The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

In the Studio may date from August 1865 when Whistler, as he told Ignace-Henri-Jean-Théodore Fantin-Latour (1836-1904), was planning a group portrait. ¹

In the Studio, Detroit Institute Of Arts

It is fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 324).

Images

Subject

Site

Whistler in his Studio, Art Institute of Chicago

The interior looks like Whistler's house in Lindsey Row, Chelsea, as seen in The Artist in his Studio (Whistler in his Studio) y063.

Sitter

In the Studio, Detroit Institute Of Arts

Possibly Joanna Hiffernan (b. ca 1843-d.1886) and Emelie 'Millie' Eyre Jones (1850-1920).

Technique

Composition

In the Studio, Detroit Institute Of Arts

The Artist's Studio, Dublin City Gallery, The Hugh Lane

Whistler in his Studio, Art Institute of Chicago

This may be a preliminary study, like the two oils The Artist's Studio y062 and The Artist in his Studio (Whistler in his Studio) y063, for a group portrait that was never completed.

Frame

It is possible that the note on the verso, 'Whistler/ Green gold' (written in an unknown hand) related to a proposed frame. At the Dowdeswell exhibitions of 1884 and 1886, Whistler chose frames in several shades of gold to match the works on show.

History

Provenance

• Date unknown: with Messrs Dowdeswell, London art dealers (label).
• Date unknown: possibly in a collection or exhibition in Italy (label, Fotografia Vasari).
• By 1951: with W. Macbeth, New York art dealers;
• 1951: bought by the Detroit Institute of Arts, Gift of the Founders Society, Merrill Fund (DIA Minutes, 27 November 1951).

Exhibitions

None known 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. 324) as 'In the Studio'.

Books on Whistler

• MacDonald, Margaret F., 'Joanna Hiffernan and James Whistler: an Artistic Partnership' in Margaret F. MacDonald (ed.), The Woman in White: Joanna Hiffernan and James McNeill Whistler, New Haven and Washington, 2020, pp. 15-31.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• , Expatriates: Whistler, Cassatt, Sargent, Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, Utica, NY, 1953 (cat. no. 40).
• Ayako Ono, ホイッスラー展. James McNeill Whistler Retrospective, National Museum of Modern Art, Kyōto, 2014, and Yokohama Museum of Art, 2014–2015 (cat. no. 95).
• MacDonald, Margaret F. (ed.) The Woman in White: Joanna Hiffernan and James McNeill Whistler, New Haven and Washington, 2020 (exhibition rescheduled to 2022).

Websites

• Detroit Institute of Arts website at https://www.dia.org.