Whistler never surpassed this particular effort, although his portraits of Joseph Pennell, Mrs. Pennell, Walter Sickert, W. E. Henley and his wife, Miss Philip and Comte Montesquieu are excellent character studies. Way published in 1896 a catalogue of 130 lithographs. Later additions probably increase the number to 150. The London Fine Arts Society held in 1895 a special sale of 75 lithographs. The "Grolier Club" of New York in 1900 held an exhibition of 106 prints.
His nudes are charming little inventions in pose and gesture with considerable knowledge of the human figure. In the Society exhibition of 1885 he exhibited a nude entitled "Caprice." A R. A. Horsley took exception to it, and in a lecture before a Church Congress, after indulging in most curious, pedantic and mediæval arguments, ended with the following tirade:
"Is not clothedness a distinct type and feature of our Christian faith? All art representations of nakedness are out of harmony with it."
STUDY OF NUDE FIGURE (CHALK DRAWING).
Whistler, ever ready to take up the cudgel, avenged himself by writing under the picture: "Horsley soit qui mal y pense," and leaving it there during the entire exhibition.
Strange, that Whistler never attempted to paint a large nude in oil. He, no doubt, had a reason for this omission, although it is nowhere recorded. Perhaps he agreed on the point with Ruskin that a realistic nude had no place in modern life, not for any moral reason but merely that the human body was too defective to allow the highest æsthetic gratification. A figure in modern garb is a part of modern life, a nude is an alien in space without any special significance. This should have appealed to Whistler; perhaps he strove hard to realize it but never succeeded in doing so. His lithographs and pastels of nudes seem largely experimental. They never go beyond the sketch and vaguely remind one of Tanagra figures. "The Model Resting," and "The Little Nude Reading," a profile view of a young girl sitting in bed holding with both hands a book, are two of the best known.
Whistler also made a few attempts in coloured lithography, as for instance, "La Maison Jaune." But it is hardly coloured lithography, it is merely a black and white design with a few touches of colour, as expressed in "A Lannion" or the "Maison Rouge à Paimpol," the result of an excursion to Brittany. Perhaps the most exquisite and delicate of his efforts are these slight delicate renderings of female forms. When he adds a little colour it is always done with rare preciosity, the "un-finish" always being masterly. And there is such a thing as masterly "un-finish" always being just at the right spot as there is merit in the masterly inactivity of a Russian general opposing an invading army. The very essence of Whistler's art is to be seen in these coloured drawings.
Of peculiar charm are Whistler's pastels. The majority, some fifty which he exhibited in the London Fine Arts Society in 1880, depict Venetian scenes. They were catalogued as "harmonies in blue and browns, in opal and turquoise, etc." They show a rare elegance of design and a peculiar suavity of colour. They are the last remnants of his early period of vivid colouring, and are highly valued. They represent canals with draped gondolas, views from the lagoons with ships at anchor, archways, and white churches, the cemetery with green trees, lights gleaming on the distant shore and reflections in the water. His figures in pastels are mostly young girls, semi-nude or in quaintly coloured robes, frequently in pink and red against vague backgrounds. Whistler's virtuosity in these sketches and pictorial fragments is entirely different from the so-called impressionist's work. It is primarily full of imagination, of a high mental tone and dignity. Whistler has shown how noble an aspect can be given to the expression of an extremist, for he also was an extremist. He perfectly realized that aggressive sketchiness can never be monumental, that sketches are merely gymnastic exercises that lend health and strength to a painter's technique, although they remain to the end merely exercises. At the same time, if rightly handled, they express certain æsthetic aspects of life better than more elaborate efforts. He knew what a sketch could and could not convey, and the wonderful freshness and spontaneity which they exhibit are witness alike to the clear crispness of his perception and to his sympathetic handling.