Studio: international art (29.1903)

James McNeill IVhistler

"lip tone" was on the floor. "Now 'eye tone,'"
he said, and made a dash at another milk can;
this time the eye went, not on the floor, but
into the background. I felt that the eye should be
in the face somewhere, but still it was an eye, and
it was art, and in art nothing mattered as long as
you were reckless and had your tones. But, in
spite of their eccentricities, the " followers " were
very sincere in their worship of the master. They
went shoulder to shoulder to fight for Whistler, and
they were even prepared on an emergency to fight
for him financially too with the few shillings they
possessed. For instance, there was not one of us
who would not have sold his last possession to
buy a plate of Whistler's and destroy it rather than
allow it to be handled unsympathetically. And it
is strange now to meet at studios, as I often do,

STUDY IN CHALK, ON BROWN PAPER

BY J. MCNEILL WHISTLER

(By permission of Mrs. L. Knowles)

young painters who, having lately seen Whistler,
will come up to one with all the master's little
airs and graces, his straight-brimmed hat and long
Noah's Ark coat, his parrot scream, and his " Ha,
ha! Amazing," talking of the "intimacy of the
studio " and all the old phrases that I have known
for years. And these poor people who have
perhaps never seen Whistler more than three times,
and even on those occasions have been treated by
him with more or less contempt, and made
to fetch and carry, they will talk of being
Whistler's pioneers, of having found the master.
It is just as absurd to talk of " finding " Whistler
as claiming to have discovered Wagner. Whistler
is recognised by everyone to be a great master—
recognised even by his enemies, those foolish
people who in the early days strove to destroy
him. And I say nothing, but I look at these
little people and smile, and think of the real
fight that was fought and won fifteen years ago
and more. I had the privilege of knowing
Whistler more intimately than anyone at the
particular period of which I speak. I was with
him nearly every day; I was with him during
that exciting time when he was made President
ot the Society of British Artists (now Royal).
I saw that marvellous set of Venice etchings
printed : in fact, the bulk of them were printed
in my own printing-room, a room which I had
especially arranged for the master, and it was in
this little printing-room of mine that Whistler
taught me the art of printing from the copper
plate. This was my first insight into Whistler
as a great master. And one of his characteristics
as a master was that he would have perfection. No
matter how small the detail, it must be perfect.
To begin with, he always insisted upon having
old paper upon which to print his etchings, and
preferably Dutch, because of a certain golden
tone, unobtainable with new paper, which this
particular kind gave to a proof. Many a time
Whistler and I have spent weeks in Holland,
poking about dirty little shops in search of old
paper. And sometimes, after having discovered
a fine collection of three or four thousand sheets,
I have seen Whistler literally tremble with excite-
ment, and scarcely know how to ask the price,
for joy. Then again he was very particular as to
the choice of oil for mixing with the ink, also
with regard to the temperature of the plate, the
pressure of the press, the condition of the blankets,
and, in fact, everything had to be absolutely right.
But when at length the proof was printed, I do
not mind stating that the proof could not have

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