National Gallery of Art :: The Collection :: Wapping
  • Inscription
  • Provenance
  • Exhibition History
  • Bibliography

Overview

No overview.

Inscription

lower right: Whistler. / 1861

Marks and Labels

null

Provenance

Purchased c. 1864 by Thomas DeKay Winans [1820-1878],Baltimore;[1] his daughter, Celeste Winans [Mrs. G. M.] Hutton, Baltimore, until at least 1923; Flora MacDonald White, New York; sold 29 September 1928 to John Hay Whitney [1904-1982], Manhasset, New York; deeded 1982 to the John Hay Whitney Charitable Trust, New York; gift 1982 to NGA.

[1] According to an unidentified newspaper clipping in the Winans-Hutton Family Scrapbook, ms. 916, box 18, Maryland Historical Society Manuscripts Division, Winans purchased Wapping in 1867 when it was exhibited at the Universal Exhibition in Paris (according to the same source Whistler "wanted it for exhibition at Goupil's, in 1892, but could not get it and it has not been seen in Europe since 1867." Elizabeth Robins Pennell and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 2 vols., London, 1908: I:88, indicated that Winans brought the painting to Baltimore shortly after the 1867 Paris exhibition. Winans had accompanied the artist's father Major George Washington Whistler to Russia in 1844, where they began construction on a railroad line between Moscow and St. Petersburg. Winans became wealthy through the venture, and shortly after returning to Baltimore in 1851 built "Alexandroffsky." Whistler had briefly worked for the Winans Locomotive Company at Baltimore in 1854, after his discharge from West Point. His elder half-brother George Whistler married into the Winans family. For biographical information on Winans see Bertram Lippincott III, "The Hutton Family of 'Shamrock Cliff'," Newport History. Bulletin of the Newport Historical Society 64, no. 221 (Fall 1991): 164-166; and Alexandra Lee Levin, "Inventive, Imaginative, and Incorrigible: The Winans Family and the Building of the First Russian Railroad," Maryland Historical Magazine 84 (Spring 1989): 50-55.

Exhibition History

1864
96th Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1864, no. 585.
1866
Artists' Fund Exhibition, New York, 1866, no. 360, as On the Thames.
1867
Possibly 85th Exhibition, Oeuvres de peinture, sculpture, architecture, gravure et lithographie des artists vivants, Palais des Champs-Elysées (The Salon), Paris, 1867, as Sur la Tamise, l'hiver.
1867
Universal Exhibition, U.S.A. Section, Paris, 1867, two catalogues: no. 76, as Wapping or On the Thames, and no. 69, as Wapping, On the Thames.
1876
Charity Art Exhibition, Academy of Music, Baltimore, 1876, no. 39.
1923
Inaugural Exhibition, Baltimore Museum of Art, 1923, no. 242.
1932
American Painting and Sculpture, 1862-1932, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1932-1933, no. 114, as Wapping Docks, London.
1938
Trois Siècles d'Art aux Etats-Unis, Musée du Jeu de Paume, Paris, 1938, no. 174, pl. 11, as Wapping on Thames.
1940
Paintings of London, Paris, M. Knoedler and Co., Inc., New York, 1940, no. 22, as Wapping-on-Thames.
1949
James McNeill Whistler, Lyman Allyn Museum, New London, Connecticut, 1949, no. 28, repro., as Wapping on Thames.
1954
Sargent, Whistler and Mary Cassatt, Art Institute of Chicago; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1954, no. 93, repro., as Wapping on Thames.
1956
Pictures Collected by Yale Alumni, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut, 1956, no. 70, repro., as Wapping on Thames.
1960
James McNeill Whistler: An Exhibition of Paintings and Other Works, Organized by the Arts Council of Great Britain and the English-Speaking Union of the United States, The Arts Council Gallery, London; M. Knoedler & Co., Inc., New York, 1960, no. 5.
1960
The John Hay Whitney Collection, Tate Gallery, London, 1960-1961, no. 65, as Wapping on Thames.
1966
Art of the United States: 1670-1966, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1966, no. 293, repro., as Wapping on Thames.
1968
American Art from Alumni Collections, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut, 1968, no. 112, repro., as Wapping on Thames.
1971
From Realism to Symbolism: Whistler and His World, Wildenstein Gallery, New York; Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1971, no. 10, repro.
1977
London and the Thames: Paintings of Three Centuries, National Maritime Museum for the Department of Environment, Somerset House, London, 1977, no. 63, repro.
1983
The John Hay Whitney Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1983, no. 73, repro., as Wapping on Thames.
1987
The Image of London: Views by Travelers and Emigrés 1550-1920, Barbican Art Gallery, London, 1987, no. 155, fig. 16.
1994
James McNeill Whistler, Tate Gallery, London; Musée d'Orsay, Paris; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1994-1995, no. 33, repro.
1997
The Victorians: British Painting in the Reign of Queen Victoria, 1837-1901, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1997, no. 27, color repro.
1998
Gifts to the Nation from Mr. and Mrs. John Hay Whitney, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1998-1999, no cat.
2001
Great British Paintings from American Collections: Holbein to Hockney, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven; The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, 2001-2002, no. 60, repro.
2004
Turner, Whistler, Monet, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris; Tate Britain, London, 2004-2005, no. 26, repro.

Bibliography

1905
Bénédite, Léonce. "Artistes contemporains: Whistler." Gazette des Beaux-Arts 33 (1905): 496-497.
1908
Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell. The Life of James McNeill Whistler. 2 vols. London, 1908: 1:88-89, 91, 127, 140, repro. facing 88.
1917
Duret, Théodore. Whistler. Translated by Frank Rutter. London, 1917: 41 (original edition, Paris, 1904).
1921
Pennell, Elizabeth Robins. The Whistler Journal. Philadelphia, 1921: 119, 122, 161-162.
1956
Rewald, John. "French Paintings in the collection of Mr. and Mrs. John Hay Whitney." The Connoisseur 134, no. 552 (April 1956):140, repro.
1960
James McNeill Whistler. An Exh. of Paintings and Other Works, Organized by the Arts Council of Great Britain and the English-Speaking Union of the U.S.. Exh. cat. The Arts Council Gallery and Knoedler Galleries, London and New York, 1960: 34-35, pl. 4.
1963
Sutton, Denys. Nocturne: The Art of James McNeill Whistler. London, 1963: 43, fig. 5.
1966
Sutton, Denys. James McNeill Whistler: Paintings, Etchings, Pastels, Watercolours. London, 1966: 9, 186, color pl. 11.
1978
Fleming, Gordon. The Young Whistler. London, 1978: 158-159, 196-198, fig. 22.
1978
Taylor, Hilary. James McNeill Whistler. London, 1978: 22-23, fig. 18.
1980
Young, Andrew McLaren, Margaret F. MacDonald, and Robin Spencer, with the assistance of Hamish Miles. The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler. 2 vols. New Haven, 1980: 1:14-15, no. 35; 2:pl. 23, 368, 376.
1982
Spencer, Robin. "Whistler's Subject Matter: 'Wapping' 1860-1864." Gazette des Beaux-Arts 100 (October 1982): 131-142, fig. 1.
1983
Rewald, John. The John Hay Whitney Collection. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1983: 172-173, repro.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 557, no. 848, color repro.
1988
Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. Rev. ed. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1988: 140, no. 47, color repro.
1992
American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 379, repro.
1994
Anderson, Ronald, and Anne Koval. James McNeill Whistler: Beyond the Myth. New York, 1994: 94-95, color pl. 3.
1994
Dorment, Richard, and Margaret F. MacDonald. James McNeill Whistler. Exh. cat. Tate Gallery, London; Musée d'Orsay, Paris; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. London, 1994: no. 33, 103-104, color repro.
1995
Koval, Anne. Whistler and His Time. London, 1995: 28-31.
1996
Warner, Malcolm. The Victorians: British Painting 1837-1901. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1996: 110-111, no. 27, color repro. (exhibition was in 1997).
1998
Merill, Linda. The Peacock Room: A Cultural Biography. Washington D.C., Freer Gallery of Art, 1998: 55-56, fig. 1.10, repro.
1998
Torchia, Robert Wilson, with Deborah Chotner and Ellen G. Miles. American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part II. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1998: 233-238, color repro.
2003
Merrill, Linda, et al. After Whistler: The Artist and His Influence on American Painting. Exh. cat. High Museum of Art, Atlanta; The Detroit Institute of Arts. Atlanta, 2003: 12, fig. 4.
2004
Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 335, no. 270, color repro.
2005
Monet's London: Artists' Reflections on the Thames, 1859-1914. Exh. cat. Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, Florida; Brooklyn Museum of Art; Baltimore Museum of Art. St. Petersburg, 2005: 22-23, fig. 6.

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