New-York tribune., 1918-12-22
biography Of WhistLer

In his "Portraits or Whistler" (John
lane Company, Mir. A. &. Gallatin has
iven defnitive form to the study of the
ubject which he first published five
cars ago. His book is now a stately
!uarto, luxuriously printed and illus
rated, possessing in fact, the aesthetic
harm which BELTS the theme. APP
ropriatcly, at the moment it appears
rom the press, an exhibition of por-
RATS and caricatures of Whistler IS
uened at the Arden gallery. Mr.. Gal
attn lends quantity of his treasures
d there are others from Mr. Howard
Mansfield, Mrs. j. w. Alexander, Miss
Iargaret NJ. Tuttle Miss E. W. Roberts
nd the Smithsonian Institution Mrs.
eugene Meyer. jr., lends one of the
Arrest and most interesting items in
he collection, the pencil drawing of
Whistler, made by Poynter, at Paris, in
1856. A few autograph letters, with
copies of catalogues and other char
acteristically Whistlerian publications,
complete this tribute to the most pi-
quaint of modern artistic personalities.
The artist who has painted his own
portrait is no new type. AS Mr.. Gal
latin reminds us, Rembrandt was his
own model nearly sixty times, not in
Guiding the studies of himself he made
with the etching needle, and there are
other old masters who came close to
rivalling him in this matter, Never
theless the Whistlerian iconography is
unique He himself contributed about
thirty pieces to it, and there are, ali
told. 263 numbers in Mr.. Gallatin's use
ful list The explanation lies to some ex-
tent in the artists character. He was
"paintable" subject all his life long.
Indeed the portrait of him at fourteen
painted by Sir William Boxall shows
that even as boy he was the most
beguiing of models. But the pictures
queness to which the things in this
exhibition testify undoubtedly was
fostered by Whistler as one of the
assets of life The white lock above
his forehead, the oriHamme of a thou
sand legends, was typical of the man
He carried himself as he painted a
picture with a veritable passion fol
artistic values.
OF my own several memories of hin
the one which stays most impressive
in the mind is, as it happens, of Whist
Ter early in the morning, oil his guar1
before breakfast, his hair in wild dis
order and his head only that much tn
more expressive Of character. Hi
years told then, and in a fine way
adding to the strength and dignity OF
his features On the other occasions
on which I saw him in Paris and Lon
don | recall him as not precisely dandi-
acal, but with the stamp of a most
meticuloUs carefulness upon every de-
| tail of his dress and demeanor. There
was something delightful about the
erectness of his carriage. Whether
Point or not he bore himself like a
soldier. Mr.. Gallatin cites from Mr..
Kennedy the amusing note that che
always wanted to be depicted as over
six feet high and to look like a major
general" The martial trait was always
there, accentuated, as | see him in the
minds eye across the years, by his
brimmed silk hat and the walking stick
welded with a grace only to be de
scribed as Whistlerian.
A certain hard sophistication char
acteristic of Whistler is pretty gener-
ally confirmed by the portraits. The ro-
mantle aspect painted by Fantin- -Latour
comes out in one or two other SOU
venrs, but mainly the numerous fellow
artists who portrayed him interpreted
him for the essentially mundane figure
that he was. Boldni, both in his
painted portrait and in the dry points,
/ gave him a Mephistophelian accent
| The pages of "The Gentle Art of Max
| ing Enemies" are there to demonstrate
that Boldini was not so far wrong. Of
! Whistler in his more debonnair mood
not pugnacious, but suavely persua-
sivc, the portrait which we reproduce
to-day provides an interesting record
This portrait, drawn by Mr.. Harpe.
rennington - not mentioned in MIR
Gallatins list and. in fact, hither-
J to unpublished - commentaries tn
Whistler of the famous Ten O'clock
lecture. The Pencils. in their bog
raphy, thus interestingly describe hi
on the platform:
Princes Hall was taken for the lecture
Whistler suggested the hour. People were
not to rush to him from the dinner table
rs to the theatre therefore 10 was a
early one could expect them to he
punctual, aad the hour gave the name.
the Ten O'clock" He designed the ticket
He had it enlarged into a poster. He
chose the Offices and galleries where tickets
should be sold. There a rehearsal at
| Princes Hall on February 10. 1855. Mrs.