System Number: 03359
Date: [15 December 1893][1]
Author: JW
Place: Paris
Recipient: Thomas Robert Way[2]
Place: London
Repository: Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Call Number: FGA Whistler 115
Credit Line: Charles Lang Freer Papers, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.: Gift of the Estate of Charles Lang Freer
Document Type: ALS[3]
110. Rue du Bac. Paris -
'15 Dec /93'
No! My dear Tom -
I find no fault with the proofs! - I only meant to point out that the printer might be directed in a way - so that he should not print on the same side with numbers on the page - avoid sheets with worm holes and place the impression a little higher than low on the paper - Voila tout[4]! The proofs, the printing and the care taken could not be [p. 2] more perfect, and no one could more thoroughly appreciate all that you and your Father are doing -
Now we sent you yesterday some more paper and more is going - Wherefore print the sets of Brittany[5] I spoke of, and of the others, say - 4 of the reading girl draped - (The one that happily you saved) - 4. of the nude model reading, 6 of the dancing girl - 4 of "The winged hat[6]" that is Miss Philip[7] seated -
Now - Thomson[8] of the Art Journal (Goupils) would do with the one of the Luxembourg Gardens that I call "Conversation under the Statue[9]", for his magazine -
I know what you told me about the stump work - and if you think this would work up too much - there is little of it in this particular drawing, (but very dainty what there is of it,) wherefore I would not have it spoiled) - and if you find that this can safely be transferred, then you might print it for him - and of course he would pay you - But I must not lose it - Therefore if it wont transfer I must do him something else - that's all -
All right my dear Tom - I will let [p. 3] you know in time before we come over - and you shall have the stone[10] ready for me and that will be delightful! -
Now I am hard at work in the studio - which accounts of [sic] this pencil -
Many things to your Father[11] and yourself - and get me off the beautiful proofs -
Always
[butterfly signature]
Write me about Thomson -
All right then about Gleeson White[12] - I had better write him -
This document is protected by copyright.
Envelope:
ToThomas Way Junr.
21. Wellington Street -
Strand
London.
Angleterre
[torn stamp:] POSTE / 25 [...]
[postmark:] PARIS 52 / BD MONTPARNASSE / 7E 15 / DEC / 93
[postmark on verso:] LONDON. W. C. / C. X. / B A / DE 16 / 93
Notes:
1. [15 December 1893]
Dated from the postmark and the date written in pencil in another hand at the top of p. 1.
2. Thomas Robert Way
Thomas Robert Way (1861-1913), printer, lithographer and painter [more].
3. ALS
Published in Spink, Nesta R., The Lithographs of James McNeill Whistler, gen. eds Harriet K. Stratis and Martha Tedeschi, Chicago, 1998, vol. 2, p. 84, no. 71.
4. Voila tout
Fr., that's all.
5. sets of Brittany
JW may have wanted new proofs of some of the Brittany subjects (The Marketplace, Vitré (C.62), Vitré: The Canal (C.63), Gabled Roofs (C.64), The Clock-Makers, Paimpol (C.65)) to replace those he found defective; see #03357.
6. winged hat
The lithographs listed are: The Novel: Girl Reading (C.32), The Little Nude Model, Reading (C.33), The Dancing Girl (C.29) and The Winged Hat (C.34),
respectively; see #03357.
7. Miss Philip
Ethel Whibley (1861-1920), née Philip, JW's sister-in-law [more].
8. Thomson
David Croal Thomson (1855-1930), art dealer [more].
9. Conversation under the Statue
Conversation under the Statue, Luxembourg Gardens (C.69) was not used because the stump work failed to transfer satisfactorily, so that the lines became more coarse; see #06109, #03360, #03362. Eventually they agreed on Nursemaids: 'Les Bonnes du Luxembourg' (C.81), which was printed in an edition of about 3000 and published in The Art Journal, vol. 46, no. 120, December 1894.
10. stone
JW made no lithographs in London from 1893-1894, although he drew several in early 1895; see #06119.
11. Father
Thomas Way (1837-1915), lithographic printer [more].
12. Gleeson White
Joseph William Gleeson White (1851-1898), writer on art, first editor of the Studio [more]. Gants de suède (C.35) was published in The Studio, vol. 1, no. 3, 16 April 1894.