The sun., 1903-12-06
LONDON TAKES UP WHISTLER.
COLLECTORS AND OTHERS Buy
ING HIS ETCHINGS EAGERLY.
f,e Is Proved to Have Become the Fashion
by the Interest shown In Two Fine
collections OF His Etchinys Now on
vtew-sOme Rarities Are Exhibited.

view-sOme Rarities Are Exhib'ted'
LONDON, Nov. 25.-Two remarkably fine
collections of Whistler's etohings are being
shown in London, one at the Messrs, Obach's
Gallery, New Bond street, and the other at
the Leicester Galleries, Leicester Square.
now under the direction of Ernest Brown
Phillips
To Judge by what is being said and written
OF these two exhibitions and, indeed, not
only of them, but generally of Whistler and
his work--you might suppose that the
Iajority Of art critics, together with con-
siderable section Of the British people hao
cherished for long years an ardent al
n.ration for all things Whistlerian-ah
admiration stoically suppressed until the
artists death, and now unclaimed, poured
forth in floods OF indiscriminnte laudatlon.
What has hapr ened here at least, is that
Whistler has become the fashion. he IS
recognized even by the blind.
Amid the critical pronouncements CLEANED
and garnered for posterity's amazement
in the famous Catalogue Of Etchings ana
Drv-points" there appears single note oi
sympathy, which is this: Popularity is
the only insult that has not yet been offered
to Mr.. Whistler" 1t is now being piled
upon his grave.
Before mentioning some Of the prints
shown at the two London exhibitions, 1t is
worthy Of note that practically all the
rarities. and large proportion OF the other
etchings, were snapped up at once. In
this the genuine collector had some part
oi course; but many people have bought
and are buying Whstler's work simply as
an investment, and as one which they eI-
rect to prove highly profitable.
This Ia legitimate enough, and in itself
an ordinary matter. It's special interest
for Americans lies in the fact that these
speculators expect to make their large
profits ont OF American buyers.
Whistler's etchings will doubtless be
offered in the United Stat es at prices which.
before very long, should fall consider
ably Ultimately, when it is more generally
seen that Whist ler's etchings are really
masterpieces OF art. not merely something
relatively scarce and for the moment fash
lonable, their prices will be very high.
But that time is probably somewhat re-
mote in all countries.
The total number of plates etched by
Whist Ter must have been between $50 and
no. The collection at the Messrs. Obachs
gallery consists of 24s prints; thus it is
adequately representative, more so than
any hitherto shown, excepting the one at
the Leicester Galleries.
Seven Of the prints are catalogued as
'undescrbed." The others, mostly fine
impressions and several very rare. are
described in Frederick Wedmore's whist
ler's Et tchings--A A Study and a Catalogue
As rarities may be mentioned the, curious
and beautiful Embroidered Curtain. the
first state of the Rag Gatherens," before
any figure, and two tiny prints called
Chelsea" and Windsor" made for the
memorial presented by the Royal Society
of British Artists while Whistler was it's
president, to Queen Victoria in the jubilee
year.
Whistlsr's portrait OF himself, with pro-
fuse curls and q large hat. etched in 1869.
forms the frontispiece Of a catalogue got
,ip in the style which the artist himself
afected-with brown paper cover. bearing.
of course. the butterfly, To this catalogue
Mr.. Wedmore contributes q preface. "A
Note on the Hchings Of Whistl ler," from
which. the following extract is OF interest:
There are only two other etchers the
expression of whose genius obtains for
them the right to be ranked as Whistler's
equals in this particular art From the
seventeenth century to this day there have
been about a dozen etchers really great,
Of whom certainly not the least are Claude
and vapdyke and Ostadi and Jaoquenart
and Legros.
The work OF each is profoundly individ-
ual, but to find in combination such va
riety and perfection of accomplishment as
Whistler's we can turn only to the port
foios that enshrine the quite immortal
labors Of Rembrandt and of Meryon.'
In the November number Of the Bur
hnaton Magazine Joseph Pennell, the Ameri-
can artist and art critic OF the London
Dnily Chronicle, goes somewha further.
His article opens with this statement:
whistler was the creates ct cher and the
most accomplished photographer who ever
lived"
For purposes of comparison he repro
duces etchings by Whistler and by REM
brandt side by side. and considers Whistler
as much in advance Of Rembrandt as that
great artist was OF his predecessors.
Whether you agree with this or not, the
article is of great interest From personal
experience Mr.. Pennell has much to tell OF
Whistler's methods Of working.
10 have personal knowledge and eI-
perence Of Whistler and his methods was
also the fortune of Mortimer Merpes, who
formed the collection OF etchings. dry
points and Autographs shown at the Leices-
ter Galleries. Here the exhibits comprise
some two hundred and fifty etchings. a score
of Autographs and series of pencil draw
ings.
According to Mr. Merpes, who boasts
he has known Whistler's work. from the
etching OF the plate to the printing OF the
proof, more intimately than anybody else,
these are a collection of "the very finest
proofs, most of them first impressions in
the most perfect condition. with the bloom
upon them"
Several are catalogued as "undeecribed.'
some as unique" while of two dry points
it is recorded that they are the only i'm
pressions known to exist. One Of these,
The Model Lying Down. though, OF course.
rare, is not a remarkable achievement for
Whistler.
Though to the uninitiated there may
often seem to be slightness or careless
hess in his work, no artist was in reality
more fastidous and it must be supposed