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

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YMSM 125
Arrangement in Black, No. 2: Portrait of Mrs Louis Huth

Artist: James McNeill Whistler
Date: 1872/1873
Collection: Private Collection
Accession Number: none
Medium: oil
Support: canvas
Size: 190.5 x 99.0 cm (75 x 39")
Signature: butterfly
Inscription: none
Frame: Portrait Whistler, 1872/1873

Arrangement in Black, No. 2: Portrait of Mrs Louis Huth

Titles

Several possible titles have been suggested:

  • 'Portrait, "Arrangement in Black, No. 2" ' (1874, Flemish Gallery). 1
  • 'Arrangement in Black, No. 2: Portrait of Mrs Louis Huth' (1884, Society of British Artists). 2
  • 'Mrs. Louis Huth' (1904, Royal Scottish Academy). 3
  • 'Portrait of Mrs. Huth' and, in deluxe edition, 'Arrangement in Black, No. 2: Portrait of Mrs Louis Huth' (1905, ISSPG). 4
  • 'Arrangement in Black, No. 2: Portrait of Mrs Louis Huth' (1980, YMSM). 5

The last title that Whistler gave the painting during his lifetime was 'Arrangement in Black, No. 2: Portrait of Mrs Louis Huth', which was also used in the Memorial Exhibition 1905 and 1980 catalogue raisonné, and is the preferred title.

Description

Arrangement in Black, No. 2: Portrait of Mrs Louis Huth, private collection
Arrangement in Black, No. 2: Portrait of Mrs Louis Huth, private collection

A portrait in vertical format; the catalogue of the Whistler Memorial Exhibition 1905 described it as 'Full length portrait in profile to right, head slightly turned towards spectator. Her dress is black with white lace at throat and wrists, and the train of her gown sweeps almost across the entire foreground. To the left low down is the Butterfly signature, a Butterfly scarcely conventionalised, black on yellow ground.' 6

Sitter

Helen Rose Huth (1837-1924), born Helen Rose Ogilvy, was the daughter of Thomas Ogilvy of Corrimony, Inverness-shire. She married first Louis Huth (1821-1905) and later, Archibald Barwell How (1860-1947)

A portrait of Mrs Huth by George Frederick Watts (1817-1904) is in the Dublin City Gallery.

Notes:

1: Mr Whistler's Exhibition, Flemish Gallery, 48 Pall Mall, London, 1874 (cat. no. 3).

2: Winter Exhibition, Society of British Artists, London, 1884 (cat. no. 299).

3: 78th Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 1904 (cat. no. 324).

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. 53).

5: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 125).

6: 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. 53).

Last updated: 27th April 2021 by Margaret