in the story. The character Joe Sibley, described as a lazy, pompous, and eccentric American art student, was easily identifiable. Whistler threatened legal action unless Harper\u2019s<\/em> removed all references to Sibley. The dispute drew attention from the British and American press and helped make Trilby<\/em> a sensation\u2014with Whistler\u2019s name permanently attached to the story. When the installments were published as a book, Sibley was removed completely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n [UD_EXHIBITION_ITEM]<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\nGeorge Du Maurier (British, b. France, 1834\u20131896)
Studies for \u201cPunch<\/em>,\u201d 1893\u20131895
album of drawings and autograph manuscripts
Mark Samuels Lasner Collection<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nThis album of George Du Maurier\u2019s sketches contains a portion of the manuscript of Trilby<\/em> concerning Joe Sibley\u2014an unflattering character based on Whistler. It also contains a draft of a letter from Du Maurier to Whistler in which he offers regrets for any offense given. Du Maurier writes that, \u201cNone of my characters were intended for real portraits. You were quite mistaken about my motives. I hope it is no libel to say that I have never been [jealous?] of you; nor (as you seem to think) afraid\u2014nor have I ever borne you any ill will.\u201d The publisher, Harper\u2019s<\/em>, printed a public apology to Whistler, but it is not clear if a version of this more personal missive was ever sent.
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