The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Arrangement in Black - No. 3 dates from 1881/1882, but was signed with a second butterfly, probably in 1891.

Arrangement in Black - No. 3, National Gallery of Art, DC

It is catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 851).

Images

Subject

Sitter

Arrangement in Black - No. 3, National Gallery of Art, DC

Valerie Susan Meux (née Langdon) (1847-1910) posed for her portrait Arrangement in Black: Lady Meux y228 but probably not for this drawing.

Technique

Composition

Arrangement in Black - No. 3, National Gallery of Art, DC

Arrangement in Black: Lady Meux, Honolulu Academy of Arts

A sketch or memory sketch of Arrangement in Black: Lady Meux y228.

History

Provenance

• 1891: signed for Edward Guthrie Kennedy (1849-1932).
• 1928: bought from Charles Sessler (1854-1935), Philadelphia dealer, by Lessing Julius Rosenwald (1891-1971), 25 June;
• 1943: given to the National Gallery of Art;
• 1980: moved from Alverthorpe to the National Gallery of Art.

See details in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 851).

Exhibitions

No record of exhibitions in Whistler's lifetime has been found.

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 851) as 'Arrangement in Black - No. 3'.
• Young, Andrew McLaren, Margaret F. MacDonald, Robin Spencer, and Hamish Miles, The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler, New Haven and London, 1980 (cat. no. 228).

Websites

• National Gallery of Art website at https://www.nga.gov.