The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler
M.1067
Caprice in Red
Date
Caprice in Red was exhibited in 1885.
It is catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1067).
Images
Caprice in Red, Whereabouts unknown
Dancing girl, The Higgins, Bedford
Subject
Description
An art critic described it as 'a perfectly well ordered study of flesh colour and red - an energetic model, springing, ... from the unfolded and widely extended drapery.' 1
Dancing girl, The Higgins, Bedford
It is possible that it was Dancing girl m1068, or a similar composition.
Technique
Technique
Unknown.
History
Provenance
Unknown.
Exhibitions
- 1885: Winter Exhibition, Society of British Artists, London, 1885 (cat. no. 570) as 'Caprice in Red'.
- 1889: Possibly “Notes” – “Harmonies” – “Nocturnes”, H. Wunderlich & Co., New York, 1889 (cat. no. 1) as 'Caprice in Red'.
A critic commented that there was 'nothing capricious, unless it be the price. It is a perfectly well ordered study of flesh colour and red - an energetic model, springing, as it were - or, as it is, from the unfolded and widely extended drapery.' 2 Similarly the St James's Gazette on 7 December 1885 described it as 'capricious only in price: as a note of pose and colour it is very like a note by any one else.' Numerous reviews mocked the title, or picked up on the reference to 'Caprice'. 'Some are full of suggestiveness and beauty', wrote The Globe on 5 December 1885, 'while others are remarkable chiefly for the capriciousness of treatment.'
It was priced at 100 guineas in 1889, a high price, which may explain why it remained unsold, and was returned after the exhibition by Wunderlich's on the SS Servia. 3
Dancing girl, The Higgins, Bedford
It is possible that it was Dancing girl m1068, or a similar composition.
Bibliography
Catalogues Raisonnés
- MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 1067).
Catalogues 1855-1905
- Winter Exhibition, Society of British Artists, London, 1885 (cat. no. 570) as 'Caprice in Red'.
- Possibly “Notes” – “Harmonies” – “Nocturnes”, H. Wunderlich & Co., New York, 1889 (cat. no. 1) as 'Caprice in Red'.
Newspapers 1855-1905
- Anon., 'The Society of British Artists', Naval & Military Gazette, 2 December 1885, p. 8.
- Anon., 'The Society of British Artists', The Times, London, 3 December 1885, p. 8.
- Anon., 'Society of British Artists', The Globe, London, 5 December 1885, p. 2.
- Anon., 'The "British Artists" ', St James's Gazette, London, 7 December 1885, pp. 6-7.
- Anon., 'The Society of British Artists', Glasgow Herald, Glasgow, 21 December 1885, p. 4.
Journals 1855-1905
- Wedmore, Frederick, 'The Society of British Artists. Winter Exhibition', Academy, vol. 28, 19 December 1885, p. 417.
Notes:
1: GUL Whistler PC3 p. 1.
2: GUL Whistler PC3 p. 1.
3: G. Dieterlen, H. Wunderlich & Co., Wunderlich to Whistler, 1 November 1889, GUW #07187.