Joseph Pennell: The Bio of Whistler, Pt. 1

"Study of Joseph Pennell"
by James McNeill Whistler

"To the abundance of work Joseph Pennell was doing in 1906 and 1907, a burden of personal care and anxiety was added - the burden of a lawsuit, and it is hard to say whether it was worse in anticipation or when we were deep in the legal preparations for it. 'The Life of Whistler,' was the cause.

Whistler, after he asked us to write the book, spent many evenings with us, refreshing his memory of the past for our benefit, bore with patience the presence of a photographer in the studio getting special negatives for us, was as interested as Heinemann, his publisher and ourselves. His health, however, was breaking. He was much away and, towards the end, in no condition to be worried, 'to be made an Old Master before his time.' We continued to collect material during his last year and after his death.

We wrote to men and women associated with Whistler to ask for their reminiscences and impressions, and for permission to consult any letters they might have received from him. Among others we appealed to Marcus B. Huish of the Fine Art Society, who then submitted the letter to Miss Rosalind Birnie Philip, Whistler's executrix, who, for some reason was under the impression that Whistler had not asked us, and who objected to us as his biographers.

The result was that on the breakfast table the morning of November 28, 1906, we found two registered letters awaiting us, one at each place. They were warnings from Miss Philip's solicitors if within a week, they had not our assurance that we did not propose to write what purported to be a life authorized by Whistler, or to publish any of his letter, Miss Philip would take such measures as she was advised to - in a word, the usual lawyer's letter. We refused to give up doing what Whistler asked us to do, for we considered doing it a sacred obligation. Miss Philip immediately took the threatened measures."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "The Life and Letters of Joseph Pennell" by Elizabeth Robins Pennell.)

 

Joseph Pennell: Illustrated Travel Guides

"Right of Way" by Joseph Pennell

"During the Nineties the vogue for the illustrated travel book had become firmly established, the result largely of Pennell's influence - not the huge elaborate publications, but the idea now was a small volume convenient for the traveler to carry, well made, well written, well illustrated, and issued for a reasonable sum. The Macmillans' Highways and Byways Series was a success from the start. It was continued with one or two volumes every year. To the English publisher of Henry James's 'Little Tour in France,' Pennell suggested: Why not an illustrated edition? 'The Best Guide Book ever written. I know because I illustrated it,' is his inscription in Mr. Edward L. Tinker's copy.

In the spring of 1899 the Little Tour took him and his bicycle over a route part of which he knew by heart, while the other part he had long been meaning to get to know as well. His Highways and Byways book for the year was also in France, 'Normandy' by the Reverend Percy Dearmer.  

Twice he interrupted the journeys. On the second he crossed from London with Lavery, each bringing a bicycle, arrived in time for the opening of the Van Dyck Exhibition with which the ceremonies closed. The collection impressed him, he must write this article himself, and we sat up till all hours, he dictating, I writing in the old fashion. The first  thing in the morning, the three of us were off on our bicycles, riding along the Belgian and French coast, Lavery as far as Calais, I as far as Dieppe, Pennell as far as Mont St. Michel, where he proposed an article to the Century and wrote to me to return to France as fast as possible. Familiarly as he knew France, his love of the beauty of 'the French scene' had not lost its ardour. 

1900 called him away on fewer long journeys, a good thing, so often did the Paris Exposition lure him across the Channel. One journey was to illustrate 'East Anglia,' a Highways and Byways book. Another in the summer was for his own amusement, though it was the prelude to a later article, 'In the Alps on a Motor Bicycle.' His love of cycling had not swindled, nor his spirit of adventure cooled. Now he was the first to put the motor bicycle to the test. He chose the London streets to begin on, not the wisest choice, and a story lingers of the machine getting away with him one day as he turned from the Marble ARch into Park Lane and met a detachment of the Black Watch. Right into the bagpipes he charged, scattering apologies right and left - 'Awfully sorry but I don't know how to stop the thing!' He escaped unhurt before they recovered from their surprise and tried to resume the swagger of their march." 

To be continued

(Excerpts from "The Life and Letters of Joseph Pennell" by Elizabeth Robins Pennell.)  

Joseph Pennell: The International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers

"The Trains That Come and Go" by Joseph Pennell

"To all he was doing in the Nineties, Pennell, towards the end of that crowded period, added an interest which proved anything but a sinecure. Early in the winter of 1898, after Whistler's nomination as chairman, he was elected to the Executive Council of the recently organized International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, which existed until its dissolution in 1925.

During his fourteen years in London, Pennell had watched many fruitless movements against the Royal Academy and Academic convention. The idea of the International originated with Francis Howard, who was young, had studied in Paris, taken to art criticism in London, and had the intelligence to associate with him at the start John Lavery and E.A. Walton, the leaders of the Glasgow School, and Georges Sauter, a distinguished German artist living in London. Whistler accepted the leadership of this group of independents who scoffed, as he did, at the British belief in a national art with zealously guarded frontiers.

The first meeting was held in December, 1897. At the third Whistler was elected chairman, then president. The Society was to be like no other; a self-elected Executive Council in sole charge of its affairs; exhibitors responsible for nothing save the quality of their work; a company to manage its finances; its exhibitions to be as international as its name. 

The first exhibition was held in May, 1898, in the Skating Rink at Knightsbridge, transformed temporarily into three large and two small galleries, in which Whistler's scheme of decoration, his velarium and method of hanging were adopted. Pennell arranged his journey to Wales for the late spring, to the Italian Lakes for the summer, so as to be free for his work on the Selecting and Hanging committees. His section must uphold magnificently his claims for Black-and-White. He toiled like a galley slave. If distinguished black-and-white men did not submit work he thought worthy, he hurried to their studios to commandeer their best. He did not rest until the most distinguished French, German, Italian lithographers and etchers were included. 

And it was not enough to show good work, it must be shown beautifully. He was an artist in hanging - and most artists are not. A gallery arranged by him had an air of distinction. He knew where everything ought to go, hung the collection on the floor, to quote his words, rarely making any change when he transferred it to the walls. Lunch and dinner were nothing to him. He would rather go hungry than stop at a critical stage in the hanging."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "The Life and Letters of Joseph Pennell" by Elizabeth Robins Pennell.) 

 

Joseph Pennell: Making Sure of Quality

"On the River" by Joseph Pennell

"Five books came out in the autumn of 1897: the third edition of 'Pen Drawing,' the second edition of 'Makers of Modern Rome,' 'Aquitane,' 'Cornwall and Devon,' and 'Charles Keene.' Hitherto his chance to see his books through the press was small as most of them were issued in America. But these new books were manufactured under his eyes with a friend as publisher, he looked for greater things. He seldom went out of town in the winter, he could watch them through their every stage. No detail escaped him. Paper, ink, type, illustrations, reproductions, copyright were passed by him, and he directed the distribution of the book, the places where it should be sold, the newspapers which should have it for review.

He sent old printing and publishing traditions flying. 'To me,' he said, 'the matter of trade and taste are of small moment in comparison with the making of a decent-appearing book.' If printers refused to understand his edicts conveyed by post, he would descend upon the printing works and deliver them in person. When they objected, he asked, 'Is it a crime for me to be interested enough in my own books to want to get them decent?' When he was admitted, if the printing had begun and he did not approve, it had to be begun over again. He would not stand the ink and paper chosen if cheap in quality or inappropriate. 

He would take no responsibility for mistakes. Nothing would induce him to pay for revision. He was not one of those authors who fail to read the publisher's agreement through and are appalled when they find what the unread clause on the subject lets them in for.

But if for certain additions for which he was responsible, the publisher refused to pay, he would settle the bill. He spent liberally in order to include the artists he thought should be included in 'Lithography and Lithographers.' He wrote to Fisher Unwin, 'I have got both Strang and Legros. The former wants 10 guineas and the latter 20. I am perfectly prepared to pay... and as I have now got all the big English lithographers, I may through Lemercier, make a try for two or three Frenchmen. Of course, I shall pay for them myself.' The book was ready in March and, thanks to his care, more satisfactory than he supposed possible."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "The Life and Letters of Joseph Pennell" by Elizabeth Robins Pennell.)  

Joseph Pennell: Paris and Whistler

"Le Stryge" by Joseph Pennell

"At the end of the winter of 1893, the large London Exhibitions disposed of, Joseph Pennell set off early in May on his summer's wanderings. I went with him as far as Paris, in company with the usual group of London critics, artists and writers who made the journey together for several years: Bob [R.A.M.] Stevenson, D.S. MacColl, Charles Whibley, Charles Furse, Henry Harland, Robert Ross, Beardsley - everyone of them disposed to discuss, to argue, to wrangle over every picture of promise of accomplishment in the two Salons. All the way along the Quais, or in the bâteau-mouche, to the Champ-de-Mars, it was talk. In front of every painting, every sculpture, every drawing that attracted their attention, it was talk, their best apéritif before the midday breakfast.

The history should be written of the Paris of the Nineties, so much more alive than London, so quivering with experiment, so rich in production. And talk was renewed over the good dinner, over the gay visits to the Chat Noir, Mirliton, the Tréteaux de Tabarin, the Moulin Rouge, with the famous La Goulue or the Scala with Yvette Guilbert and her long black gloves. 

The spring of 1893 contributed a new delight, our friendship with Whistler at last established on a solid basis. We breakfasted and dined with him in the Rue du Bac, climbed the stairs to his high studio in the Rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs. Whistler asked him to come and help bite and print plates that were waiting, an invitation much to Pennell's fancy. He was hours with Whistler in the garden of the Rue du Bac biting plates, hours in the studio at the press. He got out his own plates, etched the large 'Stryge' and the series of little gardens, cafés, streets, brasseries. He was glad to find relief from easier problems than the cathedral drawings gave him, and rest his eyes in the study of simpler, less exacting details, by a light not quite so religious and dim.

He suggested an article to Robert Johnson at the 'Century': 

'What do you say to my staying here all the time save August when I shall do Laon - and making a series of little etchings in the streets of Paris like the James article on London. The place interests me enormously - and I should like to do it. Again Whistler is very chummy just now - and I am going to work in his studio and help print - and he has offered to help me bite my plates and I think I could get him to let you have one or two of his. Really I could get some stunning stuff here - and its quite new and fresh for me... Mrs. Pennell could write the article - or someone else. Please let me do it?' 

To be continued

(Excerpts from "The Life and Letters of Joseph Pennell" by Elizabeth Robins Pennell.)  

Joseph Pennell: "The French Cathedrals"

"The Cathedral of Le Puy from the North"
by Joseph Pennell

"Joseph Pennell, who had just finished a series on the English cathedrals for 'The Century Magazine,' was asked to begin a second of the great church of France. The work, before it came to an end, carried us north and south, east and west, from one cathedral town to another. It kept us in each sometimes for weeks, sometimes for months. It spread over eighteen years, so that we got to know them all with an intimacy that visiting them for pleasure alone could never have given us.

Our choice of cathedrals and the order of our visiting them depended upon a scheme carefully prepared, though not by ourselves.  Mrs. Van Rensselaer, who had written a book on the English cathedrals, planned this second one on the French, with reference entirely to her own interest in the subject and the value of the examples she selected in the history of architecture. After the first few chapters, however, she abandoned the work, and as I had been to the cathedrals with Joseph, who was making the drawings in the order she suggested, I undertook it in her place. As it was planned according to architectural history, it was the cause of our seeing a great deal more of France and learning a great deal more about its cathedrals than we might had we followed the more direct lines of travel."

It is interesting to note that the change of writers for this book was actually due to a disagreement between author and illustrator. "Early on in the project Mrs. Van Rensselaer had written to W. Lewis Fraser of the 'Century' art department, reviewing Pennell's drawings. While on the whole she was pleased, she found problems with the cathedrals in Angoulême and Périgueux and the St. Sernin church in Toulouse.

Pennell had not supplied exterior views of any of the three that she found acceptable. Of St. Sernin she wrote 'In some way or the other I must have at least one picture of the exterior of the church; if not from Mr. Pennell, then drawn by someone else from a photo.' In other cases Pennell had supplied views she hadn’t asked for; several of these she had turned down as 'entirely useless for my purpose.'

In Pennell’s letters back, he referred to his practice of using shading and other effects to ameliorate the problems posed by unsympathetic restoration and unfinished repairs, provocatively referring to this process as 'cooking.' Van Rensselaer responded by observing that he had been 'engaged to illustrate what he saw, not to make fancy sketches.'  Pennell defended 'my cooking or faking … [of] these drawings [by asserting] when I come to one of these old churches … and find, instead of beautiful stained glass which ought to be there, blank white windows, or windows at times which are even yet unfinished … I have got to intensify, for example, my lights and shadows and try to give some sort of pictorial effect which really is not there.' Pennell concluded his reply with the statement that 'I never should think of criticizing Mrs. Van Rensselaer’s scheme or methods, but I cannot help repeating that she ought to bear in mind that I cannot draw the ideas of the old men when their work is not visible.'" 

To be continued

(Excerpts from "French Cathedrals, Monasteries and Abbeys, and Sacred Sites of France" by Elizabeth Robins Pennell and "Correspondence Sheds Light on Illustrations for Articles by Landscape Design Critic Mariana Van Resselaer." 

 

Joseph Pennell: Pen Drawings

Edwin Austin Abbey

"Joseph Pennell's chief literary preoccupation during 1888 was his book, 'Pen Drawing.' In his introduction to the book, he laid out three primary reasons for its creation: 

'I believe that, just as none but the physician is allowed to speak with authority on medicine, none but the scientist on science, so only the man who has made and carefully studied pen drawings should have the right to speak authoritatively of them. Only the writing on art by one who has technical knowledge of it is of practical value.'

'Today pen drawing is not only an art in itself, but one which, as well as painting in oils, requires its own technical perfection.'

'For examples, I have selected the best work, so far as I have been able to find it, of all schools, and not merely of one narrow French, English, Italian, German, Spanish, or American method, the merits or shortcomings of which one would be unable to point out without using this comparative plan.'  But I am not without hope that the pen drawings published here will show many, who are pleased to call themselves pen draughtsmen, that they are without the faintest idea of the aims, objects and limitations of the art.'

Every day taught him more of his subject, and he tore up old chapters and wrote new ones in their place. Richmond Seeley was bent upon issuing the book but also afraid of it, uncertain how far and into what expense Pennell's enthusiasm would carry him. Finally he said it would be easy to find another publisher for such a book. 'Then find him,' was Pennell's ultimatum. And Seeley found the Macmillans and this was the beginning of a long and close relationship with the firm, and friendship with Mr. Frederick Macmillan. He was no less an enthusiast than Pennell and the book was under his personal supervision. He decided that to ensure its success - and a profit - it must be brought out on an elaborate scale at a large price.

Sure now of his publishers' active sympathy, Pennell's interest redoubled. If he wanted to reproduce drawings that had to be paid for and the publishers hesitated, he paid for them himself. He gathered pen drawings of the best quality for his book. He appealed to the 'Century' and the editors presented him with examples of Blum, Brennan, Farney, Lungren, and Birch. He was able to get original drawings of the 'Men of the Sixties.' He called on 'Punch,' and Menzels and Chodowieckis were brought out. He went to Paris and obtained pen drawings from Vierge, Rico and Casanova. He could not forget the debt he owed to the Spaniards, upon whose style his own was originally based, and found them not merely willing but eager to work with and for him. 

To the thinking public the book was a revelation. Few before thought of pen drawing as an art apart; few could deny its claim when confronted with so fine a series of examples. Artists like Edwin Austen Abbey and Parsons liked it well enough to buy it, which was to Pennell a great satisfaction."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "The Life and Letters of Joseph Pennell" by Elizabeth Robins Pennell and from "Pen Drawing and Pen Draughtsmen" by Joseph Pennell.)