The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

The Shell was probably the pastel bought from Whistler on 10 November 1892 by Alexander Reid (1854-1928). ¹

The Shell, Freer Gallery of Art

It is fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1291.

Images

Subject

Sitter

The Shell, Freer Gallery of Art

Rose Amy Pettigrew (1872-1958).

Technique

Technique

The Shell, Freer Gallery of Art

Although drawn about 1892, this pastel was returned to Whistler for possible exhibition in 1893, and may have been touched up before being returned to the owner, as Whistler said, 'I may add a touch or two by way of thanking their owners for their courtesy.' ²

History

Provenance

• 1892: possibly bought from Whistler on 10 November 1892 by Alexander Reid (1854-1928), Glasgow art dealer;
• 1893: in April Whistler borrowed it and returned it to an unspecified owner.
• By 1901: owned by James Carfrae Alston (1835-1913), Glasgow;
• 1903: with William Stephen Marchant (1868-1925), London art dealer;
• 1905: bought from Marchant by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) in February 1905;
• 1919: bequeathed to the Freer Gallery of Art.

See MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1291).

Exhibitions

• 1895: A Collection of Paintings representing The Glasgow School, Artists of Denmark and Some Others, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, 1895 (cat. no. 164) as 'The Shell'.
• 1901: International Exhibition, Glasgow Art Galleries, Glasgow, 1901 (cat. no. 1074) as 'The Shell'.
• 1905: Œuvres de James McNeill Whistler, Palais de l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1905 (cat. no. 148) as 'The Shell'.

On 30 November 1895, Lucy Monroe in The Critic commented that Whistler had 'sent three pastels, delicate and exquisite in colour – suggestions, dreams, flashes of light from the wings of the butterfly as it flits by.'

Whistler intended to exhibit this at the Salon in 1892 but changed his mind, saying 'the pastels would have been too little - and at the same time too much by themselves!'. ³

By the terms of Freer's will, 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. 1291) as 'The Shell'.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• A Collection of Paintings representing The Glasgow School, Artists of Denmark and Some Others, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, 1895 (cat. no. 164) as 'The Shell'.
• International Exhibition, Glasgow Art Galleries, Glasgow, 1901 (cat. no. 1074) as 'The Shell'.
• Œuvres de James McNeill Whistler, Palais de l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1905 (cat. no. 148) as 'The Shell'.

Journals 1855-1905

• Monroe, Lucy, 'Chicago Letter' (25 November 1895), The Critic, New York, no. 719, 30 November 1895, pp. 374-75 at p. 374.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• Curry, David Park, James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art, New York and London, 1984, p. 275, pl. 277.

Websites

• Freer Gallery of Art website at https://asia.si.edu/object/F1905.63a-c, as 'The Shell'.