New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-08-19

gone over to the enemy" I believe if 1 had
but besought him TO consider that his accept
ance would have been a service to art and II he
could himself have thought that 1t would be, ne
would have accepted. I never saw whistler
again, never heard from him; friendship or
twenty years came there and then 10 an emo
on his side.
Earlier than that there had been jar aris-
Ing out of Whistler's libel action against Rus
kin, whose divergence from Whistler's ideals In
art took the form Of personal abuse: me Wen
comb hinging a pot OF paint in the race OF the
public and charging 2OO guineas tor IT, was
used with reference to one OF the Nocturhes:
| 1 do not think Whistler expected to get SUD-
stantial verdict perhaps any verdict. But ne
thought Ruskin impostor' as many announcer
artist did, and does He thought the L tit
had come to state his own case. IN attdShlhS
Ruskin he attacked a school, a whole oody OF
painters and writer's about paint VINO nao pos
session OF the public mind and OF the puohc eye
He thought their influence destructive to art;
whose servant he was at this time ana at al
times And he was ever a fighter; no man who
had more of the gaudium certaminls imam
Whistler had. was in court When the aItnl ~
damages verdict brought in: WhlstIer
looked puzzled for a moment; then his race
cleared. That's a verdict for me, is 1t not! ne
asked and when his counsel said, Yes, nom
inaIy" Whistler replied, We'll suppose YER
dict is a verdict" His line was taken instantly.
He said to me, It's great triumph; tell every
body it's a great triumph" When l dlssented
he condensed all his concentrated scorn OF my
Philistine view into a sentence: MY dear 81
you are just fit to serve on British jury
The American opinion of Whistler's art has.
M +ba t5ri+isb changed for the better THE
greatest of modern painters, say the pest
papers, for whose judgment Whistler hlmself
had no great respect often as he appealed TO
what he thought incompetent tribunal Ihe
fire of genius famed steadfastly all through an
unusually long career Here as elsewhere II lS
seen that he had definite aims ana lnIhoV-
able principles. He preached and pracused the
gospel of simplicity; ever the last WORD IN ART
and ever the last to be understanded OF the peo-
pie His economy of materials long thought
poverty. His restraint IN color and in tonaAty,
his felicity in design, his absolute sureness OF
HE ofOI7p
what to leave out his feeling for balance ana
symmetry his penetration into the secrets OF
character and his remorseless disclosure Oh mem
canvas, his intimacy with nature anu HetS
with him, his purity Of method-au these qual-
ties and gifts, most of which were so long mere
food for derisive criticism, are now seen 10 os
the foundation and final evidence of an assured
Immortality Such is the American belief.
The man behind the artist was almost as re-
markable as the artist. There was one Whistler
and no other. The central quality of him was
fearlessness. His audacities were intellectual
and moral in equal degree. The influence OF au-
thority in matters of opinion was phrase ne
did not understand. IT, as the Master of BalioI
tells us, the secret of happiness is courage
Whistler was happy. There was no shleld ne
would not touch; there were few his lance did
not pierce. 1 have seen and heard him a nun
bred times in collision with the most renowned
antagonists of his time and the nimblest wits
He sometimes their inferior in knowledge.
for the talk might pass beyond the range or
things he really cared for, but never in resource
If his repartee failed he bore you down WIN
great burst of Irresistible hoarse laughter and
contempt and arrogance; all so many weapons
which lay ready TO his hand, with no touch OF
malice in any Of them. They were but instru-
ments of controversy. His explosions filled the
room; the lightning struck where ii was meant
TO strike. The strident voice could not be
silenced and silenced others; the laugh was a
cry of triumph. In life in conversation he
faced all Corners and all fortunes the sings and
arrows Of the most outrageous might wound but
they never subdued his spirit.
The tradition of his personality, like that Of
great actors different stage, like Roscius |
Talnla may by and by grow faint vague; |
If it does, his etchings and paintings there |
to revive it. Side by side with other work of |
his day. they will testify to the unwavering !
valor with which he fought what so long seemed |
to be a losing fight. He dared to be in mi |
nority of one. He a good friend; loyal |
serviceable kindly. If he broke with you it was
when he thought himself the champion of a /
cause in comparison with which human affec- |
tons were of slight account He has i'm |
pressed himself on his age as only few Of the |
greatest have done; all of them in other depart
nents of human endeavor than art. OF course |
he made enemies; if he seemed to glory in that !
gentle art-as only he could have called it !
that way of overcoming them. No |
matter the friendships men had for him sur |
vived everything; did their admirations for |
his scintillating talk and for his nexhaustible |
originality and the last word about him is Ham |
let's on his father. Yet there will be many last |
words before Whistler's full nature is fully re-
vealed to the yet unknowing world