Nocturne
date: label: Date
content: 1878
name: label: Artist
content: James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)
notes: label: Edition/State
content: 2, 1
label: Label
content: Nocturne is a view of Battersea from Lindsey Row. Whistler did not reverse the drawing, so the printed image is backwards, but many contemporary Londoners would have recognized the lighted clock tower of the Morgan Crucible Company, the factory smokestacks, the triangular profile of the slag heap, and the spire of Battersea Church. Whistler used broad washes and the cool tones of the paper to create a powerfully moody print that can hold its own with the painted nocturnes.
label: Label
content: Whistler lithographs are identified by "C" numbers as described in The Lithographs of James McNeill Whistler (Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1998). This print is C8, second state of two.
label: Provenance
content: To 1905
label: Provenance
content: Thomas Way Sr. (1827-1915), London, or Thomas Robert Way (1861-1913), London, to 1905 [1]
label: Provenance
content: From 1905 to 1919
label: Provenance
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Thomas Way Sr. or Thomas Robert Way in 1905 [2]
label: Provenance
content: From 1920
label: Provenance
content: Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]
label: Provenance
content: Notes:
label: Provenance
content: [1] See Original Whistler List, Lithographs, pg. 2, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Thomas Way Sr. and his son, Thomas Robert Way, were lithographers who worked closely with Whistler on several of his projects. They helped with the printing of his etchings, as well as the printing of Whistler’s promotional materials. Both Thomas Way Sr. and Thomas Robert Way owned many Whistler works. Thomas Way Sr. acquired several of these works at the time of Whistler’s bankruptcy, and he passed some of them on to his son (see The Correspondence of James McNeill Whistler, 1855-1903, ed. Margaret F. MacDonald, Patricia de Montfort and Nigel Thorp, On-line Edition, People, biographies of Thomas Way and Thomas Robert Way; http://www.whistler.arts.gla.ac.uk/correspondence).
label: Provenance
content: Charles Lang Freer acquired many Whistler pieces from the Ways. However, museum records do not always specify whether it was the younger or elder Way who was the source of a particular object. Further, archival sources indicate that the junior Way sometimes acted on behalf of his father: whilst negotiating the sale of his own Whistler works to C.L. Freer, he would concurrently negotiate the sale of some of his father’s Whistler works to Freer. In cases where it is unclear whether it was the junior or senior Way who actually owned a piece acquired by C.L. Freer, the provenance record will simply state that the object was purchased from “Thomas Way Sr. or Thomas Robert Way.”
label: Provenance
content: [2] See note 1.
label: Provenance
content: [3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.
label: Collection
content: Freer Gallery of Art Collection
label: Exhibition History
content: An American in London: Whistler and the Thames (May 3 to August 17, 2014)
label: Exhibition History
content: The Texture of Night: James McNeill Whistler (June 6, 2009 to July 25, 2010)
label: Exhibition History
content: Whistler and the Thames (December 17, 2000 to June 17, 2001)
label: Exhibition History
content: Centennial Exhibition, East Corridor (February 25, 1956 to July 10, 1958)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, Whistler Prints (December 12, 1955 to February 25, 1956)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, Whistler Etchings, Lithographs, and Drypoint (September 24, 1947 to April 11, 1955)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, Whistler Prints, East Corridor (January 5, 1944 to January 8, 1947)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, Whistler Etchings and Lithographs (April 4, 1930 to January 20, 1944)
label: Exhibition History
content: Lithographs and Lithotints by Whistler (March 23, 1925 to March 24, 1930)
label: Exhibition History
content: Special Exhibition, Whistler Etchings and Lithographs (January 14, 1924 to February 18, 1924)
label: Exhibition History
content: American Paintings, Etchings, and Lithographs. J.A.McN. Whistler (May 2, 1923 to January 7, 1924)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
place: label: Origin
content: United States
topic: label: Topic
content: night
label: Topic
content: boat
label: Topic
content: United States
label: Topic
content: American Art
label: Topic
content: Charles Lang Freer collection
setName: label: Related Online Resources
content: Google Arts & Culture
label: See more items in
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Charles Lang Freer
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: F1905.208
objectType: label: Type
content: Print
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Lithotint; ink on blue laid chine paper
label: Dimensions
content: H x W: 17.2 x 25.7 cm (6 3/4 x 10 1/8 in)