The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

The Arabian dates from 1890/1892.

The Arabian, The Hunterian

Images

Subject

Sitter

The Arabian, The Hunterian

The model is almost certainly 'Hetty', Harriet ('Hettie') Pettigrew (1869-1953), the oldest of the Pettigrew sisters.

Technique

Composition

The Arabian, The Hunterian

The Fortune Teller, The Hunterian, University of Glasgow

The sofa, and the embroidered robe, appear in other pastels including r.: The Fortune Teller; v.: A nude lying on a sofa m1274

Technique

See MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1273).

History

Provenance

• 1903: in Whistler's studio at his death and bequeathed to his sister-in-law, Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958);
• 1935: given by Miss Birnie Philip to the University of Glasgow.

Exhibitions

• 1892: possibly Société des Pastellistes français, Goupil, Paris, 1892 (ex. cat.).

Cecil Nicholson described Whistler's pastels in this exhibition as 'two symphonies in pink and blue, entitled "odalisques couchées." ' ¹ Le Chat noir on 15 April 1892 noted 'Le papillon ... estampille le sofa où s'alangent un femme opposant sa blondeur à un harmonie bleu et bleu ou rose et rouges: des contours à la mine de plomb.' It is this comment (to the butterfly on the sofa, and the colours pink and red) that suggests The Arabian was exhibited.

By the terms of Miss Birnie Philip's Gift, 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. 1273) as 'The Arabian'.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• Possibly Société des Pastellistes français, Goupil, Paris, 1892 (ex. cat.).

Newspapers 1855-1905

• Le Temps, Paris, 30 March 1892.

Journals 1855-1905

• Nicholson, Cecil, 'The French Pastellists', Academy, vol. 41, 2 April 1892, p. 332.
• Le Chat noir, Paris, 15 April 1892.

Websites

• The Hunterian website at http://collections.gla.ac.uk.