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Titles
Various titles have been recorded, as follows:
- 'the blue girl' (1879, C. A. Howell). 1
- 'the Blue Girl (Connie)' (1880, Whistler). 2
- 'blue Girl … Connie Gilchrist in blue' (1880, Whistler). 3
- 'Unfinished Portrait of Connie Gilchrist' (1936, Glasgow University). 4
- 'The Blue Girl: Portrait of Connie Gilchrist' (1980, YMSM). 5
'The Blue Girl: Portrait of Connie Gilchrist' is the generally accepted title.
Description
The Blue Girl: Portrait of Connie Gilchrist, The Hunterian
A full-length portrait of a girl, in vertical format. She has shoulder-length brown hair, cut in a deep fringe across her forehead. She stands in three-quarter view to left, and looks at the viewer. She wears a very pale blue dress with a white surcoat trimmed in blue. The narrow white sleeves have blue shoulder puffs. A frill, possibly lace, trims a high neckline. The skirt is knee length. She stands on her left leg (her left foot is practically invisible), with her right leg reaching forward. Her right arm is stretched out in front of her but almost lost in shadows. Her left arm hangs at her side but the hand is non-existent. The floor is a light beige with dark shadows, and the background is very dark.
Sitter
Samuel Alex Walker, Connie Gilchrist, 1880, carte de visite, Victoria and Albert Museum S.135:398-2007
Connie Gilchrist (1864-1946) .
According to the Pennells, Connie Gilchrist posed for 'the old scheme of "blue upon blue" ' (see Annabel Lee [YMSM 079]). 6 Thomas Robert Way (1861-1913) also stated that Whistler began a 'Blue Girl' with Connie Gilchrist as model. 7
The Blue Girl: Portrait of Connie Gilchrist, The Hunterian
Harmony in Yellow and Gold: The Gold Girl – Connie Gilchrist, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Connie's fragile beauty is conveyed far more successfully than in a more finished portrait, Harmony in Yellow and Gold: The Gold Girl - Connie Gilchrist [YMSM 190].
Comments
The first 'blue girl' is said to have been Annabel Lee [YMSM 079]: a woman in pale blue robes of no particular historical style or fashion.
This was followed by The Blue Girl: Portrait of Miss Elinor Leyland [YMSM 111] and The Blue Girl: Maud Franklin [YMSM 112]. In both cases the model – Elinor Leyland (1861-1952), and Maud Franklin (1857-ca 1941) respectively – was dressed in something approaching contemporary dress, possibly chosen, designed, or revised by Whistler. The portrait of Connie Gilchrist was undoubtedly, as the Pennells stated, a reworking of this 'Blue Girl' theme. 8
Notes:
1: Howell to Whistler, 25 August 1879, GUW #02187.
2: Whistler to H. E. Whistler, [22 March 1880], GUW #06688.
3: Whistler to H. E. Whistler, [March 1880], GUW #06689.
4: James McNeill Whistler, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, 1936 (cat. no. 24).
5: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 207).
Last updated: 21st October 2020 by Margaret
