The Gentle Art of Making Enemies, the limited, numbered, and signed first edition, accompanied by an original 1890 French review.
As pleasingly exemplified in many instances, wherein the serious ones of this earth carefully exasperated, have been prettily spurred on to unseemliness and indiscretion, while overcome by an undue sense of right.
London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1890. Signed, limited, and numbered first edition. Quarter leather. This is copy 47 of the numbered and signed limited edition. The Gentle Art of Making Enemies collects a variety of polemical documents by James McNeill Whistler, including essays and correspondence chronicling his disputes with critics, collectors, and fellow artists. Prominent is his 1878 libel lawsuit against critic John Ruskin. Laid in is the "25 Octobre" publication of "La Chronique Des Arts" (No. 33 - 1890), an eight-page leaflet publication, entirely in French, with a review of The Gentle Art of Making Enemies at pages 4 & 5.
This copy's limitation statement is hand-numbered "47" and signed by Whistler with his butterfly monogram. Per the limitation statement, this is one of "two hundred and fifty copies - one hundred and fifty for England - one hundred for America". The original binding was quarter cloth with dark tan paper-covered boards. This copy is skillfully rebacked in elaborate pale citron quarter Morocco, retaining the original cloth boards. The Morocco spine features raised, gilt-tooled bands, gilt-tooled compartments, and red and yellow silk head and tail bands. Condition is very good, the spine clean and unblemished, the boards showing light scuffing and wear to the extremities. The contents, printed on laid paper with untrimmed fore and bottom edges, are quite clean. The sole previous ownership mark is the small bookseller's ticket of "Appelfeld Gallery New York" formerly affixed to the lower rear pastedown and now laid in. Spotting appears confined to the initial and final leaves. Age toning (and some attendant brittling) is confined to the untrimmed fore and bottom edges.
In 1877, the work of painter James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) - and the elite appreciation thereof - were attacked by art and social critic John Ruskin (1819-1900). That year, "Whistler exhibited at Sir Coutts Lindsay's newly opened Grosvenor Gallery a painting of fireworks against a night sky entitled Nocturne in Black and Gold – the Falling Rocket...about which John Ruskin wrote in his pamphlet Fors Clavigera addressed to the 'Workmen and labourers of Great Britain'”:
"For Mr. Whistler's sake, no less than for the protection of the purchaser, Sir Coutts Lindsay ought not to have admitted works into the gallery in which the ill-educated conceit of the artist so nearly approached the aspect of willful imposture. I have seen, and heard, much of Cockney impudence before now; but never expected to hear a coxcomb ask two hundred guineas for flinging a pot of paint in the public's face."
Whistler sued Ruskin for libel, claiming £1000 in damages and the cost of the action." When the case came to court in 1878, Ruskin’s "counsel and witnesses took every opportunity to ridicule the fashionable audience for Whistler's art". When questioned in court if he charged 200 guineas for two days labor, Whistler famously and haughtily replied: "No; I ask it for the knowledge of a lifetime". In the end, Whistler prevailed in court, but was offered only symbolic damages of 1 farthing.
Ruskin had his own revenge. As Whistler became "a feature of London's artistic society" he endeavored to live well beyond his means. In short order, "Whistler was obliged to sell his art for substantially less than he had before" and in "May 1879 when he was made bankrupt with debts of £4500" his art and household effects were auctioned." Whistler even “destroyed a number of his canvases in order to prevent his creditors acquiring them."
"In the last two decades of his life Whistler's influence was considerable, but he never stopped practicing his “gentle art".” Even publication of this protracted, retrospective polemic did not occur without contention; an unsanctioned version with the same title was suppressed via a lawsuit.
The Gentle Art of Making Enemies ungently lives up to its title from the onset. The opening "PUBLISHER'S NOTE" and succeeding pages detail the "EXTRAORDINARY PIRATICAL PLOT" to publish without his consent. The dedication page encapsulates the tone: "To the rare Few who, early in Life, have rid Themselves of the Friendship of the Many..." The “Prologue” merely enshrines his grudge, featuring the quote by Ruskin that provoked Whistler's libel suit. Item #008503
Price: $1,250.00