DOI issue:
Nr. 145 (April 1905)
DOI article:The International Society's Whistler exhibition
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20711#0244
The Whistler Exhibition
grandeur in his conceptions, and in his decorative ance he always attached to the formation and
subjects he does not manifest any very exalted placing of each line, each space and dot of
understanding of what is possible in decoration, colour. The emblem which he elected to use
Yet, in spite of his shortcomings, he exhibited a as a sort of trade-mark, and which is commonly
certain quality of daintiness—an understanding of described as a butterfly, was remarkably charac-
the suggestive values of line and tone—and a con- teristic of him. His touch had the dainty
ception of colour-values such as we often look for lightness of the flight of a butterfly. He played,
in vain in works of those who have risen to a as it were, with his brush, in a light and aerial
great reputation. In his line-work we do not find manner. He carried his lines always to the right
such displays of strength and sturdiness as gave place, and left little spaces exactly where they
character to the plates of Rembrandt and Albert would be wanted to complete the balance of his
Diirer. His colour schemes are lacking in drawing,
grandeur and nobility. An ad-
mirer and to some extent an imi-
tator of Velasquez, he falls short
in expressing the sentiment that
the master arrived at through his
methods ; and his decorative sense
is feeble when compared with that
displayed by Puvis de Chavannes or
Burne-Jones.
In striving, therefore, to give due
appreciation to Whistler's work we
must not allow our enthusiasm to run
away with us, we must not place him
on a pinnacle which his work does not
warrant. His position in relation to
art is the position which the art of
Japan, especially in its later phases,
bears to the great art of the world.
Whistler's inspiration was undoubt-
edly derived more from Japanese
art than from any other source. The
daintiness of colouring, his con-
ception of composition and of the
balance of parts, is essentially Jap-
anese in its character. More perhaps
than anyone else, he Europeanised
Japanese ideas, and yet as an ex-
ponent of these ideas he falls short
of his great Japanese prototypes.
All this we realised again and
again in looking through this exhibi-
tion of his collected works. Some of
his drawings are frankly Japanese.
This phase of his art is well repre-
sented in the painting which we have
been favoured with permission to re-
produce in colours as a supple-
ment to this number. Essentially
Japanese was his feeling for " se-
lection," especially displayed in his
later etchings, lithographs, pastels etching by j. mcneill whistler
and water-colours — of the import- (From the Collection of the late Wickkam Flower, Esq., by permission)
228
grandeur in his conceptions, and in his decorative ance he always attached to the formation and
subjects he does not manifest any very exalted placing of each line, each space and dot of
understanding of what is possible in decoration, colour. The emblem which he elected to use
Yet, in spite of his shortcomings, he exhibited a as a sort of trade-mark, and which is commonly
certain quality of daintiness—an understanding of described as a butterfly, was remarkably charac-
the suggestive values of line and tone—and a con- teristic of him. His touch had the dainty
ception of colour-values such as we often look for lightness of the flight of a butterfly. He played,
in vain in works of those who have risen to a as it were, with his brush, in a light and aerial
great reputation. In his line-work we do not find manner. He carried his lines always to the right
such displays of strength and sturdiness as gave place, and left little spaces exactly where they
character to the plates of Rembrandt and Albert would be wanted to complete the balance of his
Diirer. His colour schemes are lacking in drawing,
grandeur and nobility. An ad-
mirer and to some extent an imi-
tator of Velasquez, he falls short
in expressing the sentiment that
the master arrived at through his
methods ; and his decorative sense
is feeble when compared with that
displayed by Puvis de Chavannes or
Burne-Jones.
In striving, therefore, to give due
appreciation to Whistler's work we
must not allow our enthusiasm to run
away with us, we must not place him
on a pinnacle which his work does not
warrant. His position in relation to
art is the position which the art of
Japan, especially in its later phases,
bears to the great art of the world.
Whistler's inspiration was undoubt-
edly derived more from Japanese
art than from any other source. The
daintiness of colouring, his con-
ception of composition and of the
balance of parts, is essentially Jap-
anese in its character. More perhaps
than anyone else, he Europeanised
Japanese ideas, and yet as an ex-
ponent of these ideas he falls short
of his great Japanese prototypes.
All this we realised again and
again in looking through this exhibi-
tion of his collected works. Some of
his drawings are frankly Japanese.
This phase of his art is well repre-
sented in the painting which we have
been favoured with permission to re-
produce in colours as a supple-
ment to this number. Essentially
Japanese was his feeling for " se-
lection," especially displayed in his
later etchings, lithographs, pastels etching by j. mcneill whistler
and water-colours — of the import- (From the Collection of the late Wickkam Flower, Esq., by permission)
228