The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1903-08-04
OF WHISTLER
Stories of the American Artists
Eccentricities.
ALWAYS WANTED TO BE UNIQUE.

Made of Gorgeous Desfgn-How He
Prepared Tor q Party Breakfast at
. Famous Artists House-One OF
His Fishing Experiences-Novel Re- |
ply to a millionaire.
Many contradictory traits blended In
that strange personality, the late james
A. MacNeill Whistler, the eminent
American artist, are preserved in the
anecdotes which will be known to pos
terity as the Whistler stories, says the
New York Herald.
Whistler was inordinately vain, yet
the things which he did were in a
measure due to his peculiar philosophy
Of life. Those who knew him best and
liked him maintain that beneath all
that he did the painter who gloried in
the gentle art Of making enemies had
a sound basis Of reason. His leading
appetency was a desire to be unique.
I'm going over to London" said he
once to William NJ. Chase, "and there
I shall have a hanson made. 1t shall
have a white body, yellow wheels, and
I'll have 1t lined with canary colored
satin. Eli petition the city to let me
carry one lamp on it, and on the lamp
there will be a white plume. shall
then be the only one."
One of the affectations Of Whistler
was his apparent failure to recognize
persons with whom he had been on the
most friendly terms. An American art
list once met the impressionist In Ven
ice, where they spent several months
together painting, and he was invited
to call on Whistler If he should go to
Paris. The painter remembered the in
vitatiOn. The door of the Paris studio
was opened by Whistler himself. A
cold stare was the only reply to the
visitors ELUSIVE greeting.
why, MIR. Whistler" cried the paint.
er, You surely haven't forgotten those
days in Venice when you borrowed my
colors and we painted together"
II never saw you before in all my
life." replied Whistler and slammed
the door.
Whistler's habit of forgetting persons
or pretending to do SO, for nobody ever
knew when the lapses Of recognition
were due to intention or absent mind
edness. often tempted other artists to
play FRANKS upon him. He was a man
who resented q joke at his own ex-
pense, except on q few occasions, and
this trait was often turned to good &C.
count.
He vas at Naples shortly after the
account of the experience of the Amer
lean visitor had gained wide circula-
ton. A conspiracy was entered into
whereby the Whistler worshipers there
were to be unaware Of his presence. He
tried to play billiards with u company
Of young artists. They met his ad-
vances with a stony glare.
"Oh, l say" persisted he, II think l
know something of that game. I'd like
to play"
A consultation was held, and the art
lists shook their heads, inquiring of n
another, "Who is he?" Whistler re-
tired crestfallen, and a roar Of laughter
| which rang through the room added to
his discontinue.
"Oh, WELL" he said, pulling nervous
" at his mustache, and his tone was
petulant, II don't care"
Whatever whim seized James A. Nc
Neill Whistler he lost little time in
following it. His studio in Paris looked
out upon a garden on n side. and, I'M
der one of his windows was a small
tank containing goldfish. Whistler
rugged tackle from string and a bent
pin, and In the course Of IN hour he
had landed every fish. He cooked the
spoils and, finding them not at all to
his taste, wrapped them up in paper
and. after pinning to the packet a note
to the owner Of the garden that the
fish were not fit to eat, threw the pack
G on a path.
Among the anecdotes related about
James MacNeill Whistler. the Ameri-
can artist, here is II dealing with a
visit Whistler paid Sir Alma Tadema,
the famous artist. On the night Of his
arrival Whistler's host announced that
he intended to give a breakfast next