Whistler Writings Timeline

  • 1862: Whistler’s views first appear in print - writes to the authoritative literary review the Athenaeum (5 July 1862) challenging an exhibition review claiming that Symphony in White No 1: The White Girl (1861- 2), his portrait of Joanna Hiffernan (then on display in London at the Berner's Street Gallery, was a representation of Wilkie Collin’s novel, The Woman in White.
  • 1873: Second public letter published the Athenaeum (8 November 1873) about a painting subsequently identified as 'Trouville' (c.1865). In the letter, Whistler claims that his titles are a ‘key to my work simply,' although he does not ‘expect others, who do not understand them, to refuse themselves any witticism, like the above brilliant parody, on the subject.’
  • 1874: First solo exhibition in 1874 at the Flemish Gallery, Pall Mall at which, for the first time, Whistler designs the catalogue, invitations and interior decoration of the gallery himself. Writes third public letter to the Hour (13 June 1874) in response to a review: ‘My wish has been ... to prove that the place in which works of art are shown may be made as free from "discordant element which distract the spectator's attention" as the works themselves.’
  • These three published letters establish a pattern of challenging and correcting the assumptions of the critics that he would repeat over the next thirty years.
  • 1877, Spring: Whistler completes work on Harmony in Gold: The Peacock Room, his decorative scheme for the London home of his patron the ship-owner Frederick Richards Leyland. To Leyland’s annoyance, Whistler holds a press view for the work in his absence at which he distributes a published broadside outlining his artistic intentions for the scheme.
  • 1878, December: Pamphlet Whistler v Ruskin: Art & Art Critics published by Chatto & Windus in the aftermath of his libel case against leading critic of the day, John Ruskin. Although widely reviewed in the press, it alienates many of his friends, including the aesthetic critic Joseph Comyns Carr.
  • 1883, December: Holds second exhibition of Venice etchings at the Fine Art Society galleries. Includes ‘Caviare to the Critics,' in the third edition of the catalogue, an extract from the 'Atlas' gossip column of the society paper, the World which had commented approvingly upon 'Mr Whistler's new method with critics.' ‘Caviare to the Critics’ is later republished in the Gentle Art.
  • 1885, 20 February: Delivers the Ten O’Clock Lecture, his chief public statement of his aesthetic ideas, for the first time at the Prince's Hall, Piccadilly.
  • 1885, October: Small edition of twenty-five copies of the Ten O’Clock published in pamphlet form by Whistler’s printer Thomas Way.
  • 1886: ‘Propositions' a series of statements outlining Whistler’s views on etching included with A Set of Twenty-six Etchings (the 'Second Venice Set') issued by London dealers, Dowdeswells.’
  • 1888: First large-scale editions of the Ten ’Clock published in London, Paris and Boston. The Paris edition is published in a French translation by Symbolist poet, Stéphane Mallarmé. The two men become close friends, collaborating on a publishing venture, Récreations Postales, in 1892 although this only comes to partial fruition.
  • 1889: Meets American journalist-art entrepreneur Sheridan Ford and his wife Mary Bacon Martin. They are keen to come to come to a profitable business arrangement with Whistler. The two men begin work on a venture to publish Whistler’s writings and exchanges in the press from the 1870s and 80s. However, they later fall out and Whistler discharges him from the project.
  • 1890, June: The Gentle Art of Making Enemies published by William Heineman after a lengthy cat-and-mouse game with Ford who had attempted to pre-empt Whistler with a pirated edition of the writings of his own. Second expanded edition (to include the catalogue of his landmark retrospective exhibition Nocturnes, Marines and Chevalet Pieces) published in 1892.
  • 1899: Eden v Whistler: The Baronet and the Butterfly published. Records Whistler’s account of his dispute with Sir William Eden over a commission for a portrait of Eden's wife. Dissatisfied with his work, Whistler had refused to hand the picture over to Eden, claiming it was the artist's right to withhold it in such circumstances. Eden then began legal proceedings against him which dragged on until December 1897 when Whistler, on appeal, was permitted by the Cour de Cassation in Paris to keep the picture provided that he did not make use of it.