The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

r.: Studies for a portrait; v.: Study of crouching figure date from about 1878.

r.: Studies for a portrait, private collection

The drawings are catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 688). Several details of size and history have now been revised. However, it is not, as stated in Sotheby's sale catalogue of 5 December 2015 (lot 248) signed with a butterfly.

Images

Subject

Sitter

r.: Studies for a portrait, private collection

Unknown. This is unlikely to be a portrait of Frances Leyland (1834-1910), as stated in Sotheby's sale catalogue of 5 December 2015 (lot 248).

Technique

Composition

v.: Study of crouching figure, private collection

The White Symphony: Three Girls, Freer Gallery of Art

One of many studies of the central figure in The White Symphony: Three Girls y087 and The Three Girls y088, which continued to fascinate the artist.

History

Provenance

• 1969: sold at auction, Sotheby's, London, 23 April 1969 (lot 4) as 'Studies for a Portrait of Mrs Leyland', and bought by Agnew's, London art dealers, for £650.0.0;
• 1969/1971: with Agnew's and Anthony D'Offay, London;
• 1971: with Kennedy Galleries, New York.
• ca 1977/1978: acquired by Paul David Magriel Sr (1906-1990), New York.
• Date unknown: in the collection of Robert S. Pirie (1834-2015);
• 2015: sold at auction, Sotheby's, New York, 5 December 2015 (lot 248, repr.).

The early provenance is 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. 688) as 'r: Studies for a portrait, v: Study of crouching figure'.

Catalogues 1906-Present

EXHIBITION:

• New York, Kennedy Galleries, Dürer, Rembrandt, Whistler, February 1977 (cat. no. 92).
• MacDonald, Margaret F., Notes, Harmonies, and Nocturnes: Small Works by James McNeill Whistler, M. Knoedler and Co., New York, 1984 (cat. no. 33, repr.), as 'Studies for a Portrait of Mrs. F.R. Leyland (recto) Study of Crouching Figure for “The Three Girls” (verso)'.

SALE:

• Sotheby's, London, 23 April 1969 (lot 4) as 'Studies for a Portrait of Mrs Leyland'.
• Sotheby's, New York, 5 December 2015 (lot 2488, repr.) as 'Studies for a portrait (recto) and study of crouching figure (verso)'.

Journals 1906-Present

• Burlington Magazine, April 1969, vol. 111, p. xxiii, repr.

Websites

• Sotheby's website.