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Composition
Portrait of Whistler, Library of Congress
Gold and Brown, National Gallery of Art, DC.
This drawing is closely related to the self-portrait in oil, Gold and Brown [YMSM 462]. It is not certain if this is a drawing for, or of the oil, or a self-portrait in its own right, since it does not precisely reflect the appearance of Whistler in Gold and Brown. 1
It is possible that when Gold and Brown was shown at the ISSPG in 1898, and Whistler had considered making a drawing of it for reproduction in the catalogue. 2 This might account for the vivid detail of the drawing but not for certain inaccuracies. In the painting the coat is unbuttoned, and his right hand in a waistcoat pocket. In the drawing, but not in the oil, Whistler is shown wearing an overcoat, with its collar turned up, over his shoulder.
The final possibility is that it is a drawing from life, but reflects Whistler's appearance about the time that the oil portrait was completed around 1898.
Technique
Portrait of Whistler, Library of Congress
A tangle of vigorous crosshatching, reinforced by monochrome washes, blends the figure with the background. Whistler washed and scraped out an area down the right side of the face and left, over the cheek, and redrew it. This suggests he was concerned with the precise details of his appearance, in the drawing, or of its correspondence with the painting.
Conservation History
There is a rough edge at the bottom of the sheet.
Notes:
1: In 1905 Pennell stated that this was a study for Brown and Gold [YMSM 440]. In 1908 the Pennells also said it was a study for 'Brown and Gold'. Writing even later (1921) but describing a visit from Whistler on 10 May 1900, the Pennells said that Whistler was dissatisfied with a three-quarter length self-portrait, 'The painting has disappeared but he made the drawing of it.' 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. 181); Pennell 1908 [more] , vol. 2, repr. f.p. 202; Pennell 1921C [more] , pp. 40, 243-44, repr. f.p. 40.
2: Young, A. McLaren, James McNeill Whistler, Arts Council Gallery, London, and Knoedler Galleries, New York, 1960 (cat. no. 462).
Last updated: 6th March 2021 by Margaret
