The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Sea Beach and Figures dates from 1870/1873.

Sea Beach and Figures, Fitzwilliam Museum

It is fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 384).

Images

Subject

Description

Sea Beach and Figures, Fitzwilliam Museum

Four draped figures by the sea, two leaning on a railing, framing a woman holding a parasol, and behind her to right, one holding a fan.

Technique

Composition

Figures by a railing, Art Institute Of Chicago

Four women on a terrace by the sea, The Hunterian

Sea Beach and Figures, Fitzwilliam Museum

This is a more highly finished version of Figures by a railing m0382 and Four women on a terrace by the sea m0385.

History

Provenance

• By 1905: owned by Sir William Eden (1849-1915);
• 1912: sold through Colnaghi, London art dealers, at auction, Christie's, London, 30 March 1912 (lot 66) and bought by 'Kinmell'.
• Date unknown: at some time with Agnew's, London art dealers.
• By 1940: owned by the archaeologist Dr Louis Colville Gray Clarke (1881-1960);
• 1960: bequeathed to the Fitzwilliam Museum.

There are some gaps in the provenance.

Exhibitions

• 1874: possibly Mr Whistler's Exhibition, Flemish Gallery, 48 Pall Mall, London, 1874 (cat. no. unknown).
• 1905: 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. 49) as 'Sea Beach and Figures.'

The Art Journal described, among exhibits in 1874, 'a few coloured designs for large pictures .. figures on the seashore'. ¹

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 384) as 'Sea Beach and Figures'.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• Possibly Mr Whistler's Exhibition, Flemish Gallery, 48 Pall Mall, London, 1874 (cat. no. unknown).
• 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. 49) as 'Sea Beach and Figures.'

Journals 1855-1905

• Anon., 'Mr Whistler's Paintings and Drawings', Art Journal, ns. 13, August 1874, p. 230.

Books on Whistler

• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 2 vols, London and Philadelphia, 1908, vol. 1, repr. f.p. 140.

Catalogues 1906-Present

EXHIBITION:

• Andreeva, Galina, and Margaret F. MacDonald, Whistler and Russia, State Tretyakow Gallery, Moscow, 2006, pp. 126, 186 (cat. no. 103) repr. p. 126.

SALE:

• Christie's, London, 30 March 1912 (lot 66).

Websites

• Fitzwilliam Museum website.