Titles

Alternative titles have been suggested:

• 'Girl in Black' (1905, ISSPG). 1
• 'Portrait Study of a young girl' (1905, H. W. Singer). 2
• 'Pouting Tom' (1910, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York). 3
• 'Girl in Black (Pouting Tom)' (1924, Pousette-Dart) 4
• 'Girl in Black' (1980, YMSM). 5
• 'Girl in Black (Pouting Tom)' (2018, Hirschhorn). 6

The title of 'Pouting Tom' given to this portrait in 1910, and on the Hirschhorn website, is misleading. The sitter was undoubtedly a girl.

The 1962 auction catalogue noted that it was 'said to be the last picture Whistler painted and ... a pair to the painting "Pouting Tom".' 7 Whistler did also paint a portrait of a young boy called Tom (Vert et or: Le Raconteur [YMSM 513]), but there is no real reason to suppose they were a 'pair'.

'Girl in Black' is therefore the generally accepted title.

Description

A half-length portrait in vertical format, showing a girl facing the viewer. She has shoulder-length brown hair, cut in a deep fringe. She wears a black dress with a white trim or blouse showing at the high neck, and is posed in front of a dark green background.

Sitter

Lilian ('Lily') Pamington (b. 1887/1888) . Whistler painted about ten portraits of Lillie Pamington including Brown and Gold: Lillie 'In our Alley!' [YMSM 464], Lillie: An Oval [YMSM 465], and Lillie Pamington [YMSM 466].