System Number: 09716
Date: 9 February 1894
Author: JW
Place: Paris
Recipient: Edward Guthrie Kennedy[1]
Place: [New York]
Repository: New York Public Library
Call Number: E. G. Kennedy I/49
Credit Line: Edward Guthrie Kennedy Papers / Manuscripts and Archives Division / The New York Public Library / Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations
Document Type: ALS
110. Rue du Bac Paris -
Feb. 9 - 1894 -
Dear Mr. Kennedy -
Your letter of Jan. 30[2] . just came - It is all right about the Exhibition of lithographs[3] - and you can have all the proofs - Will have a set printed and sent off at once -
I wish you had sent your cheque - (which I hope will be as usual a cheque on English bank) for it would have been devilish useful just now -
You must have had all the lithographs by this time - and while all the owners of my pictures have [p. 2] been making thousands by selling them, I[4] have not -
However that sort of thing is over now thank the Lord - for there are only four or five of that lot of Whistlers left in London, and those belong to the three or four people who wont sell[5] -
I counted that at least 18. Whistlers have been sold since I came over here - The mass of them since my Exhibition at Goupils[6] (Bond St.) and most of them have gone away forever! -
I have two left as you know - "The Fire Wheel " and the "Blue and Silver"[7]you asked about -
Now is your time to buy this last for £600. down. In a little time it will be £800 - and then 1000 -
With kindest regards,
Very sincerely yours
J McN Whistler
[p. 3] '1894[8].
J. McN. Whistler
Paris Febry. 9th'
This document is protected by copyright.
Notes:
1. Edward Guthrie Kennedy
Edward Guthrie Kennedy (1849-1932), dealer with H. Wunderlich and Co., New York [more].
2. letter of Jan. 30
Not located.
3. Exhibition of lithographs
It is not clear if he means that Wunderlich's can exhibit the lithographs, or is referring to an existing exhibition, possibly An Exhibition of etchings, Drypoints and some Pencil Drawings by James Mcneill Whistler, Grolier Club, New York, 1894, or [Lithograph Exhibition], H. Wunderlich and Co., New York, 1894.
4. I
Double underlined.
5. people who wont sell
William Cleverly Alexander (1840-1916), banker and patron [more], Louis Huth (1821-1905), collector [more], Walford Graham Robertson (1867-1948), painter, designer and collector [more], and Cyril Flower (1843-1907), barrister, Liberal MP, 1st Baron Battersea [more].
6. Goupil's
Nocturnes, Marines and Chevalet Pieces, Boussod, Valadon & Cie, Goupil Gallery, London, 1892.
7. Fire Wheel
Nocturne: Black and Gold - The Fire Wheel (YMSM 169) and Nocturne: Blue and Silver - Battersea Reach (YMSM 152); see JW's letter to D. C. Thomson, using similar phrases, 12 February 1894, #08285.
8. 1894 ...9th
Note written by Kennedy.