The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Pink note – The Novelette dates from 1883/1884.

Pink note – The Novelette, Freer Gallery of Art

It is fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 900).

Images

Subject

Sitter

Pink note – The Novelette, Freer Gallery of Art

Maud Franklin (1857-1939).

Technique

Technique

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

History

Provenance

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

See details in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 900).

Exhibitions

• 1884: 'Notes' - 'Harmonies' - 'Nocturnes', Messrs Dowdeswell, London, 1884 (cat. no. 16) as 'Pink note – The Novelette'.
• 1884: Annual Exhibition of Sketches, Pictures & Photography: A Loan Collection of Pictures by Mr Whistler ..., Dublin Sketching Club, Dublin, 1884 (cat. no. 239) as 'Pink note – The Novelette'.
• 1887: Exposition Internationale de Peinture et de Sculpture, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 1887 (cat. no. 166) as 'Rose et gris: Le Roman'.

Frederick Wedmore (1844-1921) mentioned this watercolour in a review of the show. ¹ Other reviews of the Dowdeswell show appeared in the Standard, 19 May 1884 and the Kensington News, 29 May 1884, followed by references in the Irish papers, the Irish Times and Dublin Daily Express on 1 December 1884 (the latter commending Whistler's 'undoubted ability' in depicting figures).

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. 900) as 'Pink note – The Novelette'.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• 'Notes' - 'Harmonies' - 'Nocturnes', Messrs Dowdeswell, London, 1884 (cat. no. 16) as 'Pink note – The Novelette'.
• Annual Exhibition of Sketches, Pictures & Photography: A Loan Collection of Pictures by Mr Whistler ..., Dublin Sketching Club, Dublin, 1884 (cat. no. 239) as 'Pink note – The Novelette'.
• Exposition Internationale de Peinture et de Sculpture, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 1887 (cat. no. 166) as 'Rose et gris: Le Roman'.

Newspapers 1855-1905

• Anon., 'Mr. Whistler's Exhibition', The Standard, London, 19 May 1884, p. 2.
• 'M.C.S.' [Malcolm Charles Salaman], Kensington News, London, 29 May 1884.
• Anon., 'The Private View at the Dublin Sketching Club', Dublin Daily Express, Dublin, 1 December 1884, p. 5.
• Anon., 'The Dublin Sketching Club Exhibition', Irish Times, Dublin, 1 December 1884, p. 6.

Journals 1855-1905

• Wedmore, Frederick, ‘Mr Whistler's Arrangement in Flesh Colour and Gray’, The Academy, vol. 25, 24 May 1884, p. 374.

Books on Whistler

• Glazer, Lee, Emily Jacobson, Blythe McCarthy, and Katherine Roeder, Whistler in Watercolor: Lovely Little Games, New Haven and London, 2019.
• MacDonald, Margaret F., Susan Galassi, Aileen Ribeiro, and Patricia de Montfort, Whistler, Women and Fashion, New Haven and London, 2003, p. 145, fig. 136.

Books, General

• Robins, Anna Gruetzner, A Fragile Modernism. Whistler and his Impressionist Followers, London and New Haven, 2007, fig. 37.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• Curry, David Park, James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art, New York and London, 1984, p. 197, pl. 127.
• Myers, Kenneth John, Mr. Whistler’s Gallery: Pictures at an 1884 Exhibition, Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 2003, p. 70 (cat. no. 44).

Websites

• Freer Gallery of Art website at https://asia.si.edu/object/F1902.158a-c.

• Whistler in Watercolour, Freer|Sackler, Washington, 2019, website.