Whistler as I knew him . dusting the surface of the glass with a silkpocket-handkerchief. We watched him he turned round, beamed upon us, and criedenthusiastically, Bravo, Jimmy ! Then he took myarm and hurried me out of the gallery, talking rapidlyof the luncheon we were about to have. Whistler was very amusing in his attempts to• cleanse the Society in the teeth of opposition fromthe British Artists themselves. He left not a stoneunturned to complete their artistic triumph. Thesmallest detail was treated by him as important. Forexample, of the Societys notepaper and the
Whistler as I knew him . dusting the surface of the glass with a silkpocket-handkerchief. We watched him he turned round, beamed upon us, and criedenthusiastically, Bravo, Jimmy ! Then he took myarm and hurried me out of the gallery, talking rapidlyof the luncheon we were about to have. Whistler was very amusing in his attempts to• cleanse the Society in the teeth of opposition fromthe British Artists themselves. He left not a stoneunturned to complete their artistic triumph. Thesmallest detail was treated by him as important. Forexample, of the Societys notepaper and the stampupon it, Whistler did not approve. Immediately hedesigned another, a small red lion, decorative anddainty in the extreme. On the first proof sent fromthe stationers he wrote to me a little letter. Toshow what a joyous, light-hearted, almost boyish manthe Master could be on occasions, I will repeat it. I write on the official sheet, 0 dear and most A NUDE STUDY From a pastel in the possession of Edmund Davis, THE BRITISH ARTISTS 109 respectful one, because I am in love with the look ofit. Isnt it really brilliant and fascinating as a pic-ture? And ni}- little red lion — isnt he splendid andwell placed ? Whats the use ! This letter I have kept, as, indeed, I have keptand cherished all Whistlers letters. Then, again, the signboard was a cruel thorn inthe Masters side for fifteen minutes, during which heregarded it in sorrow before he ultimately had it dis-placed and sent off to his studio, where with a fewsweeps of his brush he rapidly transformed the Rick-etts-blue enamel-and-white lettering of the originalinto vermilion, bearing upon it a lion, the sign of theSociety, and a cleverly drawn, well-placed, large but-terfly. The Society of British Artists, printed insmall block letters, did not at all interfere with theharmony of the whole. But this seemed to add thefinal touch to the oppression of the British signboard was the last straw. They becameexas
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Keywords: ., bookce, bookdecade1900, bookidwhistlerasiknew00menp, bookyear1904
