The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Violet Note was exhibited in 'Notes' - 'Harmonies' - 'Nocturnes', Second Series, Messrs Dowdeswell, London, 1886 (cat. no. 37) as 'Violet Note'. ¹

Images

Subject

Description

This was a pastel study of a woman wearing a minimal amount of drapery, perhaps a violet robe or scarf. The art critic of the Globe commented 'The little pastel drawings of nude and partially-draped female figures are of very unequal value … there is no suggestion of grace in that of a lady in bathing costume, "Violet Note".'

Technique

Technique

Unknown.

History

Provenance

Unknown.

Exhibitions

• 1886: 'Notes' - 'Harmonies' - 'Nocturnes', Second Series, Messrs Dowdeswell, London, 1886 (cat. no. 37) as 'Violet Note'.
• 1889: probably “Notes” – “Harmonies” – “Nocturnes”, H. Wunderlich & Co., New York, 1889 (cat. no. 56) as 'A Violet Note'.

It was a drawing of a partially draped female figure, criticized by the Globe in 1886 as lacking in 'grace'. ²

It was priced at a comparatively high price, 100 guineas, in 1889, but remained unsold, and was returned to Whistler after the exhibition by Wunderlich's on the SS Servia. ³

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 1200) as 'A Violet Note'.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• 'Notes' - 'Harmonies' - 'Nocturnes', Second Series, Messrs Dowdeswell, London, 1886 (cat. no. 37) as 'Violet Note'.
• Probably “Notes” – “Harmonies” – “Nocturnes”, H. Wunderlich & Co., New York, 1889 (cat. no. 56) as 'A Violet Note'.

Newspapers 1855-1905

• Anon., 'Mr. Whistler's Sketches', Globe, London, 14 May 1886, p. 6.