System Number: 09685
Date: 13 [June] 1892[1]
Author: JW
Place: Paris
Recipient: Edward Guthrie Kennedy[2]
Place: [Amsterdam]
Repository: New York Public Library
Call Number: E. G. Kennedy I/19
Credit Line: Edward Guthrie Kennedy Papers / Manuscripts and Archives Division / The New York Public Library / Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations
Document Type: ALS[3]
33. Rue de Tournon - Paris -
Monday - 13 - 1892.
Dear Mr. Kennedy -
Two words in great haste to say have received your wire from Amsterdam - and we are delighted -
Take the pictures to Mr. Richards[4] - you know where his place is - He is the only man fit to clean my paintings - and you can tell him so from me - I have just had the small sketches[5] that used to hang round the dining room in Chelsea - (you remember) - from him - and they are beautifully done by him -
Let him then [p. 2] clean the four and varnish them - "The Balcony[6]" will probably be in perfect condition already - as it was in my Exhibition[7] at Goupil's and Richards attended to all those - But the other three he has never seen - and they must be covered with dirt -
Tell him that not any one must see them - and [bef?] beg him to lose no time about them - He works not only well but quickly -
You ought to have my new frames made at once for The Westminster Bridge[8] and the The Thames[9] picture - both of which must be in hideous old things - and they should have glass upon them - but that you could get here - for I do hope you will bring them over with you that we may all see them and perhaps show them to Bancroft[10]!!!
My own, the Sea piece[11] has got a frame that will do for the present - and I can get a glass here of course - probably it would be safer to travel without -
Tell me if you send me mine separately - that is let me know at once if you mean to ship yours to America without bringing them over here first - otherwise they might all come over here together - Mrs Whistler[12] says that I am to beg you to bring them all here that she may see them - She has never seen the Westminster, and the Battersea -
Mr. Richards place is in Berners Street - a few doors from Oxford St - on the right hand side - Next door the Electric lighting Company, or something - and upstairs on first floor -
My frame maker is Mr Grau[13]. 570. Fulham Road - He must not have the pictures at his place - but must go to Richards [p. 3] and take the measures immediately - and be pushed without giving him any peace - as he is as procrastinating as he is capable -
He is the only one who has the true pattern of my frame - Tell him that the gold must be the pale yellow soft gold like the gilding of my Mother's[14] frame -
And now Bon Voyage - and let us have a wire from you tomorrow! - and a letter in the evening telling us if they are all right at Mr. Richards!
Always sincerely,
J McN. Whistler
We will have plenty to talk over when we see you here! -
This document is protected by copyright.
Envelope:
'June 13, 1892'
ToE. G. Kennedy. Esq.
care of
Messrs Lauser[15] & Co.
Printsellers . &c. &c. &c.
(King Street) or Garrick Street
Covent Garden
London -
Angleterre.
[stamp (torn):] POSTE / REPUBLIQUE FRANCAISE / 15
[postmark:] PARIS [6?] R. DE VAUGIRARD / E1 13 / JUIN / 92
[postmark on verso:] LONDON. W. C. / A / JU14 / 92
Notes:
1. 13 [June] 1892
Dated from the postmark, and the date written in another hand on the envelope.
2. Edward Guthrie Kennedy
Edward Guthrie Kennedy (1849-1932), dealer with H. Wunderlich and Co., New York [more].
3. ALS
Written in purple ink.
4. Mr. Richards
Stephen Richards (b. ca 1845), picture restorer [more].
5. sketches
'The Six Projects' (YMSM 82-87) (excat 11).
6. The Balcony
Variations in Flesh Colour and Green: The Balcony (YMSM 56).
7. Exhibition
Nocturnes, Marines and Chevalet Pieces, Boussod, Valadon & Cie, Goupil Gallery, London, 1892.
8. The Westminster Bridge
The Last of Old Westminster (YMSM 39).
9. Thames
Battersea Reach (YMSM 45).
10. Bancroft
John Chandler Bancroft (1822-1907), politician, diplomat and collector [more].
11. Sea piece
Harmony in Blue and Silver: Trouville (YMSM 64).
12. Mrs Whistler
Beatrix Whistler (1857-1896), née Beatrice Philip, artist [more].
13. Mr Grau
Frederick H. Grau (d. 1894/1895), picture framer [more].
14. Mother's
Arrangement in Grey and Black: Portrait of the Painter's Mother (YMSM 101).
15. Lauser
Gustave Lauser (b. ca 1841), London print-seller [more].