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

 

Arrangement in Black: Girl Reading

                Arrangement in Black: Girl Reading, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Arrangement in Black: Girl Reading, Metropolitan Museum of Art

Arrangement in Black: Girl Reading dates from between 1879 and 1887.


                Study: Seated Figure, Freer Gallery of Art
Study: Seated Figure, Freer Gallery of Art

1878/1879: The costume and composition appear to be related to a chalk drawing, Study: Seated Figure [M.0694], dated about 1878, and the lithograph Reading c017, drawn in 1879 but revised and published in 1887.

1887: Stylistically Arrangement in Black: Girl Reading resembles paintings from the early 1880s, and it was probably first exhibited in 1887, as 'Note in Black' or 'Note in black: Reading'. 1 It is possible that it was worked on at that time, but its condition makes an assessment of the technique tricky.

Notes:

1: 64th Annual Exhibition, Royal Society of British Artists, London, 1887 (cat. nos. 25, 155).

Last updated: 25th November 2020 by Margaret