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

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Arrangement in Black: Girl Reading

Titles

Several possible titles have been suggested:

  • Possibly 'Note in Black' or 'Note in black: Reading' (1887, Royal Society of British Artists). 1
  • 'the little Reading Girl - (Arrangement in Black)' (1892, Whistler). 2
  • 'Girl in Black' (1904, Copley Society, Boston). 3
  • 'Arrangement in Black: Girl Reading' (1980, YMSM). 4

The 1980 title 'Arrangement in Black: Girl Reading' is that generally accepted, both because earlier titles are variable, and in order to conform with other titles.

Description


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

A figure study, in vertical format. A young woman, dressed entirely in black, sits in profile to left, holding a book close to her face to read. The background is also very dark and shadowy.

Sitter

Unidentified.


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

                    Reading, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, Rosenwald Collection
Reading, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, Rosenwald Collection

The costume and composition are closely related to a portrait in chalk of Maud Franklin (1857-ca 1941), Study: Seated Figure [M.0694], and a lithograph, Reading c017. However, the sitter of this painting does not look very like Maud.

Notes:

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

2: Whistler to J. C. Bancroft, [9 June 1891], GUW #00492.

3: Oil Paintings, Water Colors, Pastels and Drawings: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Mr. J. McNeill Whistler, Copley Society, Boston, 1904 (cat. no. 17).

4: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 223).

Last updated: 25th November 2020 by Margaret