The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Black and red dates from 1883/1884.

Black and red, National Gallery of Art

This work is fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 936).

Images

Subject

Sitter

Black and red, National Gallery of Art

Madge O'Donoghue. It was listed in a draft of the Dowdeswell catalogue of 1884 as 'Black and feather - Madge'. ¹

Technique

Technique

Black and red, National Gallery of Art

Details are given in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 936).

History

Provenance

• 1884: bought from Messrs Dowdeswell by Edward John Poole (b. ca 1848), of 2 Sussex Gardens, London.
• By 1896: owned by Alexander Arnold Hannay (1858-1927) until at least 1905.
• 1926: with Scott and Fowles, New York dealers.
• 1944: possibly 'Girl in Black' sold by W. Macbeth, New York dealers, to the Babcock Galleries, New York dealers, in January.
• By 1959: owned by Charles Crawford Henderson (d. 2016) and his wife, New Orleans;
• 1970: bought by Knoedler, New York dealers, (#8417) and sold to Paul Mellon (1907-1999) on 21 December;
• 1991: given by Mr and Mrs Paul Mellon to the National Gallery of Art.

There are considerable gaps in the known provenance from 1905 on. Further details are given in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 936).

Exhibitions

• 1884: 'Notes' - 'Harmonies' - 'Nocturnes', Messrs Dowdeswell, London, 1884 (cat. no. 15) as 'Black and Red'.
• 1888: possibly III. Internationale Kunst-Ausstellung, Königlicher Glaspalast, Munich, 1888 (cat. no. 30) as 'Arrangement in Black'.
• 1896: Loan Collection of Watercolour Drawings, Guildhall Corporation of London Art Gallery, London, 1896 (cat. no. 101) as 'A Drawing'.
• 1905: Œuvres de James McNeill Whistler, Palais de l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1905 (cat. no. 87) as 'Noir et or. Madge O'Donoghue'.

It was listed in a draft of the Dowdeswell catalogue of 1884 as 'Black and feather - Madge' and priced at £100. ² It was praised by several art critics including Frederick Wedmore (1844-1921) and Walter Richard Sickert (1860-1942). ³

The Irish painter, Walter Frederick Osborne (1859-1903), a friend of Whistler, sketched this watercolour when it was exhibited at the Guildhall. ⁴

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 936) as 'Black and red'.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• 'Notes' - 'Harmonies' - 'Nocturnes', Messrs Dowdeswell, London, 1884 (cat. no. 15) as 'Black and Red'.
• possibly III. Internationale Kunst-Ausstellung, Königlicher Glaspalast, Munich, 1888 (cat. no. 30) as 'Arrangement in Black'.
• Loan Collection of Watercolour Drawings, Guildhall Corporation of London Art Gallery, London, 1896 (cat. no. 101) as 'A Drawing'.
• Œuvres de James McNeill Whistler, Palais de l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1905 (cat. no. 87) as 'Noir et or. Madge O'Donoghue'.

Newspapers 1855-1905

• Anon., 'Messrs Dowdeswell's Gallery', The Morning Post, London, 24 May 1884, p. 5.

Journals 1855-1905

• Wedmore, Frederick, ‘Mr Whistler's Arrangement in Flesh Colour and Gray’, The Academy, vol. 25, 24 May 1884, p. 374.
• ‘An Enthusiast’, [Sickert, W. R.], 'Mr Whistler and His Art', The Artist and Journal of Home Culture, vol. 5, 1 June 1884, pp. 199-201.

Books, General

• Fine, Ruth et al., O'Keeffe on Paper, Washington, DC, 2000, p. 21, pl. 3.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• Art for the Nation: Gifts in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1991, pp. 224-25, repr.
• Dorment, Richard, and Margaret F. MacDonald, James McNeill Whistler, Tate Gallery, London, Musée d’Orsay, Paris, and National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1994-1995 (cat. no. 37)..
• An Enduring Legacy: Masterpieces from the Collection of Mr and Mrs Paul Mellon, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1999-2000.

Websites

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