Exhibition showcasing Whistler collection
FORT SMITH — Dr. Jeff Garner’s infatuation with James McNeill Whistler began as a child, when he was introduced to the legendary oil painting Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1 (1871) — commonly known as Whistler’s Mother. Now on display in Paris, the painting is one of the most recognized artworks in the world.
However, it was Whistler’s etchings that inspired Garner, and the Little Rock dentist has collected some 50 of the artist’s 490 known etchings over the past decade. Garner acquired etchings first at auction, then mostly through galleries and individuals selling them on the Internet.
About 30 framed works from Garner’s private collection are being displayed at the Fort Smith Regional Art Museum, alongside a Whistler exhibition titled “An American in Venice: James McNeill Whistler and His Legacy.” The latter, organized by Syracuse University Art Galleries, encompasses 36 pieces, including 12 etchings by Whistler referred to as the “Venice Set.”
Some etchings were completed in one sitting, while others went through as many as 20 stages before the artist was satisfied with them, according to the catalog for the Whistler Etchings Project, based at the University of Glasgow. The school located and investigated more than 9,500 impressions from etchings. Whistler was trained as a topographical draftsman, and his etchings were drawn with precise and expressive lines, and printed with great technical skill.
The Regional Art Museum’s exhibition also includes works by other artists, such as Australian Mortimer Menpes and American Joseph Pennell, who were practicing in Italy and were influenced by Whistler in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Whistler’s works in Venice, commissioned by the Fine Art Society of London, were created over 14 months beginning in 1879. The etchings portray palazzo entries, private courtyards and views of canals. Venice’s famous monuments and landmarks rarely appear or can be seen in the background. Titles include The Doorway, The Palaces, Nocturne and The Little Lagoon.
“He wanted to create Venice just for the Venetians,” said Lee Ortega, museum executive director. “It was less about the very famous squares and spots, and more about the alleyways and windows — the more intimate spaces of Venice.
“It really communicates the essence of the place,” she said.
His etchings were groundbreaking for the time. Etchings were typically the first way artists were able to reproduce their works and sell through dealers and other brokers.
“It was done at a time when he was facing some financial difficulties, and he really needed the income,” Ortega said.
Garner’s contribution to the Regional Art Museum’s offering consists of nearly all the etchings that comprise the “French Set” and the “Thames Set,” which were Whistler’s first and second published, respectively. The “French Set” was created in 1857 and 1858 in London, Paris and on a trip to Alsace, and along the Rhine into Germany. Whistler created the “Thames Set” between 1859 and 1871. Through those works he attained the public status of a legitimate professional artist.
“Patrons get to see the Thames Set, the French Set and the Venice Set, which is really pretty wild to have that under one roof,” Garner said. He described Whistler as “the rock star of his time.”
In Garner’s opinion, Whistler’s ability to create images without telling a story was what set him apart from his peers.
“Whistler came along and thought, ‘You know, I need to open this up and let the painting be a little aloof and let people enjoy from it what they want to enjoy from it without spelling it out for them,’” Garner said.
“Rembrandt was probably considered the best etcher ever, and many art critics and art specialists and printmakers and etchers feel strongly that Whistler, if he was not an equal to Rembrandt, he second to Rembrandt,” Garner said. “Some said he was a better etcher that Rembrandt.”
Regional art experts wellversed in Whistler’s work agree that the exhibition is significant in that few institutions have displayed so many works by Whistler and his contemporaries and students.
“I think it shows how far-reaching his influence was,” Daniel Sutherland, professor of history at the University of Arkansas said of the show. Sutherland wrote a Whistler biography, Whistler: A Life for Art’s Sake. The title is a take on the phrase “Art for art’s sake,” popularized in Whistler’s day.
Henry Rinne, dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith, is scheduled to lecture on Whistler at the Regional Art Museum on Dec. 18.
The exhibitions run through Jan. 4, and admission to the museum and the show are free. The museum is open from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and from 1-5 p.m. Sundays.