The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Pink Note – Shelling Peas dates from 1883/1884, and was first exhibited in 1884.

Pink Note – Shelling Peas, Freer Gallery of Art

This work was catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 921).

Images

Subject

Sitter

Pink Note – Shelling Peas, Freer Gallery of Art

Unknown. Whistler was living at 13 Tite Street, Chelsea, and the sitter was probably a kitchen maid or general skivvy rather than his partner Maud Franklin (1857-1939).

Technique

Technique

Pink Note – Shelling Peas, Freer Gallery of Art

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

History

Provenance

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

Further details are given in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 925).

Exhibitions

• 1884: 'Notes' - 'Harmonies' - 'Nocturnes', Messrs Dowdeswell, London, 1884 (cat. no. 20) as 'Pink note – Shelling Peas'.

Reviews were mostly favourable, including an article by Frederick Wedmore (1844-1921) on ‘Mr Whistler's Arrangement in Flesh Colour and Gray’ in The Academy, ¹ and other comments in the Standard, 19 May 1884; Morning Post, 24 May 1884, and by Malcolm Charles Salaman (1855-1940) in the Kensington News, 29 May 1884.

By the terms of Freer's will, this 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. 925) as 'Pink Note – Shelling Peas'.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• 'Notes' - 'Harmonies' - 'Nocturnes', Messrs Dowdeswell, London, 1884 (cat. no. 20) as 'Pink note – Shelling Peas'.

Newspapers 1855-1905

• Anon., 'Mr. Whistler's Exhibition', The Standard, London, 19 May 1884, p. 2.
• Anon., 'Messrs Dowdeswell's Gallery', The Morning Post, London, 24 May 1884, p. 5.
• 'M.C.S.' [Malcolm Charles Salaman], Kensington News, London, 29 May 1884.

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.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• Curry, David Park, James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art, New York and London, 1984, p. 199, pl. 130.
• Myers, Kenneth John, Mr. Whistler’s Gallery: Pictures at an 1884 Exhibition, Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 2003, p. 71 (cat. no. 45).

Journals 1906-Present

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

Websites

• Freer Gallery of Art website at https://asia.si.edu/object/F1902.166a-c.
• Whistler in Watercolour, Freer|Sackler, Washington, 2019, website.