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Titles
Several possible titles have been suggested:
- Possibly 'Note in Black' or 'Note in black: Reading' (1887, Royal Society of British Artists). 1
- 'the little Reading Girl - (Arrangement in Black)' (1892, Whistler). 2
- 'Girl in Black' (1904, Copley Society, Boston). 3
- 'Arrangement in Black: Girl Reading' (1980, YMSM). 4
The 1980 title 'Arrangement in Black: Girl Reading' is that generally accepted, both because earlier titles are variable, and in order to conform with other titles.
Description
Arrangement in Black: Girl Reading, Metropolitan Museum of Art
A figure study, in vertical format. A young woman, dressed entirely in black, sits in profile to left, holding a book close to her face to read. The background is also very dark and shadowy.
Sitter
Unidentified.
Study: Seated Figure, Freer Gallery of Art
Reading, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, Rosenwald Collection
The costume and composition are closely related to a portrait in chalk of Maud Franklin (1857-1939), Study: Seated Figure [M.0694], and a lithograph, Reading c017. However, the sitter of this painting does not look very like Maud.
Notes:
1: 64th Annual Exhibition, Royal Society of British Artists, London, 1887 (cat. nos. 25, 155).
2: Whistler to J. C. Bancroft, [9 June 1891], GUW #00492.
3: Oil Paintings, Water Colors, Pastels and Drawings: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Mr. J. McNeill Whistler, Copley Society, Boston, 1904 (cat. no. 17).
Last updated: 25th November 2020 by Margaret
