The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Sketch of 'Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Little Blue Girl' was drawn on the verso of an unrelated draft letter bearing the address of William Dickinson, a dealer in jewellery in London, dated 11 December 1893.

Sketch of 'Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Little Blue Girl', Private Collection

It was catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1378).

Images

Subject

Sitter

Sketch of 'Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Little Blue Girl', Private Collection

Eva Victoria Carrington (1887-1979) was posing for the painting by 1901, but the identity of earlier models is not known.

Technique

Composition

Sketch of 'Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Little Blue Girl', Private Collection

Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Little Blue Girl, Freer Gallery of Art

This is a drawing after Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Little Blue Girl y421 which Whistler worked on from 1894 on. It might have been done to show someone the composition rather than as a study for it, or it may represent a stage in the developement in the painting. It differs from the painting in omitting a vase of flowers in front and a screen behind the sofa, and the model looks less angular.

Conservation History

It was drawn on what appears to be wove paper, now laid down, and slightly browned.

History

Provenance

• 1975: bought from Paul Drey, New York dealer, by private collectors in November 1975.

The early history of the sheet is unknown.

Exhibitions

It was not exhibited 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. 1379) as "Sketch of 'Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Little Blue Girl' ".