Le "Ten O'Clock" de M. Whistler -- inscribed by Whistler to his good friend, the painter Antonio de la Gandara
London and Paris: 1888. First printing. Paperback. First printing of the French edition, translated by Mallarmé, inscribed by Whistler to his friend Antonio de la Gandara, signed with his butterfly monogram. Wraps, good copy with wear and soil to covers, contents good to very good, 29 pp. housed in special cloth chemise. Whistler delivered this lecture to an audience in London in Febrary 1885, deliberately choosing the unfashionable hour of 10pm in order to insure that he wouldn't be competing with dinner or other events. It was a very iconoclastic hour-long talk that was well received and caused a bit of a stir with declarations such as: "If familiarity can breed contempt, certainly Art—or what is currently taken for it—has been brought to its lowest stage of intimacy. The people have been harassed with Art in every guise, and vexed with many methods as to its endurance. They have been told how they shall love Art, and live with it. Their homes have been invaded, their walls covered with paper, their very dress taken to task— until, roused at last, bewildered and filled with the doubts and discomforts of senseless suggestion, they resent such intrusion, and cast forth the false prophets, who have brought the very name of the beautiful into disrepute, and derision upon themselves." Inscribed to a close friend, the painter Antonio de la Gandara, whose painting style is often compared to Whistler's. The two illustrated at least one book together, and in 1891 shared a studio in Paris. A fine association copy, enhanced by its having been translated by the great Symbolist poet, Mallarmé. Good. Item #H18088
Price: $2,000.00