Biography
W.C. Alexander (1840-1916), a successful London banker, was a keen art collector, a member of the Burlington Fine Arts Club and a founding member of the National Art Collections Fund. He collected Japanese woodcuts, including 36 views of Mount Fuji by Hokusai and was also a major collector of James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834-1903). About twenty Whistler etchings collected by Alexander passed by family descent to his daughter, Rachel, and were sold by her executors to the British Museum in London in 1973. He also commissioned portraits of his daughters May, Cicely and Grace from the artist and bought Nocturne: Blue and Silver - Chelsea. According to Roger Fry, founding member of the Contemporary Art Society, Alexander was one of the 'most important figures in the world of art', unpretentious and unconcerned about status.
