Note in Blue and Opal–Jersey

Object Details

• Artist

  James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)

• Description

  In the foreground, a flat beach at low tide; in the distance, points of land running into the water; signed with the butterfly at the lower left.

• Signatures

  Blue butterfly in lower left quadrant

• Paper/Support

  On cold-pressed, wove paper mounted overall to board. The paper support is mounted on top of a manufactured board that already had a facing paper. Graphite sight lines around all four edges.

• Provenance

  To 1904

  Thomas Way Sr. (1827-1915), London, or Thomas Robert Way (1861-1913), London, to 1904 [1]

  From 1904 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Thomas Way Sr. or Thomas Robert Way in 1904 [2]

  From 1920

  Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]

  Notes:

  [1] See Original Whistler List, Paintings, pg. 20, 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).

  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.”

  [2] See note 1.

  [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.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Whistler in Watercolor (May 18 to November 3, 2019)

  Whistler—Landscapes and Seascapes (October 14, 1969 to September 25, 1971)

  Centennial Exhibition, Galleries 10 and 11 (February 25, 1956 to November 3, 1959)

  Untitled Exhibition, Whistler Paintings and Drawings (December 14, 1955 to February 25, 1956)

  Untitled Exhibition, Works of Whistler (September 22, 1947 to April 11, 1955)

  Whistler Water Colors (January 7, 1924 to April 4, 1930)

  A Selection of Art Objects from the Freer Collection Exhibited in the New Building of the National Museum (April 15 to June 15, 1912)

  Exposition des Oeuvres de James McNeill Whistler (May 1905)

  Exposition Internationale de Peinture et de Sculpture (1887)

  Sixth Summer Exhibition (1882)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Thomas Way Sr. (1837-1915)

  Thomas Robert Way (1861-1913) (C.L. Freer source)

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  United States

• Credit Line

  Gift of Charles Lang Freer

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

  CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1880s

• Name

  Way, Thomas, Freer, Charles Lang, Way, Thomas Robert

• Place

  United States

• Topic

  Water, Crop marks, Art, Bone black, Zinc white, Cerulean blue, Mounting, Yellow ocher, Charles Lang Freer collection, Mars pigment, Landscapes, American Art, Raw sienna, Cloud, Prussian blue, Indigo, Raw umber

• Culture

  Americans

• Object Type

  Paintings