Anglo Américan School. Académie Whistler.

Paris: Académie Carmen, [ca. 1899]. Broadsheet, 8.5” x 5.25”. CONDITION: Vertical and horizontal folds, toning.

A rare handbill advertising the short-lived school of art conducted by James McNeill Whistler and Frederick MacMonnies in Paris.

Printed in English on one side and French on the other, it advertises classes in painting, sculpture, and drawing, with a modèle vivant all day (and night lessons available as well). Interested parties are advised to inquire at the Académy 6, Passage Stanislas, 6 (Rue Notre-Dame-Des-Champs), Paris.

Best known as a sculptor, American artist Frederick MacMonnies (1863–1937) returned to painting in the late 1890s.

He and Whistler, who was a close friend, taught drawing together at the Académie Carmen—the Paris atelier owned by Italian model Carmen Rossi—while MacMonnies taught sculpture as well. The Académie opened in October of 1898 and closed in April 1901. When the school opened, Whistler wrote to the papers claiming that he did not choose the name “Academie Whistler” nor the description, “Anglo-American School.” Issues of the school’s name aside, Whistler’s teaching appearances were irregular and he reportedly favored the women’s classes, which ultimately led to the school’s demise. MacMonnies left after the first year due to a lack of sculpture students.

Carmen Rossi posed for Whistler as a child in Paris and again in the 1890s, when she became his favorite model. Whistler helped her set up the Académie Carmen. While running the school, Rossi stole works from Whistler's studio. However, Whistler was fond enough of her that he never took action against her, although he sought to do so against dealers who bought works from her. In Oct. 1901 Whistler discovered that Rossi had sold some of his works to a Parisian art dealer and tried to persuade her to make a list of them. In 1902 Rossi consented to help Whistler recover a portrait of herself, which she had sold through the dealer for 500 francs.

This handbill was recently discovered in a copy of Whistler’s book Eden Versus Whistler The Baronet & The Butterfly once owned by artist Ernest Haskell (1876-1925), a friend and student of Whistler, from whom Haskell learned the art of etching. Haskell used the volume as a sort of Whistler scrapbook.

No copies recorded in OCLC.

A rare piece of Whistleriana.

REFERENCES: Carmen Rossi at whistlerpaintings.gla.ac.uk; Frederick William MacMonnies, 1863-1937 at whistlerpaintings.gla.ac.uk.