Object details
Object number
10.b.3.25
Creator(s)
Title
Whistler v. Ruskin: Art & Art Critics
Date
1878
Medium
Printed ink on paper
Language
English
Publication Place
London
Binding Description
brown paper; printed black lettering with butterfly
Description
17 p.; 21 cm
Dimensions
19.5 x 14.7 cm (7 11/16 x 5 13/16 in.)
Signatures, inscriptions, and markings
Dedicated in ink (title page): Isabella S. Gardner / from - [printed] Whistler
Provenance
Probably a gift from James McNeill Whistler to Isabella Stewart Gardner by 1906.
Commentary
Isabella Stewart Gardner collected James McNeill Whistler’s published writing as well as his artwork. In this book, the artist responds to a public dispute with the art critic John Ruskin. Whistler sued Ruskin for libel in 1877 after the critic published a review that accused him of “flinging a pot of paint in the public’s face.” The case was decided in Whistler’s favor, but the court awarded him only a farthing in damages. Frustrated, the painter published his own version of the trial—Whistler vs. Ruskin: Art & Art Critics.
Bibliography
Isabella Stewart Gardner. A Choice of Books from the Library of Isabella Stewart Gardner, Fenway Court (Boston, 1906), p. 69.
Kathleen King, "Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee: James McNeill Whistler," Inside the Collection (blog), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 9 July 2024, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/james-mcneill-whistler-walking-stick
Gallery
Blue Room
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