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

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Girl in Black

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.


                    Girl in Black, Hirschhorn Museum
Girl in Black, Hirschhorn Museum

                    Vert et or: Le Raconteur, The Hunterian
Vert et or: Le Raconteur, The Hunterian

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


                    Girl in Black, Hirschhorn Museum
Girl in Black, Hirschhorn Museum

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].

Notes:

1: 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. 6).

2: Singer 1905 A [more] , repr. f.p. 52.

3: Paintings in oil and pastel by James McNeill Whistler, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1910 (cat. no. 42).

4: Pousette-Dart, Nathaniel, James McNeill Whistler, New York, 1924, repr. pl. 57.

5: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 470).

6: Hirschhorn Museum website at http://hirshhorn.si.edu.

7: Sotheby, London, 21 November 1962 (lot 15).

Last updated: 21st November 2020 by Margaret