The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Eva and Gladys Carrington seated on a sofa dates from about 1898.

Eva and Gladys Carrington seated on a sofa, The Hunterian

It is fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1528).

Images

Subject

Sitter

Eva and Gladys Carrington seated on a sofa, The Hunterian

Eva Victoria Carrington (1887-1979) and Gladys Winifred Carrington (1889-1940).

Technique

Technique

Eva and Gladys Carrington seated on a sofa, The Hunterian

Fine charcoal lines define the figures, which are coloured with dots and longer strokes of pastel. Their hands were barely delineated, the arms trailing off almost to a point. There are signs of alterations in the draperies. Two shades of pink were scumbled across the background and a shade of off-white was smoothed on the back of the sofa.

Conservation History

The dull grey-brown paper, fibrous, with bits of stalk in it, has a neat vertical grain.

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

As far as is known, it was not exhibited in Whistler's lifetime.

By the terms of Miss Philip's gift, this work cannot be exhibited in 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. 1528) as 'Eva and Gladys Carrington seated on a sofa'.

Websites

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