Documents associated with: Graham, William (1817-1885)
Record 15 of 17
System Number: 10887
Date: [26 April 1886][1]
Author: JW
Place: London
Recipient: Malcolm Charles Salaman[2]
Place: London
Repository: New York Public Library
Call Number: Montague Collection
Credit Line: Montague Collection / Manuscripts and Archives Division / The New York Public Library / Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations
Document Type: ALS
[embossed:] HOGARTH CLUB
27, ALBEMARLE STREET / W
Delightful, dear Mr Salaman, what I read in the Sunday Times[3] - you are as I said a Champion indeed! - I must tell you how infinitely pleased I am -
Can you come tomorrow to Dowdeswells[4] 133. New Bond Street - the first thing in the morning while I am hanging the pictures[5]? - say [p. 2] at about 10.30. for 11. at latest -
We could have a long talk together - and go over the whole work alone -
Always
[butterfly signature]
Monday eve[nin]g.
This document is protected by copyright.
Envelope:
Malcolm C. Salaman Esq.24. Sutherland Gardens -
W.
[stamp:] POSTAGE AND INLAND REVENUE / ONE PENNY
[postmark:] LONDON.W / AP 27 / 86 / [0?]
[embossed on flap:] HOGARTH CLUB
Notes:
1. [26 April 1886]
Dated from the almanac and postmark (it was written on Monday and posted on Tuesday 27 April 1886).
2. Malcolm Charles Salaman
Malcolm Charles Salaman (1855-1940), art critic and dramatist [more]. Salaman became a champion of JW's cause during the 1880s, notably in his interview, Salaman, Malcolm Charles, 'In Whistler's Studio,' The Court and Society Review, vol. 3, no. 104, 1 July 1886, pp. 588-90.
3. Sunday Times
Salaman wrote an unsigned article strongly defending JW's art: Anon., 'Hissing a Work of Art,' Sunday Times, 18 April 1886, no. 3288, p. 2. He was motivated by a report in the Observer on the sale of the collection of William Graham (1817-1885), MP and collector [more], which took place at Christie and Manson's auction rooms on 2 and 3 April 1886. The sale included important works by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882), artist and poet [more], and George Frederick Watts (1817-1904), painter and sculptor [more]. It also included JW's Nocturne: Blue and Gold - Old Battersea Bridge (YMSM 140), then known as 'Nocturne in Blue and Silver.' The Observer reported: 'The next work on the easel was "A Nocturne in Blue & Silver," by J. M. Whistler. It was received with hisses. This nocturne, which was used in evidence at the trial of Whistler versus Ruskin, fetched 60gs.'
4. Dowdeswells
Dowdeswell and Dowdeswell, dealers and printsellers.
5. hanging the pictures
JW's solo exhibition, 'Notes' - 'Harmonies' - 'Nocturnes', Second Series, Messrs Dowdeswell, London, 1886, opened on 29 April.