The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Violet and red dates from 1883/1884.

Violet and red, Freer Gallery of Art

It is fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 898).

Images

Subject

Sitter

Violet and red, Freer Gallery of Art

Probably Maud Franklin (1857-1939) and Millie Finch (fl. 1875-1885).

Technique

Technique

See technical details in Whistler in Watercolour, Freer|Sackler, Washington, 2019, website.

History

Provenance

• 1884/1886: bought from Messrs Dowdeswell by Henry Studdy Theobald (1847-1934);
• 1902: bought by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) in June;
• 1919: bequeathed to the Freer Gallery of Art.

See MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 898).

Exhibitions

• 1884: probably 'Notes' - 'Harmonies' - 'Nocturnes', Messrs Dowdeswell, London, 1884 (cat. no. 6 or 10) as 'Violet and Red'.
• 1904: Oil Paintings, Water Colors, Pastels and Drawings: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Mr. J. McNeill Whistler, Copley Society, Boston, 1904 (cat. no. 137) as 'The Studio – Note in Pink and Purple'.

The critic of the Globe wrote, `Some even of the slightest sketches have, in an eminent degree, the charm of colour and suggestiveness. The water-colour, "Violet and Red", for instance, in which the forms of two ladies seated at a table are vaguely indicated.' ¹

By the terms of Freer's will the work cannot be lent to another venue.

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 898) as 'Violet and red'.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• Probably 'Notes' - 'Harmonies' - 'Nocturnes', Messrs Dowdeswell, London, 1884 (cat. no. 6 or 10) as 'Violet and Red'.
• Oil Paintings, Water Colors, Pastels and Drawings: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Mr. J. McNeill Whistler, Copley Society, Boston, 1904 (cat. no. 137) as 'The Studio – Note in Pink and Purple'.

Books on Whistler

• Glazer, Lee, Emily Jacobson, Blythe McCarthy, and Katherine Roeder, Whistler in Watercolor: Lovely Little Games, New Haven and London, 2019.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• Curry, David Park, James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art, New York and London, 1984, p. 200, pl. 131.
• Myers, Kenneth John, Mr. Whistler’s Gallery: Pictures at an 1884 Exhibition, Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 2003, p. 64 (cat. no. 38).

Websites

• Freer Gallery of Art website at https://asia.si.edu/object/F1902.163a-c, as 'Note in Pink and Purple–The Studio'.
• Whistler in Watercolour, Freer|Sackler, Washington, 2019, website.