The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Gold Girl dates from 1872/1873.

On 20 March 1872 Whistler was commissioned by Henry Cole (1808-1882), Director of South Kensington Museum, to design 'two figures, one of Neath, the Egyptian Goddess of the Spindle, and the other of a Japanese art worker' for arched niches in the museum. ¹ In March 1873 Whistler described his progress on a 'Gold Girl' and wrote to Alan Summerly Cole (1846-1934):

'Your Gold Girl is all right - you have seen her well under way and in full swing ... and you shall have the large one coloured and finished quite as soon as you are really ready for her ... the Japanese painter of the Sun shall be of my most superb ... It will take me one day and a half to finish perfectly the small Gold Girl - and two days to colour the large one you send me, photographed i.e. enlarged - Now you do not need the large finished work until the middle of April ... Say this to your father from me and say that I bind myself to the accomplishment of this thing - moreover I have set my heart on having it in your halls in a state of perfection for exhibition ... Only how swell to have my others in the Academy and my Symphony in Gold at the Kensington Museum at the same time!' ²

However, despite numerous drawings, a cartoon and oil sketch, the project was abandoned.

It is assumed that there was at least one drawing for the figure of a 'Gold Girl', although it is not extant, and this was catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 461).

Images

Subject

Description

On 20 March 1872 Whistler was commissioned to design 'two figures, one of Neath, the Egyptian Goddess of the Spindle, and the other of a Japanese art worker' for arched niches in South Kensington Museum. ³ A year later he described progress on a 'Gold Girl' and what may have been the same or another design, 'the Japanese painter of the Sun', telling A. S. Cole,

'the Japanese painter of the Sun shall be of my most superb ... It will take me one day and a half to finish perfectly the small Gold Girl ... how swell to have ... my Symphony in Gold at the Kensington Museum.' ⁴

Technique

Composition

r: A Japanese Woman, Colby College Museum of Art

A Chinese lady with a parasol, whereabouts unknown

Japanese lady decorating a fan, Cleveland Museum of Art

There are several drawings that may be related to designs for panels at South Kensington Museum, including: r.: A Japanese Woman; v.: Girl with parasol m0458, A Chinese lady with a parasol m0459, and Japanese lady decorating a fan m0460.

Design for a Mosaic, Private Collection

The Japanese Dress, Davison Art Centre, Wesleyan University

Also related may be two later pastels, Design for a Mosaic m1226 and The Japanese Dress m1227, completed in the 1890s.

Technique

In April 1873 Whistler wrote to Henry Cole describing the various stages and problems of preparing the figure or figures for arches in South Kensington Museum:

'When I first wrote to your son, I expected to complete the Japanese "Gold Girl" within a very few days. Almost immediately upon that letter my model broke down from over work ...

It has been impossible for me to push this more rapidly ... Tomorrow evening I believe that the traced cartoon will be ready for photographing and enlarging upon the big canvass - and if you will have it sent for and put at once in hand, I will myself attend and assist all the next day - when by Monday night it will be doubtless ready for hanging -

... if it be impossible to work at the photographing on Sunday next, ... you shall have the cartoon and canvass on the Monday - and my pupils shall work upon it during my absence, and I engage myself to return it to you colored and ready to hang on the 1st. of May.' ⁵

Venus, Freer Gallery of Art

Tanagra, Maier Museum of Art at Randolph College

It is not clear what the figure of a 'Gold Girl' represented. It is possible that Venus m0357, the only known full-scale cartoon by Whistler, was supposed to be transferred to canvas as the 'Gold Girl', while the oil sketch Tanagra y092 was 'the small Gold Girl' mentioned in a letter to A. S. Cole.

However, there are several drawings that may be related to the commission, and it seems likely that there were at least two distinct series of studies.

History

Provenance

• Unknown.

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. 461) as 'Gold Girl'.