The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Colour scheme for a lavatory dates from 1886/1887.

Colour scheme for a lavatory, Glasgow University Library

It is fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1104).

Images

Subject

Site

Colour scheme for a lavatory, Glasgow University Library

The design was intended for a lavatory for Ernest George Brown (1851-1915). At this date he was living in Dulwich, where his son Oliver was born in 1885, and Helen in 1887. By 1891 he and his family were living in Wandsworth, at 39 Criffel Avenue.

Technique

Composition

This was a design for wall decorations at the house of Ernest George Brown (1851-1915). The accompanying letter reads:

[p. 1] 'Here is what I promised -

[p. 2] ... Here is list of colors -

[p. 3] Distemper - First one coat of light grey (made of simple white wash and a little Ivory black - not the vegetable black of the trade - with a very little yellow ochre) over ceiling and walls - strongly sized -

Walls { Now the apple green - Distemper - & { light Lemon chrome - ... Antwerp blue Ceiling {toned slightly with Yellow Ochre, & Raw Sienna

Skirting {Oil Lemon Chrome - Middle Chrome light. Yellow ochre & { All Woodwork { Raw Sienna.' ¹

Technique

Colour scheme for a lavatory, Glasgow University Library

See MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1104).

History

Provenance

• 1886/1887:painted for Ernest George Brown (1851-1915);
• 1915: bequeathed to his children, Oliver Frank Brown (1885-1966) and Helen Elsie Brown (1887-1966);
• 1967: sold to the University of Glasgow on 5 June 1967.

Exhibitions

There is no record of an exhibition in Whistler's lifetime.

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 1104) as 'Colour scheme for a lavatory'.

Books on Whistler

• Bendix, Deanna Marohn, Diabolical Designs: Paintings, Interiors, and Exhibitions of James McNeill Whistler, Washington and London, 1995, p. 171.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• Andreeva, Galina, and Margaret F. MacDonald, Whistler and Russia, State Tretyakow Gallery, Moscow, 2006, pp. 100, 187 (cat. no. 109), repr. p. 100.

Websites

• The Correspondence of James McNeill Whistler, 1855-1903, edited by Margaret F. MacDonald, Patricia de Montfort and Nigel Thorp; including The Correspondence of Anna McNeill Whistler, 1855-1880, edited by Georgia Toutziari. Online edition, University of Glasgow, 2003-2004. GUW #03634.
• University of Glasgow University Collections Website at http://collections.gla.ac.uk/#/details/ecatalogue/324457.