The Gentle Art of Making Enemies Part 44

BATTERSEA REACH.

_Lent by Alfred Chapman, Esq._

"Under the same roof with Mr. Whistler's strange productions is the collection of animal paintings done by various artists for the proprietors of the _Graphic_, and very refres.h.i.+ng it is to turn into this agreeably lighted room and rest on comfortable settees whilst looking at 'Mother Hubbard's Dog,' or the sweet little p.u.s.s.y cats in the 'Happy Family.'"

_Liverpool Courier._

"A few smears of colour, such as a painter might make in cleaning his paint brushes, and which, neither near at hand nor far off, neither from one side nor from the other, nor from in front, do more than vaguely suggest a sh.o.r.e and bay, was described as a Note in Blue and Brown.... One who found these pictures other than insults to his artistic sense could never be reached by reasoning."--_Knowledge._

26.--GREEN AND GREY.

CHANNEL.

_Lent by Alfred Chapman, Esq._

27.--PINK AND GREY.

CHELSEA.

_Lent by Cyril Flower, Esq., M.P._

"... of the insolent madness of that school of which Mr. Whistler is the most peccant--we wish we could say the only--representative."--_Knowledge._

28.--NOCTURNE.

BLUE AND GOLD--VALPARAISO.

_Lent by Alexander Ionides, Esq._

"'A Nocturne' or two by Mr. Whistler--and here we have it in the usual style--a daub of blue and a spot or two of yellow to ill.u.s.trate s.h.i.+ps at sea on a dark night, and a splash and splutter of brightness on a black ground to depict a display of fireworks."

_Norwich Argus._

29.--GREEN AND GREY.

THE OYSTER SMACKS--EVENING.

_Lent by Alexander Ionides, Esq._

"Other people paint localities; Mr. Whistler makes artistic experiments."--_Academy._

30.--GREY AND BLACK.

SKETCH.

_Lent by Alexander Ionides, Esq._

31.--BROWN AND SILVER.

OLD BATTERSEA BRIDGE.

_Lent by Alexander Ionides, Esq._

"Nor can I imagine any one acquainted with Mr. Whistler's works speaking of any of them as 'completed.'"--_Letter to "Pall Mall."_

32.--NOCTURNE.

BLACK AND GOLD.

33.--SYMPHONY IN WHITE, No. 11.

THE LITTLE WHITE GIRL.

_Lent by Gerald Potter, Esq._

"Another picture, 'The Little White Girl' was exhibited about the same time, containing the germ of that paradoxical Whistlerian humour lately so fully exemplified in various places about London. It was called 'A Little White Girl' in the catalogue, and yet its colour generally was grimy grey."--_London._

"The white girl was standing at the side of a mirror where the laws of incidence and refraction would unfortunately not permit her to see her own beauty."

_Merrie England._

34.--NOCTURNE.

BLUE AND SILVER--CREMORNE LIGHTS.

_Lent by Gerald Potter, Esq._

"I have expressed, and still adhere to the opinion, that these pictures only come one step nearer than a delicately tinted wall paper."

_The Art Critic of the "Times"

Evidence at Westminster, Nov. 16, 1878._

"Paintings, like some of the 'Nocturnes' and some of the 'Arrangements,'

are defended only by a generous self-deception, when it is urged for them that they will be famous to-morrow because they are not famous to-day."

_Mr. Wedmore, "Nineteenth Century."_