Battersea Reach

c. 1863

James McNeill Whistler

Painter, American, 1834 - 1903

We look slightly down onto and across a wide, boat-filled river under a cloudy sky at the far bank, which is lined with buildings, in this loosely painted, horizontal landscape. Four long, wooden boats are pulled up side-by-side to our right, so most of their prows are cropped by the right edge of the composition. Their amber-brown sails are tied up to the vertical masts and angled spars, which create a row of diagonal lines jutting into the painting from the right edge. The boats’ sterns are painted moss green, and the boat farthest from us has what could be a small dingy tethered off the back end. Several ghostly men and women stand below us, in the lower right corner, on a pecan-brown walkway low to the water. We can see through the people so the details are indistinct, but they all seem to look away from us except one person who looks our way, indicated with a touch of peach for a face. They wear long gowns and jackets or baggy shirts and trousers in tones of plum purple, caramel brown, light blue, or charcoal gray. In the middle of the river, a long, thin boat with a narrow, scarlet-red sail has drifted past them toward the left side of the composition. Two long strokes of cranberry red suggest more vessels on the water closer to the opposite shore. Low buildings painted in fawn and coffee brown, cherry red, cream, and tan line the far bank. The buildings become indistinct and fainter as they angle away from us into the distance. Bands of off-white clouds, some frothy and some wispy, fill the upper half of the painting. The sky is otherwise washed with violet purple, slate gray, and aquamarine blue. The river’s surface is smeared with the reflections of the sky, buildings, and boats.

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Artwork overview

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

George John Cavafy, London, c. 1863; by descent 1891 to his son, John Cavafy, London; purchased 1892 by (Edward G. Kennedy, Wunderlich & Co., New York). purchased 1893 by Isaac Cook, Jr., Maine. acquired by (John Levy, New York), by 1918; James Parmelee [d. 1931], Cleveland and Washington; his widow, Alice Maury Parmelee, Washington; bequest 1941 to the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; acquired 2014 by the National Gallery of Art.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1911

  • The Home Exhibition: A Collection of Paintings Owned in St. Louis and Lent to the Museum, City Art Museum, St. Louis, 1911, no. 84.

1952

  • Sea and Shore, Norton Gallery of Art, West Palm Beach, 1952, no catalogue.

1953

  • Expatriates: Whistler, Cassatt, Sargent, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, 1952, no. 9.

1959

  • Loan Exhibition. Masterpieces of the Corcoran Gallery of Art: A Benefit Exhibition in Honor of the Gallery's Centenary, Wildenstein, New York, 1959, unnumbered catalogue, repro..

  • American National Exhibition, Sokol'niki Park, Moscow, 1959, not in catalogue.

1966

  • Past and Present: 250 Years of American Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 1966, unpublished checklist.

1968

  • James McNeill Whistler: Paintings, Pastels, Watercolors, Drawings, Etchings, Lithographs, Art Institute of Chicago; Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, 1968, no. 9.

1977

  • London and the Thames: Paintings of Three Centuries, Department of the Environment at Somerset House, London, 1977, no. 65.

1978

  • The American Landscape Tradition, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 1978, unpublished checklist.

1987

  • The Image of London: Views by Travellers and Emigrés, 1550-1920, Barbican Art Gallery, London, 1987, no. 159.

1994

  • James McNeill Whistler, Tate Gallery, London; Musée d'Orsay, Paris; National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1994-1995, no. 36.

  • James McNeill Whistler, Tate Gallery, London; Musée d'Orsay, Paris; National Gallery of Art, Wshington, 1994-1995, no. 36.

1998

  • James McNeill Whistler, Walter Richard Sickert, Salas de Exposiciones de la Fundacion "la Caixa"; Museo de Bellas Artes, Bilbao, 1998, no. 1.

2003

  • The Impressionist Tradition in America, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 2003-2004, unpublished checklist.

2005

  • Encouraging American Genius: Master Paintings from the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Parrish Art Museum, Southampton; Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte; John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, 2005-2007, checklist no. 33 (not shown in Washington).

  • Monet's London: Artists' Reflections on the Thames 1859-1914, St. Petersburg Museum of Fine Arts, Florida; Brooklyn Museum of Art; Baltimoe Museum of Art, 2004-2005, no. 46.

2008

  • The American Evolution: A History through Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 2008, unpublished checklist.

2009

  • American Paintings from the Collection, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 6 June-18 October 2009, unpublished checklist.

2013

  • An American in London: Whistler and the Thames, Dulwich Picture Gallery, London; Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover; Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, 2013-2014, no. 28.

  • American Journeys: Visions of Place, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 21 September 2013-28 September 2014, unpublished checklist.

2022

  • The Woman in White: Joanna Hiffernan and James McNeill Whistler, Royal Academy of Arts, London; National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2022, pl.. 5.

Bibliography

1947

  • Corcoran Gallery of Art. Handbook of the American Paintings in the Collection of the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Washington, 1947: 45.

1959

  • Corcoran Gallery of Art. Masterpieces of the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Washington, 1959: 53, repro.

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. 36, repro.

2011

  • Simpson, Marc. "James McNeil Whistler, Battersea Reach." In Corcoran Gallery of Art: American Paintings to 1945. Edited by Sarah Cash. Washington, 2011: 36, 128-129, 202, 265-266, repro.

Inscriptions

lower right reverse: [the artist's butterfly monogram]

Wikidata ID

Q20188395

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