Documents associated with: Wilson, Henry Francis
Record 3 of 3
System Number: 07660
Date: [29 April 1898][1]
Author: JW
Place: [Paris]
Recipient: Joseph Pennell[2]
Place: London
Repository: Library of Congress
Call Number: Manuscript Division, Pennell-Whistler Collection, PWC 272/14/7
Document Type: ALS[3]
And of course "the other man" - is much the better of the two! - Certainly the Daily News in infinitely preferable to the Pall Mall[4]! -
Now my dear Joseph you always only half answer my letters! though that half is very excellent - So you will kindly say to Mrs. Pennell[5] with my compliments [p. 2] that I expect much from her! -
As to the hanging - I rely greatly upon yourself and Ludovici[6] together - Poor old Thaulow[7] I met in great anxiety about his works & promised him that he should have them in a group together - As I told Ludovici this kind of thing might go throughout the arrangement of the building - but I dont think it need be insisted upon - The great thing against us is the vast space! and I have been thinking it is mad to strain and battle with it - Why not cut off one or even [p. 3] two [illegible] rooms - Say the first - & perhaps the very end or back according to sketch plan sent to me - and put in first room chairs & small tables etc[.] People would be only too glad, and let the Exhibition itself gain in this way greatly in finish & intimacy and mystery and generally richness & concentration - This you can lay before the Committee from me - as I cannot write over again & again -
The idea is sufficient and on the spot you all can carry it out or not or a much better one evolved from it - s
[p. 4] Pay attention to the various things in my last - and write -
With kindest regards to you both
Always
[butterfly signature]
This document is protected by copyright.
Envelope:
ToJoseph Pennell Esq
14. Buckingham Street
Strand
London
Angleterre
[stamp:] POSTE / REPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE / 25
[postmark:] PARIS-80 / R. DU BAC / 3E¦ 29 / AVRIL / 98
'Write about Nocturne
And Boldini & [A. S?] Tomson
H. Wilson[8]'
Notes:
1. [29 April 1898]
Dated from the postmark.
2. Joseph Pennell
Joseph Pennell (1860-1926), printer and illustrator, JW's biographer [more]. This letter relates to preparations for the Exhibition of International Art, International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, London, 1898, the first exhibition organised by the newly formed International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers.
3. ALS
The stationery has a mourning border. The envelope is embossed 'AU BON MARCHÉ.'
4. Pall Mall
'The International Exhibition. Interview with Mr. Whistler,' Pall Mall Gazette, 26 April 1898 (#13170; reprinted in Thorp, Nigel (Editor), Whistler on Art: Selected Letters and Writings 1849-1903 of James McNeill Whistler, Manchester, 1994, and Washington, 1995, no. 67).
5. Mrs. Pennell
Elizabeth Robins Pennell (1855-1936), née Robins, JW's biographer [more].
6. Ludovici
Albert Ludovici, Jr (1852-1932), painter [more], Council member of the ISSPG.
7. Thaulow
Fritz Thaulow (1847-1906), painter, printmaker and author [more]. Thaulow exhibited four oils - Winter, Night Canal Scene and Venice (cat. nos. 49-52) at the ISSPG exhibition, 1898.
8. H. Wilson
The lines 'Write ... H. Wilson' are written on the verso of the envelope, in Joseph Pennell's hand. The notes refer to Giovanni Boldini (1845-1931), portrait painter and etcher [more], Henry Francis Wilson (1859-1937), barrister and colonial secretary, South Africa [more], and possibly Arthur Tomson (1858-1905), landscape and genre painter, who exhibited one work, an oil The Harvesters (cat. 21) at the ISSPG. It is not clear which Nocturne Pennell was referring to but it may well have been Nocturne in Blue and Gold: Valparaiso Bay (YMSM 76) (cat. no. 183).