James Abbott McNeill Whistler (continued 4)

"He that telleth a tale to ... Carlyle's majority speaketh to one in a slumber: when he hath told his tale he will say, What is the matter?"

RÉSUMÉ.

"It is impossible to take Mr. Whistler seriously."

Advertiser.

"A combination of circumstances has, within the last year or two, brought the name and work of Mr. Whistler into special publicity....

"At the Grosvenor Gallery the less desirable of his designs aroused the inconsiderate ire of a man of genius and splendid authority.

"If it be Mr. Whistler's theory that that which all the world of greatest artists (?) has mistaken for mere means has been in very seriousness the end, then the aim of Art is immeasurably lowered!...

"If there be anything to the point, it is to implore us to take a stone for bread, and the grammar of a language in place of its literature.

"Mr. Whistler has assumed that it is only the painter who is occupied with art.... Unless he is a very exceptional man.... If he is not of the school of Fulham, he is of the school of Holland Park, or of the Grove End Road.

"Has he, like Mr. Ruskin, devoted thirty years of a poet's life to the Galleries of Europe?

"Has he, like Diderot, inquired curiously into the meaning and message of this thing and that? And appreciating Greuze, been able to appreciate Chardin?(!!)"

Mr. Wedmore, "Nineteenth Century."

"Mr. Ruskin's whole body of doctrine, from the very young days, in which he took the duty of teacher, on to his old age, was contradicted by Mr. Whistler's pictures."—Merrie England.

"In painting, his success is infrequent, and it is limited.

"In painting, Mr. Whistler is an impressionist. His best painting betrays something of that almost modern sensitiveness to pleasurable juxtapositions of delicate colour which we admire in Orchardson, in Linton (sic!), and in Albert Moore; it betrays, sometimes, as in a portrait of Miss Alexander, a deftness of brushwork in the wave of a feather, in the curve of a hat ... and of high art qualities it betrays not much besides.

"It is true that the originality of his painted work is somewhat apt to be dependent on the innocent error that confuses the beginning with the end, accepts the intention for the execution, and exalts an adroit sketch into the rank of a permanent picture."

F. Wedmore, "Four Masters of Etching."

"I think Mr. Whistler had great powers at first, which he has not since justified."

Mr. Jones, R.A. Evidence in Court, Nov. 16, 1878.

"The right time and the right place for the conspicuousness of an Impressionist were undoubtedly England, and the moment when Mr. Whistler rose up and astonished her.

"In Paris he was one of many, though he would be at peace in France, that peace would not be unattended with a certain comparative obscurity.

"Inconspicuous solitude would not have had the same charms for him."—Merrie England.

"Au musée du Luxembourg, vient d'être placé, de M. Whistler, le splendide Portrait de Mme Whistler mère, une œuvre destinée à l'éternité des admirations, une œuvre sur laquelle la consécration des siècles semble avoir mis la patine d'un Rembrandt, d'un Titien ou d'un Velasquez."—Chronique des Beaux-Arts.

MORAL.

"Modern British (!) art will now be represented in the National Gallery of the Luxembourg by one of the finest paintings due to the brush of an English (!) artist, namely, Mr. Whistler's portrait of his mother."—Illustrated London News.

A Zealous Inquirer

"A brown-paper covered catalogue ... compiled by Mr. Whistler....

The World, Mar. 23, 1892.

"Several opinions (and his 'evidence at Westminster') are quoted of 'Mr Jones, R.A.,' in the year 1878. Who is Mr. Jones, R.A.? Mr. Jones, R.A. (of whom the Duke of Wellington—but no matter...), died in 1869. Mr Burne-Jones was not elected an A.R.A. until 1885. I am afraid I expose myself, but I still venture to ask, who is 'Mr Jones, R.A.'?"

Final Acknowledgments

Atlas,—Your correspondent proposes that "Mr. Jones, R.A." is not R.A.—but A.R.A.

The World, Mar. 30, 1892.

You know these things, Atlas—perhaps he is right, and curiously microscopic—for surely here we have "a difference without a distinction!"

However, R.A. or A.R.A., and, in my opinion he deserves to be both, I personally owe Mr. Jones a friendly gratitude which I am pleased to acknowledge; for rare indeed is the courage with which, on the first public occasion, he sacrificed himself, in the face of all-astounded etiquette, and future possible ridicule, in order to help write the history of another.

These things we like to remember, Atlas, you and I—the bright things, the droll things, the charming things of this pleasant life—and here, too, in this lovely land they are understood—and keenly appreciated.

As to those others—alas! I am afraid we have done with them. It was our amusement to convict—they thought we cared to convince!

Allons! They have served our wicked purpose—Atlas, we "collect" no more.

"Autres gens, autres mœurs."

Paris, March 26, 1892.

FINIS

INDEX

Action, The, 2 Admission, An, 71 Advanced Critic, An, 244 Advantage of Explanation, The, 245 Another Poacher in the Chelsea Preserves, 233 Apology, An, 107 Apostasy, An, 250 'Arry in the Grosvenor, 72 Art Critic of the "Times," The, 35 Art Critic's Friend, The, 277 "Aussi que diable allait-il faire dans cette galère?", 225 Auto-biographical, 288 "Autre Temps autre Mœurs", 189

"Balaam's Ass", 41

Committee of the "National Art Exhibition," To the, 164 Complacent One, The, 196 "Confidences" with an Editor, 47 Conviction, 88 Correction, A, 66 Critic "Catching on," The, 194 Critic's Analysis, 44 Critic's "Copy", 50 Critic's Mind Considered, The, 45 Critic-flâneur, The, 197

Distinction, A, 119 Document, A, 121

Eager Authority, An, 70 Early Laurels, 176 Easy Expert, The, 113 Editor's Anxiety, An, 264 Embroidered Interview, An, 219 Encouragement, 74 End of the Piece, The, 282 Etchings and Dry-points, 93 "Et tu, Brute!", 259 Exit the Prompter, 283 Exploded Plot, The, vii Extraordinary Piratical Plot, An, v

Fate of an Anecdote, The, 81 Final, 39 Final Acknowledgments, 333 Freeing a Last Friend, 262 Full Absolution, 46 Further Proposition, A, 177

Great Literary Curiosity, A, ix

Habit of Second Natures, The, 236 Hint, A, 118 Home of Taste, The, 230

Imputation, An, 188 Inconsequences, 79 Inevitable, The, 173 In Excelsis, 86 Ingratitude, 195 Insinuation, An, 187 Interview with an Ex-President, An, 205

"Jeux Innocents" in Tite Street, 110 Just Indignation, 243

Last Effort, A, x La Suite, 61 Later, 54 L'Envoi, 285 "Les points sur les i", 130 Line from the Land's End, A, 111

Market Place, In the, 239 Mr. Whistler and his Critics, 91 Mr. Whistler "had on his own Toast", 289 Mr. Whistler's Paper Hunt, viii Mr. Whistler's "Ten o'Clock", 131

Naïf Enfant, 68 New Dynasty, The, 218 "Noblesse oblige", 174 Nocturnes, Marines, and Chevalet Pieces, 293 Nostalgia, 184 "Nous avons changé tout cela!", 169

Official Bumbledom, 223 Official Letter, An, 229 Opportunity, An, 181 Opportunity Neglected, The, 183

Painter-Etcher Papers, The, 52 "Pall Mall" Puzzled, The, 221 Panic, 241 Philanthropy and Art, 166 Played-out Policy, A, 199 Point Acknowledged, The, 43 Position, The, 37 Professor Ruskin's Group, 20 Prologue, 1 Proposal, A, 51 Propositions, 76 Propositions—No. 2, 115

Quand même!, 165 Question, A, 279

Rassurez vous!, 265 Rebuke, A, 129 Red Rag, The, 126 Remonstrance, A, 75 "Rengaines!", 161 Retrospect, A, 213 Royal Society of British Artists and their Signboard, 226

Sacrilege, 124 Seizure of Mr. Whistler's Pirated Writings, vi Serious Sarcasm, 38 Statistics, 211 Straight Tip, A, 69 Suggestion, A, 235 Suspicion, A, 87

Taking the Bait, 106 Talent in a Napkin, 193 Tenderness in Tite Street, 162 Testimony, 247 Troubled One, A, 46

Unanswered Letter, An, 78 Uncovered Opinions, 80

Warning, A, 67 "Whacking Whistler", 269 What "Mr. Whistler had on his own Toast", 291 Whistler v. Ruskin: Art and Art Critics, 21 Whistler's Grievance, 266, 273

Zealous Inquirer, A, 332