Provenance

• 1884: sold by Messrs Dowdeswell to Edward John Poole (b. ca 1848).
• Before 1888: acquired by Henry Studdy Theobald (1847-1934);
• 1902: sold in June to Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919), Detroit;
• 1919: bequeathed to the Freer Gallery of Art.

Further details are given in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 906).

Exhibitions

• 1884: 'Notes' - 'Harmonies' - 'Nocturnes', Messrs Dowdeswell, London, 1884 (cat. no. 19) as 'Harmony in violet and amber'.
• 1888: III. Internationale Kunst-Ausstellung, Königlicher Glaspalast, Munich, 1888 (cat. no. 40) as 'Variation in Violet und Gold'.
• 1905: Œuvres de James McNeill Whistler, Palais de l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1905 (cat. no. 88).

The Builder, 24 May 1884, commented on:

`figures of young girls ..."Pink Note" … "Harmony in Violet and Amber". These figures are very slightly sketched, and their faces will certainly not bear looking close at; but they nearly all have character in pose, and show that there is good drawing underlying their shadowy similitude'.

By the terms of Freer's will, this work cannot be lent to another venue.