DOI Heft:
Nr. 99 (May, 1905)
DOI Artikel:The International Society´s Whistler Exhibition
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26959#0284
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^ "'HE INTERNATIONAL SOCIE-
[ TY'S WHISTLER EXHIBITION.
Tr was a right and natural thing for the
International Society of Sculptors, Painters, and
Gravers to hold a collective exhibition of the works
of their deceased former president, James McNeill
Whistler. With his death there departed from our
midst an artist with a remarkable individuality—an
individuality displaying itself eminently in every-
thing he touched, and which left hardly any field
of artistic expression unexplored.
The influence of Whistler upon the art of his
day has been greater than that of any of his con-
temporaries. He was a painter in oils and water-
colour, a pastellist, a painter-etcher, a lithographer,
and a decorator ; he essayed everything, and in
everything made a separate reputation, and added
to a name destined to endure long into the
future of art. And yet it
seems but a short time
since his work was mis-
understood, not only by
the public at large, but by
the great majority of his
critics. To-day the public
are beginning to learn
and, to some extent, to
appreciate the value of it,
while the great mass of
art criticism is now ranged
on his side. It had be-
come almost a matter of
necessity that an exhibi-
tion should be held of
the varied products of
his talent. It was not
sufficient that those who
desired to become ac-
quainted with his work
should see at times an
occasional oil painting or
an occasional water-colour
or etching. It was es-
sential that these should
be brought together that
they might be all seen at
the same time.
In the exhibition to
which we no w have to refer
a larger amount of this
work had been collected
than might at first have
been thought possible. PORTRAIT or J. MCKEtt.L WHISTLER FROM THE ETCHING BY I'AUI. HKI.I.EU
Over five hundred etchings had been brought
together ; and in addition to these about a hundred
and fifty lithographs, besides numerous studies and
drawings in pen and ink, black and white chalk,
and lead pencil. This part of the exhibition,
though by no means complete, was probably the
most perfect, the oils, water-colours, and pastels
being a selection only of the large number of works
executed by Whistler in these mediums. Sufficient,
however, were shown to enable the student to
judge of the methods he employed.
We look in vain for any soul-stirring work of
high dramatic power. We look in vain for work
in which the artist has, so to speak, lost him-
self in the effort to attain the highest excellence.
Neither in his etchings nor in his lithographs do
we find the fullest expression of the capabilities of
those mediums for varied line and tone. In his
pastels and water-colours there is an absence of
224
^ "'HE INTERNATIONAL SOCIE-
[ TY'S WHISTLER EXHIBITION.
Tr was a right and natural thing for the
International Society of Sculptors, Painters, and
Gravers to hold a collective exhibition of the works
of their deceased former president, James McNeill
Whistler. With his death there departed from our
midst an artist with a remarkable individuality—an
individuality displaying itself eminently in every-
thing he touched, and which left hardly any field
of artistic expression unexplored.
The influence of Whistler upon the art of his
day has been greater than that of any of his con-
temporaries. He was a painter in oils and water-
colour, a pastellist, a painter-etcher, a lithographer,
and a decorator ; he essayed everything, and in
everything made a separate reputation, and added
to a name destined to endure long into the
future of art. And yet it
seems but a short time
since his work was mis-
understood, not only by
the public at large, but by
the great majority of his
critics. To-day the public
are beginning to learn
and, to some extent, to
appreciate the value of it,
while the great mass of
art criticism is now ranged
on his side. It had be-
come almost a matter of
necessity that an exhibi-
tion should be held of
the varied products of
his talent. It was not
sufficient that those who
desired to become ac-
quainted with his work
should see at times an
occasional oil painting or
an occasional water-colour
or etching. It was es-
sential that these should
be brought together that
they might be all seen at
the same time.
In the exhibition to
which we no w have to refer
a larger amount of this
work had been collected
than might at first have
been thought possible. PORTRAIT or J. MCKEtt.L WHISTLER FROM THE ETCHING BY I'AUI. HKI.I.EU
Over five hundred etchings had been brought
together ; and in addition to these about a hundred
and fifty lithographs, besides numerous studies and
drawings in pen and ink, black and white chalk,
and lead pencil. This part of the exhibition,
though by no means complete, was probably the
most perfect, the oils, water-colours, and pastels
being a selection only of the large number of works
executed by Whistler in these mediums. Sufficient,
however, were shown to enable the student to
judge of the methods he employed.
We look in vain for any soul-stirring work of
high dramatic power. We look in vain for work
in which the artist has, so to speak, lost him-
self in the effort to attain the highest excellence.
Neither in his etchings nor in his lithographs do
we find the fullest expression of the capabilities of
those mediums for varied line and tone. In his
pastels and water-colours there is an absence of
224