James Whistler and Anna Ostroumova-Lebedeva in Paris, 1899: The Story of an archive document

Abstract

Some relatively unknown aspects of history and art on the turn of XIX–XX century as well as creative connection between James Abbot McNeil Whistler and A. P. Ostroumova-Lebedeva has been analysed. This perspective has practically never been used in academic research practice before. The perception of Whistler’s painting in Russia has been specified based on an estimation of his creative work mentioned in the letters and critical publications of V. A. Serov, I. E. Grabar, A. N. Benua, and I. E. Repin. The sources attributed to the period of Ostroumova-Lebedeva’s studies at Whistler’s Parisian studio are listed. For the first time, material from Ostroumova-Lebedeva’s archive deposited in the Russian National Library Manuscript Department has been published. This material is of great academic interest in the context of Russian and global art history. Whistler’s manuscripts published here, the only ones known in Russia, are a unique testament to his creative activities in Paris. Refs 10. Figs 5.