Whistler and Watercolour
6 September 2013 – 23 February 2014
Hunterian Art Gallery, University of Glasgow
Admission free
This new display presents over 20 of the finest watercolours from the University of Glasgow’s internationally important collection of the work of James McNeill Whistler. They include exquisitely painted figure studies, sea views, and streetscapes. The watercolours form part of a pioneering investigation currently being carried out by History of Art staff in collaboration with the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington DC. The results so far reveal Whistler’s technique to be richer and more varied than previously assumed and demonstrate the dynamic relationship between the watercolours and Whistler’s experiments in oil, etching and lithography. Future research will investigate the pigments, materials and papers used.
James McNeill Whistler (1834–1903), the American-born artist, designer and writer, was a highly accomplished and innovative exponent of watercolour. He received a grounding in historic traditions of watercolour painting as a cadet at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, during the early 1850s. By the 1870s, however, he had developed his own expressive technical language of diluted watercolour paint, layering washes on the paper to achieve varying optical effects and to exploit paper texture. This evolved further in his depictions of shop fronts and coastal scenes in the 1880s and 90s. The critics questioned their degree of finish, as they did with his work in other media: ‘delightful memoranda of colour or form’ … ‘eminently clever and effective jottings, but … the kind of things which artists do not usually exhibit.’
The Whistler Collection at The Hunterian
The University of Glasgow houses the world's largest public display of Whistler's art, and a major resource for the study of Whistler's life and times. These holdings are centred on the artist's Estate. Whistler bequeathed his Estate to his ward, Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873–1958), a younger sister of his late wife, Beatrix. Miss Philip subsequently gifted and bequeathed the art collection, and Whistler's personal collections of decorative art and memorabilia, to the University of Glasgow in 1935 and 1958 respectively.
Glasgow was chosen for several reasons, including Whistler's Scottish ancestry; the support in his lifetime of the painters the ‘Glasgow Boys’ which led to the purchase by the city in 1891 of Whistler's portrait of Thomas Carlyle; and, in 1903, shortly before his death, the decision by the University of Glasgow to award Whistler the honorary degree of Doctor of Law.
In addition, in 1954 Miss Philip presented the University with an important archive of over 4,000 letters as well as catalogues, press cuttings, photographs, books and memorabilia. This archive is housed in the Special Collections Department of the University Library.
Acknowledgements
The exhibition and related research have been supported by a British Academy Small Research Grant, the Lunder Foundation and the Lunder Consortium for Whistler Studies.
Further information on The Hunterian’s Whistler Collection and Whistler’s watercolours is available at www.gla.ac.uk/hunterian ; an online version of the exhibition is available at http://www.whistlerwatercolours.gla.ac.uk/
Images
For images, contact Harriet Gaston, Communications Manager, The Hunterian
Email: Harriet.Gaston@glasgow.ac.uk
Hunterian Art Gallery
82 Hillhead Street
University of Glasgow
Glasgow G12 8QQ
Open Tuesday – Saturday 10.00am – 5.00pm and Sunday 11.00am – 4.00pm
Admission free – admission charge for special exhibitions
First published: 16 October 2013