The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Study for 'Symphony in Flesh-colour and Pink: Mrs F. R. Leyland' dates from 1871/1874.

Study for 'Symphony in Flesh-colour and Pink: Mrs F. R. Leyland', Freer Gallery of Art

It is fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 431).

Images

Subject

Sitter

This is a study for Symphony in Flesh Colour and Pink: Portrait of Mrs Frances Leyland y106, although it is not certain if Frances Leyland (1834-1910) actually posed for it.

Technique

Composition

Study for 'Symphony in Flesh-colour and Pink: Mrs F. R. Leyland', Freer Gallery of Art

Symphony in Flesh Colour and Pink: Portrait of Mrs Frances Leyland, The Frick Collection

This is one of numerous studies for Symphony in Flesh Colour and Pink: Portrait of Mrs Frances Leyland y106. Galassi groups this with 'classical' designs for the dress, where the bodice is draped in imitation of a Greek tunic, but here with the fashionable addition of 'a long flowing Watteau pleat that falls from just below a standing ruffed Medici-type collar to the ground.' ¹

History

Provenance

• 1905: bought from Thomas Robert Way (1861-1913), London, by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919), Detroit, in June 1905;
• 1919: bequeathed by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) to the Freer Gallery of Art.

For further details see MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 430).

Exhibitions

• 1874: possibly Mr Whistler's Exhibition, Flemish Gallery, 48 Pall Mall, London, 1874 (cat. no. 19, 29 or 30) as 'Design for Dress'.

By the terms of C. L. Freer's will, this drawing can not be lent to other venues.

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 431).
• Young, Andrew McLaren, Margaret F. MacDonald, Robin Spencer, and Hamish Miles, The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler, New Haven and London, 1980 (oil, cat. no. 106).

Catalogues 1855-1905

• Possibly Mr Whistler's Exhibition, Flemish Gallery, 48 Pall Mall, London, 1874 (cat. no. 19, 29 or 30) as 'Design for Dress'.

Books on Whistler

• MacDonald, Margaret F., Susan Galassi, Aileen Ribeiro, and Patricia de Montfort, Whistler, Women and Fashion, New Haven and London, 2003, pp. 105-06, repr. fig. 98.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• Curry, David Park, James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art, New York and London, 1984, p. 252, pl. 231.

Websites

• Freer Gallery of Art website at https://asia.si.edu/object/F1905.156a-b.