Titles

Several possible titles have been suggested:

• 'The Red Feather' (1897, R. Birnie Philip). 1
• 'The "Red Feather" ' (1898, Whistler). 2
• 'Violet and Blue – The Red Feather' (1901, ISSPG). 3
• 'Girl with a Red Feather' (1905, ISSPG). 4
• 'A Chelsea Girl' (1921, Brooklyn Museum). 5
• 'Chelsea Girl' (1923, American Art Association). 6
• 'Violet and Blue: The Red Feather' (1980, YMSM). 7

'Violet and Blue: The Red Feather' is the preferred title, based on the 1901 exhibition catalogue, with punctuation regularised.

Description

A head and shoulders portrait of a young woman, in vertical format. She poses full-face, her lips pouted. She has short curly brown hair, and wears a small black 'pillar box' hat adorned with a red feather. She wears a brown jacket with grey collar. The background is a greenish brown. A partial butterfly signature is visible to left of her right shoulder. The lower part of the figure, from her shoulders down, is only roughly indicated.

Sitter

Probably Muriel Smith (fl. 1880-1910), an art student, who posed for several portraits including Blue and Coral: The Little Blue Bonnet [YMSM 500] in August 1897, and Grey and Silver: La Petite Souris [YMSM 502].