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

 

Harmony in Pink and Red

Harmony in Pink and Red probably dates from the late 1870s, between 1876 and 1878. 1


                Harmony in Pink and Red, photograph, S. P. Avery Collection, New York Public Library
Harmony in Pink and Red, photograph, S. P. Avery Collection, New York Public Library

                Arrangement in Yellow and Grey: Effie Deans, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Arrangement in Yellow and Grey: Effie Deans, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

The very free technique, with the 'sauce' of the background running down onto the dress, is close to that in Arrangement in Yellow and Grey: Effie Deans [YMSM 183] of about 1876.


                Harmony in Flesh Colour and Black: Portrait of Mrs Louise Jopling, The
Hunterian
Harmony in Flesh Colour and Black: Portrait of Mrs Louise Jopling, The Hunterian

In composition and costume Harmony in Pink and Red [YMSM 192] is very like Harmony in Flesh Colour and Black: Portrait of Mrs Louise Jopling [YMSM 191], which was painted in 1877/1878.

It is a full-length portrait of Maud Franklin (1857-ca 1941) and her appearance corresponds closely to the lithotint of her called The Toilet c010, published in July 1878.

Photographs of the painting were signed by Whistler about 1878 and 1881. 2

According to the Pennells, it was destroyed by Whistler (possibly at the time of his bankruptcy in 1879). 3 However, the French artist Jacques Émile Blanche (1861-1942) said he saw a portrait of the sitter, Maud Franklin, 'en or roux' in Whistler's studio in 1884. 4 Blanche unfortunately is not entirely reliable in his dating.

Notes:

1: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 192).

2: Photographs in S. P. Avery Collection, New York Public Library, and G. A. Lucas Collection, Baltimore Museum of Art.

3: Pennell 1911 A [more] , repr. f.p. 264 (at right).

4: Blanche 1905 [more] , at p. 358.

Last updated: 21st May 2021 by Margaret