Excerpt from Lotus: Special Holiday Number in Memoriam James A. McNeill Whistler; December, 1903<br><br>A few years ago, there arose a question among Japanese art critics in Tokio, as to what is the true color of night. Some paradoxical persons said white, others, silver; but a finish was given to the argument by the late Rinjiro Taka yama, Professor of Literature in our Tokio University, who asserted that night could never be correctly represented without the use Of some tone of blue.<br><br>I was one of the ardent students present at this contro versy and I felt satisfied that what the professor had said was correct. His conception of night color was not new to me. I had realized its truth three years before when look ing at the famous Nocturne - Southampton, by Whistler, at the delightful home of Mr. Charles L. Freer, of Detroit. It is a superb portrayal of the mystery of night. At the first glance one sees only a canvas covered with ghostly blue-black; and next I noticed the golden-hued butterfly in the centre of it. But as I continued to look, a huge craft seemed to come out of the darkness. She was taking in sail as she neared the yet distant shore. And now, the mysteri ous butterfly might be a lantern lashed to the mast. At the same time a glimmering light appeared on the horizon, and soon the illusion was complete and I was absorbed into the canvas as though it were a real scene.<br><br>About the Publisher<br><br>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com<br><br>This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.