System Number: 08144
Date: [June 1890][1]
Author: JW
Place: London
Recipient: Alfred Stevens[2]
Place: [Brussels?]
Repository: Library of Congress
Call Number: Manuscript Division, Pennell-Whistler Collection, PWC 2/59/7
Document Type: ALS
21, CHEYNE WALK, CHELSEA.
Mais mon cher ami, pas du tout!
Vous n'avez pas mon livre[3], car je vous l'envoye maintenant -
Ce que vous avez reçu, est la miserable petite contrefacon[4] - les quelques lettres volées - par le malheureux[5] que nous avons poursuivi, votre courtois frère[6], le Bismark[7] de Bruxelles, et moi! -
[p. 2] Il est arrivé plus tard à faire imprimer son affreux petit bouquin à Paris - mais nous l'avons empeché de le vendre - de sorte que les quelques exemplaires qui ont circulé d'une facon bien restreinte, etaient celles qu'il avait envoyé par la poste à certains noms connus - le votre entre autres -
Du reste vous verez bien la diférence j'ose esperer entre la ridicule imitation et le vrai Whistler que je vous envoie! -
Maintenant les traductions que j'ai vu dans un journal de Paris - "le Soir[8]", je crois - me font dire bien des choses que je ne dis nullement dans le livre - Notament je ne réponds jamais aux attaques des critiques sur mon ma peinture! -
Enfin nous causerons de tout ca quand nous venons vous voir - bientôt je l'espère -
Maintenant quand [sic] à l'affaire de l'exposition[9] à Londres, il me semble que la Société[10] a une occasion manifique [sic] de faire vraiment sensation en Angleterre -
Je suis en position de savoir que les Galleries du Grosvenor peuvent tres bien etre a la disposition de ces Messieurs s'ils y mettent la moindre bonne volonté - et hors ces Galleries là, je puis vous assurer que le [p. 3] plus fameux fiasco attendrait tout attentat d'exposer içi -
Ayez la bonté mon cher ami de me faire répondre, et sans perdre un seul jour -
Mettez vous en relation avec Duez[11], John Lewis Brown[12] et tous les autres - et ecrivez moi le resultat -
Je n'ai pas encore recu un mot de la part de Gervex[13] -
Tout à vous
Votre devoué
[butterfly signature]
This document is protected by copyright.
Translation:
But my dear friend, not at all
You do not have my book, because I am sending it to you now -
What you received, is the miserable little forgery - the few stolen letters - by the wretched man we pursued, your courteous brother, the Bismark of Brussels, and me! -
[p. 2] He managed later to have his terrible little book printed in Paris - but we prevented him from selling it - so that the few copies which have circulated in a very small way, were those which he had sent by post to certain well-known names - yours amongst others -
Besides I dare to hope that you will quickly see the difference between the ridiculous imitation and the true Whistler which I am sending you.
Now the translations which I have seen in a Parisian newspaper - "Le Soir", I think - have me saying several things which I certainly do not say in the book - in particular I never reply to attacks by critics on my painting! -
Well, we shall talk about all that when we come to see you - soon I hope -
Now as for the business of the London exhibition, it seems to me that the Society has a magnificent opportunity to cause a real sensation in England -
I am in a position to know that the Grosvenor Galleries could very well be at the disposal of these Gentlemen if they show the least inclination - and apart from those Galleries, I can assure you [p. 3] that the result of any attempt to exhibit here would be the most famous fiasco -
Have the goodness, my dear Stevens, to have a reply sent to me, and without losing a single day -
Contact Duez, John Lewis Brown and all the others - and let me know the result -
I have not yet received any word from Gervex -
As always
Your devoted
[butterfly signature]
Notes:
1. [June 1890]
Dated from references to publication and exhibitions (see below).
2. Alfred Stevens
Alfred Émile-Léopold Stevens (1823-1906), history and portrait painter [more].
3. livre
Whistler, James McNeill, The Gentle Art of Making Enemies, London and New York, 1890.
4. contrefacon
Whistler, James McNeill, The Gentle Art of Making Enemies, ed. Sheridan Ford, Paris, 1890.
5. malheureux
Sheridan Ford (1860-1922), poet, critic, politician and writer on art [more].
6. frère
Arthur Stevens (1825-1900), dealer and, as 'Graham', art critic [more].
7. Bismark
Otto Eduard Leopold, Fϋrst von Bismarck (1815-1898), Prime Minister of Prussia [more].
8. le Soir
Not located.
9. l'exposition
JW discusses the proposed exhibition also with Theodore Roussel (1847-1926), painter and print-maker [more], in a letter of about the same date, #12789.
10. Société
Possibly Les XX. The exhibition did not take place at the Grosvenor Gallery.
11. Duez
Ernest-Ange Duez (1843-1896), painter [more].