Documents associated with: health (JW)
Record 136 of 172
System Number: 01522
Date: 6 March 1901
Author: Charles Lang Freer[1]
Place: Detroit
Recipient: JW
Place: [Ajaccio]
Repository: Glasgow University Library
Call Number: MS Whistler F454
Document Type: ALS[2]
33 FERRY AVENUE.
Detroit.
March 6th 1901
Dear Mr. Whistler;
I am sorry to learn from your letter[3] written at Ajaccio that the dreadful cold from which you was suffering when I saw you last in London has clung to you all of these months and is still annoying you -
How very unfortunate! - And with it all to think of wasting so many ice girt days in a land supposed to blossom with passion-flowers and languish with sunshine. Surely it is all too cruel and faithless!
Yes, and I quite agree with your opinion of the average winter resorts; to me they are like [p. 2] huge pickled monsters half asleep, but always ready to breathe out frosted air, whisper in hurricanes and whirl black water in ones pathway -
But your health is much improved 'ere this, I hope, and you are safely back again in Paris, I trust.
Do take the best of care of yourself and when next in search of a sunny, restful land try the real south and journey thither via Detroit -
Now, concerning your proposed exhibition to be held in Paris next spring, of course, I will be most happy to send of your work in my possession - and you remember it was so agreed between us in London, last October, that the little "Lady Sophie[4]" was to visit Paris in the spring - And she, little Lady that she is will be glad to face the fair Parisiennes on their own ground - "La Cigale[5]" too, will smile benignly [p. 3] upon all - "Bognor[6]," I regret to say is promised for an exhibition to open in New York next week and from there it is to go to Buffalo for the Pan American Exhibition lasting till October next - so I cannot include it with the Paris lot -
I can however, let you have the following pastels[7]:-
"Harmony in Blue and Violet." (Tite Street Studio) 1890-1
"A Violet Note." (Paris) 1895
"Rose and Red - the little Red Cap" (Paris) "
Water Color
"Blue and Gold - the Rose Azalea" (Paris) "
As to etchings; how would the list enclosed herein suit?
I can add to it or take from it just as you would care to have me do - or, if you prefer I can, I think, fill almost any list you may send excepting a few of the early and excessively rare dry points.
[p. 4] And now a word or two concerning shipping - Shall they be addressed To Rue du Bac or have you an Agent in Paris to receive them?
And how soon must they start?
Where and when will the exhibition be held? I should like very much to see it and if possible I will arrange to do so on my way to or from Capri - and I hope at the same time I may have the pleasure of seeing you again and that I will then find you perfectly well and happy -
Here in Detroit, we are enjoying a real old fashioned winter with splendid sleighing and beautiful dry, clear cold days -
As ever,
Most affectionately
Charles L Freer
P. S.
My cable address is
Freer -
Detroit -
This document is protected by copyright.
Notes:
1. Charles Lang Freer
Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919), industrialist, collector and founder of the Freer Gallery of Art [more].
2. ALS
Published in Merrill, Linda, With Kindest Regards. The Correspondence of Charles Lang Freer and James McNeill Whistler, 1890-1903, Washington and London, 1995, no. 45, pp. 136-39.
3. letter
See JW to Freer, from Ajaccio, 10 February 1901, #09088.
4. Lady Sophie
Rose and Gold: The Little Lady Sophie of Soho (YMSM 504).
5. La Cigale
Rose and Brown: La Cigale (YMSM 495).
6. Bognor
Nocturne: Blue and Silver - Bognor (YMSM 100).
7. pastels
Harmony in Blue and Violet (M.1076), A Violet Note (M.1395), Rose and Red: The Little Pink Cap (M.1277) and Blue and Gold - The Rose Azalea (M.1392).