The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler
M.0363
Three Figures
Date
Three Figures dates from 1869/1874.
Three Figures, Colby College Museum of Art
It is fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 363).
Images
Three Figures, Colby College Museum of Art
The White Symphony: Three Girls, Freer Gallery of Art
Subject
Sitter
Three Figures, Colby College Museum of Art
The figure at left may be Matilda Maria Gilchrist née Potter (1826-1886).
Technique
Composition
Three Figures, Colby College Museum of Art
The White Symphony: Three Girls, Freer Gallery of Art
This is a detailed study for the composition of The White Symphony: Three Girls y087 and The Three Girls y088.
History
Provenance
- By 1904: owned by Howard Mansfield (1849-1938).
- 2000/2009: sold by an art dealer in Switzerland through Thomas Colville (n/a), New York art dealer;
- 2009: given by Peter H. Lunder (b. 1933) and Paula Crane Lunder (b. 1935) to Colby College Museum of Art.
This may be the drawing that was at some time with the Gage Gallery, Cleveland, and later sold at auction, Mrs George A. Martin sale, Parke Bernet, New York, 18 October 1946 (lot 112) as 'Three Female Figures; Sketch for One of the Projects in Color In the Freer Gallery, Washington, D.C.', described as 'three figures before a hearth, one a nude kneeling, the others standing, in flowing white draperies' (the size given as 7 1/2 x 9") bought by 'Dr Phillip', $80. However, the size given is too small, so the identification in uncertain.
Exhibitions
- Oil Paintings, Water Colors, Pastels and Drawings: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Mr. J. McNeill Whistler, Copley Society, Boston, 1904 (cat. no. 181) as 'Study for a Picture'.
Bibliography
Catalogues Raisonnés
- MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 363) as 'Three Figures'.
- Young, Andrew McLaren, Margaret F. MacDonald, Robin Spencer, and Hamish Miles, The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler, New Haven and London, 1980 (cat. nos. 87-88).
Websites
- Colby College Museum of Art website at https://www.colby.edu/museum, as 'Three Female Figures'.