. The Whistler book; a monograph of the life and positin in art of James McNeill Whistler, together with a careful study of his more important works . thingto sit on. What do you mean? said Whis-tler. Standing room only, replied the studio could boast of only four or fivesmall cane-seated chairs (always requisitionedfor the dining room on Sundays), and the mostuncomfortable bamboo sofa ever made. No-body, except some luckless model, sat upon ittwice. Never a book or any instrument ofmusic in his room, nothing that would not con-stantly be in use, nothing superfluous; all hiscares wer
. The Whistler book; a monograph of the life and positin in art of James McNeill Whistler, together with a careful study of his more important works . thingto sit on. What do you mean? said Whis-tler. Standing room only, replied the studio could boast of only four or fivesmall cane-seated chairs (always requisitionedfor the dining room on Sundays), and the mostuncomfortable bamboo sofa ever made. No-body, except some luckless model, sat upon ittwice. Never a book or any instrument ofmusic in his room, nothing that would not con-stantly be in use, nothing superfluous; all hiscares were centred on the wall and woodwork,painted in graduated monochromes, of whichhe held the secret. The strangest thing about these rooms of hiswas, that they always looked complete. Therewas no space, apparently, for more than he putin them. So great was the art in his arrange-ments of colour and a few pieces of ordinaryfurniture — a spindle-legged table and threeor four small painted chairs — that it seemedimpossible to add so much as a book withoutdisturbing the harmonious whole. Curtains, alittle mirror, one, two, three at the most, per- i. ARRANGEMENT IN GRAY AND GREEN: MISS ALEXANDER. I Symphonies in Interior Decoration 109 fectly placed pictures, a vase, perhaps a pairof them, upon the mantel, and matting on thefloor, were literally all that any room I everknew him to occupy appeared able to was a sense of finish and finahty aboutit which a piano and stuffed furniture wouldhave disturbed. In the vases, as in two squarehanging pots upon the wall of the dining-room,there were always a few yellow flowers, andin a huge old china bowl, that formed the cen-trepiece of the dining-room table, swam sometiny gold fish — the whole thing was carefullycomposed so as to make the symphonycomplete at those historic Sunday break-fasts. His various abodes became a topic of con-versation, and a place of pilgrimage, and madeWhistler, for a while at least, a recognizedleader
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectwhistle, bookyear1910
