Recollections and impressions of James A. McNeill Whistler

by Arthur Jerome Eddy

“We have then but to wait—until with the mark of the gods upon him—there come among us again the chosen—who shall continue what has gone before. Satisfied that, even were he never to appear, the story of the beautiful is already complete—hewn in the marbles of the Parthenon—and broidered, with the birds, upon the fan of Hokusai—at the foot of Fusiyama.”—Whistler’s “Ten o’Clock.”

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INDEX

[A], [B], [C], [D], [E], [F], [G], [H], [I], [J], [K], [L], [M], [N], [P], [R], [S], [T], [V], [W], [Y].

Ajaccio, [281]
Albany, [33]
Allen, Sir William, [35]
America, attitude towards, [52-53];
desire to visit, [22];
trip to South America, [22-23]
American appreciation, [15-17];
art, future of, [63-64];
characteristics, [64-65]
Americanism, Whistler’s, [47-48]
Ancestors, [25-28]
Anecdotes and sayings, as a teacher, [277-281];
attitude towards America, [52-53];
authenticity of stories, [81-82];
bailiff in the “White House,” [112-113];
Balaam’s ass, [84-85];
blue-and-white china, [70];
Boer war, [45];
Carlyle portrait, [123];
colors and pigments used, [72-73];
concerning a sitter, [238-239];
concerning birth, [29];
concerning Carlyle and Miss Alexander, [121];
concerning Chicago, [27];
concerning each portrait, [241-242];
concerning his portraits, [255];
concerning poor lawyers, [148];
concerning purchasers, [265-266];
concerning sittings required, [30-31];
continually polishing, [84-85];
Dieppe, [34];
disintegration of the Royal Society of British Artists, [218];
early days in Paris, [86-88];
early days in Venice, [92-95];
effacing an insult, [43];
falling down stairs, [114];
first money earned with brush, [80-81];
Henry James, [85];
his umbrella, [227];
Hogarth, [55];
house-painters, [212];
late to dinner, [29-30];
Leighton, [82-84];
in lithography suit, [103];
man whose coat did not fit, [42];
“Nana,” [151-153];
Napoleon and I, [281];
Nature looking up, [214];
necktie of a sitter, [191];
no artistic period, [73-78];
old Delft, [71];
painting in the dark, [214];
“Peacock Room,” [129];
of Peter the Great, [35];
railway accident, [33-34];
rebuking an admirer, [162];
rich man’s house, [56];
Rossetti, [111];
Royal Academy, [116-119];
Savoy Hotel, [181];
school, [61];
selling his pictures, [274-275];
Stoeckl dinner, [40-41];
story of “The Yellow Buskin,” [119-120];
studio on ground floor, [229];
the arrangement in gray, [194];
the color of a critic’s clothes, [195];
the grocer’s shop, [193-194];
the millionaire, [276];
the model and the red background, [280];
the pupil who smoked, [279];
the republic and Whistler, [281];
the Ruskin trial, [144-147];
the studio stove, [231];
to the Prince of Wales, [217];
trip to Valparaiso, [22-23];
unwelcome callers at studio, [228];
visit of students to his studio, [134-135];
“warm personal enemy,” [156];
West Point, [36];
while in service of Coast and Geodetic Survey, [37-41]
Angelo, Michael, [253]
Appearance and characteristics, [36];
alertness, [85];
a poser, [149-155];
approachable, except in studio, [227-228];
as a story-teller, [224];
at home, [222];
attitude towards art and artists, [122];
attitude towards nature, [213-216];
attitude towards other artists, [56];
attitude towards purchasers, [265-272];
attitude towards the Royal Academy, [115-119];
careless about keeping list of works, [90];
courage, [42-43];
dilatory habits, [37-41];
dress when a young man, [41-42];
George Moore’s theory, [168-172];
his Americanism, [47-78];
his dislikes and prejudices, [271-272];
laugh, [119];
military spirit, [45-46];
no commercial instinct, [111];
no mystery about his art, [106-108];
on the street, [226];
Puritan element, [49-50];
refinement, [50];
sense of humor, [82];
superstitions, [44];
susceptibility to color intervals, [191-195];
West Point, [44];
when twenty, [38-40]
Art, abstract use of color, [211];
and physique, [168-172];
early love for, [35];
harmonies in line, [182];
his paintings and poetry, [182];
of pure line, [180-181];
Oriental, [176];
purely sensuous, [180]
Artistic period, [73-78]
Autograph character of work, [105-106]
Balcony,” “The, [58]
Baptism, [32]
Baronet vs. The Butterfly, [266-270]
Beauties of form and color, [185-186]
Beethoven, [257];
relation to, [176]
Birth, [28-29], [31-32]
Boston, proposed exhibition of pictures, [20]
Bouguereau, [277]
Boxall, Sir William, [53-54]
Brothers and sisters, [32]
Burne-Jones, [176];
Ruskin trial, [146]
Carlyle, [119];
and Froude, [122-123];
as a friend, [121-122]
Catalogues, [167-168], [265];
of exhibition in 1892, [160-161];
of lithographs, [104].
See Exhibitions
Character. See Appearance and characteristics
Chelsea, Carlyle as neighbor and sitter, [121-122];
Carlyle’s description, [109-111];
death and last illness, [285-286];
early days in, [109];
his last home, [281-286];
the bailiff, [112-113];
“White House,” [112-113];
“White House” occupied by a critic, [114]
Chicago, grandfather founded, [26-27]
Chinese and Japanese art, [181];
autograph character of Japanese art, [105-106];
blue china, [61];
degradation of Japanese art, [78];
influence of, [55]
Chiswick, buried at, [286]
Coast and Geodetic Survey, [39-40]
Color, “ability to feel,” [208];
abstract composition, [197];
and the musical scale, [195-196];
art of pure color, [180-181];
beauties of, [185-186];
decoration, [128-135];
first color harmonies, [58];
his own explanation of, [178-180];
illustrated in different pictures, [211];
in Italy and Greece, [198];
of sculptor, [206];
range of color-notes, [189-191];
Ruskin’s attitude towards, [158-160], [199-208];
Ruskin trial, [145-146];
sense of, lost, [183-184];
supreme as a colorist, [173];
the house-painter and decorator, [186];
used imitatively, [204], [207], [209];
Whistler’s susceptibility to, [191-195]
Colorist. See Color
Commercial side, lacking, [265-276]
Conversation, a lost art, [149-151]
Courage, [33], [36], [42-43]
Criticism, language of, [161]
Criticisms in America, [15-16]
Critics, arraignment of, in catalogue, [98-102], [160-161], [167-168]
Critics and criticisms, attitude towards, [162-165];
early criticism of Turner, [142-143];
George Moore, [168-172];
his attitude towards, [155-157];
his color harmonies not understood, [184];
is the painter the final judge?, [162-165];
order of appreciation, [173-175];
Ruskin’s attitude towards color, [158-160];
“Voice of a People,” [165-167]
Dealers, attitude towards, [276]
Death and last illness, [285-286]
Decoration, [127-133];
as a decorator, [131-135];
in home in Paris, [220-222];
“Peacock Room,” [128-131], [209]
Dieppe, [33-34]
Dress, [41-42]
Eden, Sir William, [267-270]
England’s indifference, [47-49]
Englishman’s stupidity, [16]
Etchings, appreciation of a collector, [96-97];
of Haden, [96];
catalogues of, [91];
early French criticism, [60];
“French Set,” [90];
Haden collection of, [96];
his first, [88-89];
his “Venice Set,” [91];
“Thames Set,” [91];
“Twenty-six Etchings,” [91]
Exhibitions, 1868, [177];
1893, [65];
at Antwerp, [263];
at Chicago, [263];
at London, [265];
at Paris, 1894, [24], [264];
at the Royal Academy, [114-119];
criticisms of, [98-101];
his catalogues, [99-101];
light and background required for his pictures, [134-139];
of etchings, 1883, [97];
of lithographs, [104];
reluctant about exhibiting, [262-264];
Society of American Artists in 1903, [284-285];
Society of British Artists, [136];
special, [120-121];
with artificial light, [135];
“Yellow and White,” [98], [132]
Family, [25-28];
brothers and sisters, [32];
father, [27-28], [35];
mother, [28];
mother’s diary, [34-35]
Fine Arts Society, [121]
Foreword, [7]
Form, appreciation of, [203]
Fort Dearborn, grandfather built, [26-27]
French art, influence of, [57-60];
criticism, early, [59-60]
Frith, [177];
Ruskin trial, [146]
Fur Jacket,” “The, [65]
Gainesborough, [249], [250]
Gentle Art of Making Enemies,” “The, [32], [154-155]
Glasgow and the Carlyle portrait, [124];
school, [55]
Gleyre, [57], [59], [79]
Gold Screen,” “The, [58]
Greece, art of, [63]
Grosvenor Gallery, [119]
Haden, [32], [88-89], [96]
Hague, The, illness at, [281-284];
letter from, [282-284]
Hanging of pictures, [124-128]
Harmonies, symphonies, and nocturnes, his explanation of, [178-180]
“Hermes,” by Praxiteles, [261]
Hogarth, [55], [249], [250]
Honors and awards, [264]
Impressionism, [72]
Ingres, copy of painting by, [80-81]
Interior decorator, [127-128]
International Society, [121]
Irish ancestors, [25], [47]
Italian painters, influence of, [71-72]
Japanese art and influence of, [55].
See Chinese and Japanese art
Khayyam, Omar, [243]
Lange Leizen,” “The, [58]
Leyland, F. R., [128-131]
Light and background for pictures, [134-139];
as distinguished from color, [160]
Lithographs, naming of, [183]
Lithography, [102-104], [180]. See Exhibitions, Catalogues
Lowell, [31-32]
Manet, [249-250]
Marines, [24], [274-275]
Marriage, [219]
Method. See Work
Miss Alexander, [50], [119]
“Mona Lisa,” [251]
Moore, “Modern Painting,” [168-172]
Mother, diary of, [34-35];
portrait of, [53-54], [58], [115]
Music, [176-177];
and color, [193];
and painting, [179];
and the color scale, [195-196];
range of sounds, [186-188];
the uneducated ear, [196];
“truths of sound,” [203-204]
National influence, [61-78]
Nature and art, [213-216];
and color, [216];
and music, [215]
Naval Academy, [37]
Nocturnes, [119]. See Pictures
Nude, attitude towards, [50-51]
Painting and music, [179];
flat tones, [212];
his manner and mode of, [231-237]
Paris as an art centre, [62-63];
early days in, [86-88];
home life in, [222-224];
in 1855, [79];
Rue du Bac, [219];
studio, [131], [132]
Pastels, [106-107]
“Peacock Room,” [128-131], [209];
trouble over payment, [129-130]
Phidias, [253]
Philadelphia, [120]
Physical appearances. See Appearance and characteristics
Picture galleries, [124-128]
Pictures, arrangement of, by periods, [211];
“At the Piano,” [114], [210];
Carlyle portrait, [123-124];
estimation of, [261];
exhibition of, to visitors, [133-135];
“Falling Rocket,” [140];
hanging of, a lost art, [124-128];
hanging of portrait of his mother, [115];
“Lange Leizen,” [210];
marines, [212];
naming of, [178], [183], [185];
“Nocturnes,” “Harmonies,” and “Symphonies,” [210], [211];
present prices of, [114-115];
“The Princess of the Land of Porcelain,” [58], [128], [210];
“Little Rose, Lyme Regis,” [273];
story of “The Yellow Buskin,” [119-120];
Symphonies in White, II. and III., [210];
“Thames in Ice,” [210];
“The Balcony,” [210];
“The Gold Screen,” [210];
the Japanese group, [210], [211];
“The Music Room,” [210];
“White Girl,” [59-60], [109], [210], [282];
“The Yellow Buskin,” [65].
See Portraits
Pomfret, [36]
Portraits, classification of, [248];
color compositions, [258];
difference between Whistler and Velasquez, [256-258];
each one to be a masterpiece, [241-242];
his best, [261-262];
Irving as Philip II., [119];
Lady Campbell, [119];
likeness, [258-262];
manner and mode of painting, [231-237];
Miss Gilchrist, [119];
of Lady E——, [269];
portrait-painting, [244];
sittings required, [30-31], [235];
wraith-like quality, [255]
Praxiteles, [261]
“Propositions” and “The Ten o’Clock,” [108]
Providence, [32]
Puritan element, [49-50]
Racial influence, [61-78]
Raphael, [253]
Rembrandt, [67], [175], [244], [253], [254], [255], [256];
essentially Dutch, [67]
Reynolds, Sir Joshua, [247], [249], [252]
Rosa Corder, [119]
Rossetti, [111]
Rossi, Carmen, school of, [277-281]
Royal Academy, attitude towards, [114-119];
exhibitions at, etc., [114-119]
Royal Society of British Artists, [217]
Rue du Bac, [219]
Ruskin and flat tones, [212];
attitude towards color, [158-160], [199-208];
attitude towards early criticism of Turner, [143];
color in his home, [207-208];
his limitations, [165];
suit, [140-149]
Savoy Hotel, [181]
Sayings. See Anecdotes and sayings
School, no American, [61-63];
of Carmen Rossi, [277-281]
Sculptor and portrait busts, [245-246]
Society of British Artists, exhibition of, [136]
Sounds, range of musical, [186-188]
Springfield, [33]
St. Petersburg, [27-28], [34-35]
Stonington, [32], [35]
Stories. See Anecdotes and sayings
Studio, description of, [230-231];
in Paris, [229]
Swinburne, [74], [177]
Taylor, Tom, [146]
Teacher, as a, [277-281]
“Ten o’Clock,” no artistic period, [73-78]
Time, dilatory habits, [37-41];
indifference to, [29-31];
never prompt, [30]
Travel, dislike for, [33-34];
effect of, on artists, [69-70]
Turner and color, [199];
early criticism of, [142-143];
Whistler’s appreciation of, [56]
Valparaiso, trip to, [22-23]
Velasquez, [60], [175], [244], [251], [253], [254], [255], [256], [257];
essentially Spanish, [68];
influence of, [71]
Venice, early days in, [92-95]
“Voice of a People,” [165-167]
Water-color, his first, [106]
Webster, Daniel, letter to, [35-36]
West Point, [35-36]
Westerly, [32]
“White Girl,” [53], [283]
“White House.” See Chelsea
Will, [240]
Witticisms. See Anecdotes and sayings
Work always a pleasure, [90-91];
as a decorator, [128-135];
colors and pigments used, [72-73];
description of method, [231-237];
exhibition to visitors, [133-135];
facility in execution, [23];
his attitude towards a sitter, [238-239], [241];
painting in the dark, [213-214];
volume of, [104-105]
Yellow Buskin,” “The, [119], [256]

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