Titles
Several possible titles have been suggested:
- 'The Red Feather' (1897, R. Birnie Philip). 1
- 'The "Red Feather" ' (1898, Whistler). 2
- 'Violet and Blue – The Red Feather' (1901, ISSPG). 3
- 'Girl with a Red Feather' (1905, ISSPG). 4
- 'A Chelsea Girl' (1921, Brooklyn Museum). 5
- 'Chelsea Girl' (1923, American Art Association). 6
- 'Violet and Blue: The Red Feather' (1980, YMSM). 7
'Violet and Blue: The Red Feather' is the preferred title, based on the 1901 exhibition catalogue, with punctuation regularised.
Description
Violet and Blue: The Red Feather, Fogg Art Museum
A head and shoulders portrait of a young woman, in vertical format. She poses full-face, her lips pouted. She has short curly brown hair, and wears a small black 'pillar box' hat adorned with a red feather. She wears a brown jacket with grey collar. The background is a greenish brown. A partial butterfly signature is visible to left of her right shoulder. The lower part of the figure, from her shoulders down, is only roughly indicated.
Sitter
Violet and Blue: The Red Feather, Fogg Art Museum
Blue and Coral: The Little Blue Bonnet, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Probably Muriel Smith (fl. 1880-1910), an art student, who posed for several portraits including Blue and Coral: The Little Blue Bonnet [YMSM 500] in August 1897, and Grey and Silver: La Petite Souris [YMSM 502].
Notes:
1: Letter to C. Anderson, [April/May 1897], GUW #07586.
2: Whistler to C. Anderson, [August/September 1898], GUW #00792.
3: Eleventh Exhibition held at the New Gallery, Society of Portrait Painters, London, 1901 (cat. no. 76).
4: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of the late James McNeill Whistler, First President of The International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, New Gallery, Regent Street, London, 1905 (cat. no. 4).
5: Paintings by Modern French Masters, Brooklyn Museum, New York, 1921 (cat. no. 225).
6: Kelekian sale, American Art Association, 20-31 January 1923 (lot 131).
Last updated: 24th March 2021 by Margaret
