The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Study for 'Variations in Flesh Colour and Green: The Balcony' is dated between 1864 and 1872.

Study for 'Variations in Flesh Colour and Green: The Balcony', The Hunterian

It is fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 320) where it was dated 1864/5.

Images

Subject

Description

Study for 'Variations in Flesh Colour and Green: The Balcony', The Hunterian

Four draped female figures on a balcony looking across a river: from left to right, one is lying down, her left arm holding up a fan, a sake bottle and cup on a tray in front of her, the next standing, looking over the river to right, then two sitting, the first facing forward and the last, behind her at right, half visible, looking to front and her right. Blinds hang above them. Slag heaps and factory chimneys are seen on the far shore of the river. There is foliage in the foreground.

Site

The balcony of Whistler's house at Lindsey Row, looking over the Thames to Battersea.

Technique

Composition

Study for 'Variations in Flesh Colour and Green: The Balcony', The Hunterian

Variations in Flesh Colour and Green: The Balcony, Freer Gallery of Art

Sketch for 'The Balcony', The Hunterian

This may be a study for, or an intermediate drawing related to, the composition of Variations in Flesh Colour and Green: The Balcony y056 and Sketch for 'The Balcony' y057.

Technique

See MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 320).

History

Provenance

• 1903: in Whistler's studio at his death and bequeathed to his sister-in-law and executrix, Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958);
• 1958: bequeathed to the University of Glasgow.

Exhibitions

It was not exhibited in Whistler's lifetime.

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 320) as "Study for 'Variations in Flesh Colour and Green: The Balcony' ".
• Young, Andrew McLaren, Margaret F. MacDonald, Robin Spencer, and Hamish Miles, The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler, New Haven and London, 1980 (cat. nos. 56, 57).

Catalogues 1906-Present

COLLECTION:

• Hopkinson, Martin J., James McNeill Whistler at the Hunterian Art Gallery, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, 1990, p. 18.

EXHIBITION:

• Spencer, Robin, James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), Nationalgalerie, Berlin, 1969 (cat. no. 63).
• Pickvance, Ronald, James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903): An Exhibition of Works from the University of Glasgow Collection, Nottingham University Art Gallery, Nottingham, 1970 (cat. no. 20).
• Young, A. McLaren, Glasgow University's Pictures, Colnaghi, London, 1973 (cat. no. 72) pl. 33.
• ホイスラー展. Whistler Exhibition in Japan, Isetan Museum of Art, Tokyo; Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Sapporo; Shizuoka Prefectural Museum, Shizuoka, 1986, p. 196 (cat. no. 57).
• Hopkinson, Martin, From Apprentice to Master: Whistler's Graphic Art, Hunterian Art Gallery, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, 1992 (cat. no. 23).
• Dorment, Richard, and Margaret F. MacDonald, James McNeill Whistler, Tate Gallery, London, Musée d’Orsay, Paris, and National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1994-1995 (cat. no. 23).

Newspapers 1906-Present

• Lacambre, Geneviève, 'Whistler', Connaisance des Arts, 1995, p. 15.

Websites

• The Hunterian website at http://collections.gla.ac.uk.