What would you give to know the secret of Whistler's Drawings?

Edited, revised and expanded by Theresa Franks, for Fine Art Registry®
Original story by Otto Bacher

This is Part 2 of a continuing series we will be publishing on James Abbot MacNeill Whistler. Read Part 1: James McNeill Whistler and the Pastel Wager.

James A. MacNeill Whistler-Courtesy Library of Congress

The following firsthand account by Whistler's good friend, Otto Bacher, was originally titled: The Secret of Drawing. It is most remarkable that in the following short story, Otto Bacher refers to Whistler as "Jimmy", an extraordinarily familiar reference for the great and honored Whistler, as he commanded the greatest of respect from his contemporaries and accordingly, he was always referred to as Mr. Whistler. Only those that were Whistler's closest intimates would dare to call him by the nickname, "Jimmy". It is also interesting to note that Whistler refers to himself in the third person when posing his rather mysterious question to Otto Bacher. Some say that referring to oneself in the third-person when communicating with others is narcissism or illeism. Whatever the case, it was quintessentially Whistler.

What Would You Give to Know the Secret of Whistler's Drawings?

Otto Bacher-Self Portrait-Circa 1883-Courtesy Library of Congress

"Bacher, what would you give Whistler if he would tell you his secret of drawing correctly?"

"What can I give you for it, Jimmy?" I answered earnestly. "You know everything I own, and have here. Just tell me what you want me to give you?"

"But wouldn't you like to know Whistler's secret?

"Of course, I should; but why do you tantalize me when you know perfectly well that everything I have has been at your disposal if you want it. Why don't you express a wish for something you want in exchange for your secret?"

"But, Bacher, you don't seem to realize the value of Whistler's secret. If you had, you would have told him how much you would give to know it." 

James Whistler-circa 1878-Courtesy Library of Congress

I could have offered him some fabulous sum to please him for the moment; but I did not, and told him instead that I did not think he had a secret at all, and that if he had a valuable one, he would tell it. From his evident irritation and hasty retort, I dreaded something awful. "Perhaps," I thought, "I shall now see him as he looked in that detestable photograph with an evil sneer he once showed me--a picture he was fond of, and wished the world to know him by, while he talked caressingly of the sneer as the way Whistler would look at his enemies." 

My painful emotion vanished when I saw on his face a playful expression that mellowed with good humor to the kindest and most lovable look. He ended the subject in a jolly tone, saying, "Bacher, you will never know what you have lost."

In London, six years after, I asked Whistler if he remembered what he told me about his secret of drawing. He looked at me sharply, with a bright twinkle in his eyes, and sad, "You never got the secret, did you, Bacher?" 

Eighteen years later I found this in the book, Whistler as I Knew Him, by Mortimer Menpes:

Only once I remember him really teaching us anything. He told it to us two pupils, and Sickert, I remember, took down every word on his cuff. He described how in Venice once he was drawing a bridge, and suddenly, as though in a revelation, the secret of drawing came to him. He felt that he wanted to keep it to himself, lest someone should use it--it was so sure, so marvelous. This is roughly how he described it: I began first of all by seizing upon the chief point of interest--perhaps it might have been the extreme distance--the little palaces and shipping beneath the bridge. If so, I would begin drawing that distance in elaborately, and then would expand from it until I came to the bridge, which I would draw in one broad sweep. If by chance I did not see the whole bridge, I would not put it in. In this way the picture must necessarily be a perfect thing from start to finish. Even if one were to be arrested in the middle of it, it would still be a fine and complete picture.

Whistler seated with Mortimer Menpes standing. Whistler wears the much talked about coat with cape and curly brimmed hat. Circa 1885. Courtesy Library of Congress.

In the above description of Whistler's secret of drawing, I find no change from his former methods. And, after all these years, I feel certain now as I did then that Whistler had no secret of drawing, because in his earlier works on the Thames and in the portrait of his mother I find the same "sure, marvelous" drawing that is found in his later works.

Drawing-Ria S. Barbara - where Whistler first lived. Courtesy Library of Congress

The Thames towards Erith-Courtesy Library of Congress

Black Lion Wharf-Courtesy Library of Congress

Portrait of Whistler's Mother-Courtesy Library of Congress

 ***

THE END

Next in the series, One of Whistler's Controversies.