Detail from The Canal, Amsterdam, 1889, James McNeill Whistler, The Hunterian, University of Glasgow

 

Violet Note

Provenance

Unknown.

Exhibitions

  • 1886: 'Notes' - 'Harmonies' - 'Nocturnes', Second Series, Messrs Dowdeswell, London, 1886 (cat. no. 37) as 'Violet Note'.
  • 1889: probably “Notes” – “Harmonies” – “Nocturnes”, H. Wunderlich & Co., New York, 1889 (cat. no. 56) as 'A Violet Note'.

It was a drawing of a partially draped female figure, criticized by the Globe in 1886 as lacking in 'grace'. 1

It was priced at a comparatively high price, 100 guineas, in 1889, but remained unsold, and was returned to Whistler after the exhibition by Wunderlich's on the SS Servia. 2

Notes:

1: Anon., 'Mr. Whistler's Sketches', Globe, London, 14 May 1886, p. 6.

2: G. Dieterlen, H. Wunderlich & Co., to Whistler, 1 November 1889, GUW #07187.

Last updated: 2nd April 2021 by Margaret