The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Arrangement in Black, No. 2: Portrait of Mrs Louis Huth dates from 1872/1873.

According to the Pennells, Mrs Huth and Mrs Leyland (see Symphony in Flesh Colour and Pink: Portrait of Mrs Frances Leyland y106) were posing about the same time, and, although Mrs Huth was not strong, 'Almost daily during one summer he [Whistler] kept her standing for three hours without rest ... however ... at times a model stood for her gown.' ¹ The portrait was bought by Louis Huth (1821-1905) early in 1873, but Whistler was still working on it in March. ²

Arrangement in Black, No. 2: Portrait of Mrs Louis Huth, Private collection

It was first exhibited in Mr Whistler's Exhibition, Flemish Gallery, 48 Pall Mall, London, 1874 (cat. no. 3).

Images

Subject

Titles

Several possible titles have been suggested:

• 'Portrait, "Arrangement in Black, No. 2" ' (1874, Flemish Gallery). ³
• 'Arrangement in Black, No. 2: Portrait of Mrs Louis Huth' (1884, Society of British Artists). ⁴
• 'Mrs. Louis Huth' (1904, Royal Scottish Academy). ⁵
• 'Portrait of Mrs. Huth' and, in deluxe edition, 'Arrangement in Black, No. 2: Portrait of Mrs Louis Huth' (1905, ISSPG). ⁶
• 'Arrangement in Black, No. 2: Portrait of Mrs Louis Huth' (1980, YMSM). ⁷

The last title that Whistler gave the painting during his lifetime was 'Arrangement in Black, No. 2: Portrait of Mrs Louis Huth', which was also used in the Memorial Exhibition 1905 and 1980 catalogue raisonné, and is the preferred title.

Description

Arrangement in Black, No. 2: Portrait of Mrs Louis Huth, private collection

A portrait in vertical format; the catalogue of the Whistler Memorial Exhibition 1905 described it as 'Full length portrait in profile to right, head slightly turned towards spectator. Her dress is black with white lace at throat and wrists, and the train of her gown sweeps almost across the entire foreground. To the left low down is the Butterfly signature, a Butterfly scarcely conventionalised, black on yellow ground.' ⁸

Sitter

Helen Rose Huth (1837-1924), born Helen Rose Ogilvy, was the daughter of Thomas Ogilvy of Corrimony, Inverness-shire. She married first Louis Huth (1821-1905) and later, Archibald Barwell How (1860-1947)

A portrait of Mrs Huth by George Frederick Watts (1817-1904) is in the Dublin City Gallery.

Technique

Composition

Study for 'Arrangement in Black, No. 2: Portrait of Mrs Louis Huth, Art Institute of Chicago

Study for 'Arrangement in Black, No. 2: Portrait of Mrs Louis Huth', Ashmolean Museum

Arrangement in Black, No. 2: Portrait of Mrs Louis Huth, Private collection

There are two pastel studies for the portrait. One (r.: Study for 'Arrangement in Black, No. 2: Portrait of Mrs Louis Huth'; v.: Study for 'Symphony in Flesh Colour and Pink: Portrait of Mrs Frances Leyland' m0454) in the Art Institute of Chicago, shows a similar composition, except that the train is not fully realised, the curtain behind the figure is decorated with embroidery and there is matting on the floor. ⁹ The other (Study for 'Arrangement in Black, No. 2: Portrait of Mrs Louis Huth' m0455), in the Ashmolean Museum, is closer to the final design, and is squared for transfer; it shows the curtain coming right across at the back: it is also in a much lighter, brighter key than the dark colours in the final painting. ¹⁰

Technique

Arrangement in Black, No. 2: Portrait of Mrs Louis Huth, private collection

It is thinly painted, the face having a smooth matt surface, but highlights on the neck, collar, lace and hands show clearly defined strokes of the brush. The hair appears to have been rubbed down where it adjoins her skin, as part of the painting process. The hands were painted over the black dress, which shows through the thin, almost translucent, paint. A broader brush was used to define the floor, particularly where it adjoined the skirt. The black background is almost entirely smooth, the brushstrokes blending together; the edges of the skirt have a soft, undefined outline.

The Pennells wrote that in Arrangement in Black: Portrait of F. R. Leyland y097 and Arrangement in Black, No. 2: Portrait of Mrs Louis Huth,

'Whistler carried out his method of putting in the whole picture at once. The background was as much a part of the design as the face. If anything went wrong anywhere the whole picture had to come out and be started again ... the system taught by Gleyre, and developed in the Nocturnes was perfected in the portraits of Leyland and Mrs Huth. The tones, made from a very few colours of infinite gradations, were mixed on the great palette, with black as the basis.' ¹¹

Conservation History

Arrangement in Black, No. 2: Portrait of Mrs Louis Huth, platinum print, 1890s?, GUL Whistler PH4/15

Arrangement in Black, No. 2: Portrait of Mrs Louis Huth, photograph, 1960

Unknown. Photographs suggest that it has been rubbed down slightly and has darkened a little.

Frame

Arrangement in Black, No. 2: Portrait of Mrs Louis Huth, Private collection

Portrait Whistler frame, 1872/1873. ¹²

History

Provenance

• 1873: bought by Louis Huth (1821-1905) for 600 guineas on 31 January 1873;
• 1905: on his death, passed by family descent to Edward Huth (dates unknown);
• 1923: acquired from Edward Huth by Harold Miller Pearson, 2nd Viscount Cowdray (1882-1933);
• 1933-1948: passed by family descent to his wife, Agnes Beryl Spencer-Churchill (1881-1948), and son, Lt Col. Weetman John Churchill Pearson, 3rd Viscount Cowdray (1910-1995);
• ca 1995: sold to an American collector.

This 'Arrangement in Black' was painted to complement the Huth’s collection of paintings, which included three works attributed to Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velázquez (1599-1660). The 600 guineas that Whistler was paid for the portrait of Helen Huth was the highest he had obtained for a single painting. ¹³ Only in the 1890s would he again sell at that price level to museums and American collectors. ¹⁴

Exhibitions

• 1874: Mr Whistler's Exhibition, Flemish Gallery, 48 Pall Mall, London, 1874 (cat. no. 3) as 'Portrait, "Arrangement in Black, No. 2" '.
• 1884-1885: Winter Exhibition, Society of British Artists, London, 1884 (cat. no. 299) as 'Arrangement in Black, No. 2: Portrait of Mrs. Louis Huth'.
• 1904: 78th Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 1904 (cat. no. 324) as 'Mrs. Louis Huth'.
• 1905: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of the late James McNeill Whistler, First President of The International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, New Gallery, Regent Street, London, 1905 (cat. no. 53) as 'Portrait of Mrs. Huth', and, in deluxe edition, 'Arrangement in Black, No. 2; Portrait of Mrs. Louis Huth'.

Robin Spencer reconstructed the general appearance of the 1874 exhibition from press reports. Four full length portraits were hung on one of the 40 foot long walls, namely Arrangement in Black: Portrait of F. R. Leyland y097, Symphony in Flesh Colour and Pink: Portrait of Mrs Frances Leyland y106, Harmony in Grey and Peach Colour y131, and Arrangement in Black, No. 2: Portrait of Mrs Louis Huth y125. Underneath were three of the so-called 'Six Projects', and below them, chalk drawings. ¹⁵

In 1884, a journalist called the painting a 'portrait study':

'At the end of [the] gallery the visitor will be interested in the large centre portrait study by J. McNeil Whistler, "Arrangement in Black," in which that enthusiastic painter paints one of those monochrome harmonies for which he has become renowned. The portrait is one of Mrs. Huth, in which the form of that lady is silhouetted, all detail being lost in the blending of the shades.' ¹⁶

The London Evening Standard described Mrs Huth as a 'flexible figure … dressed in clinging robes' and the portrait as 'sombre ... dignified and full of quietude - a refined, if not too fascinating, presence.'

'The Society of British Artists', London Evening Standard, London, 4 December 1884, p. 3.

St James's Gazette on 10 December 1884 added that 'It proves that Mr. Whistler could get tone and quality out of a pot of blacking; but that we knew before.'

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• Young, Andrew McLaren, Margaret F. MacDonald, Robin Spencer, and Hamish Miles, The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler, New Haven and London, 1980 (cat. no. 125), plate 78, as 'Arrangement in Black, No. 2: Portrait of Mrs Louis Huth'.
• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 454).

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• Mr Whistler's Exhibition, Flemish Gallery, 48 Pall Mall, London, 1874 (cat. no. 3) as 'Portrait, "Arrangement in Black, No. 2" '.
• Winter Exhibition, Society of British Artists, London, 1884 (cat. no. 299) as 'Arrangement in Black, No. 2: Portrait of Mrs. Louis Huth'.
• 78th Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 1904 (cat. no. 324) as 'Mrs. Louis Huth'.
• Memorial Exhibition of the Works of the late James McNeill Whistler, First President of The International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, New Gallery, Regent Street, London, 1905 (cat. no. 53) as 'Portrait of Mrs. Huth', and, in deluxe edition, as 'Arrangement in Black, No. 2; Portrait of Mrs. Louis Huth', repr. f.p. 106.

Newspapers 1855-1905

• Anon., 'The Society of British Artists', London Evening Standard, London, 4 December 1884, p. 3.
• Anon., Building News, London, 5 December 1884.
• Anon., 'The Society of British Artists', St James's Gazette, London, 10 December 1884, p. 6.

Journals 1855-1905

• The Athenaeum, no. 2980, 6 December 1884, p. 743.
• Thomson, David Croal, 'James Abbott McNeill Whistler: Some Personal Recollections', The Art Journal, vol. 65, September 1903, pp. 265-68, repr. p. 267.
• Bénédite, Léonce, 'Artistes Contemporains: Whistler', Gazette des beaux-arts, vol. 33, 1905, pp. 403-10, 496-511; vol. 34, 1905, pp. 142-58, 231-46, in vol. 34 at p. 244.

Monographs

• None.

Books on Whistler

• Anderson, Ronald, and Ann Koval, James McNeill Whistler: Beyond the Myth, London, 1994, pp. 183-84.
• Cary, Elizabeth Luther, The Works of James McNeill Whistler: A Study, with a Tentative List of Artist’s Works, New York, 1907, p. 217, (cat. no. 405).
• MacDonald, Margaret F., (ed.) Whistler's Mother: An American Icon, Aldershot and Burlington, 2003, pp. 38, 144.
• MacDonald, Margaret F., Susan Galassi, Aileen Ribeiro, and Patricia de Montfort, Whistler, Women and Fashion, New Haven and London, 2003, pp. 38, 100-01, 111, 129, repr. fig. 37.
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 2 vols, London and Philadelphia, 1908, vol. 1, pp. 178-79.
• Petri, Grischka, Arrangement in Business: The Art Markets and the Career of James McNeill Whistler, Hildesheim, 2011, pp. 142, 172, 194, 214, 497, 684.
• Sickert, Bernhard, Whistler, London and New York, 1908 (cat. no. 41).
• Sutherland, Daniel E., Whistler: A Life for Art's Sake, New Haven and London, 2014, pp. 126, 129.
• Sutton, Denys, Nocturne: The Art of James McNeill Whistler, London, 1963, p. 76.
• Sutton, Denys, James McNeill Whistler: Paintings, Etchings, Pastels and Watercolours, London, 1966, p. 192, drawing repr. pl. 75.
• Taylor, Hilary, James McNeill Whistler, London, 1978, p. 108.

Books, General

• Bryant, Barbara, G. F. Watts portraits: fame & beauty in Victorian society, National Portrait Gallery, London, 2004, p. 101.
• Ganz, James A. (ed.), et al., Jewel City: Art from San Francisco's Panama-Pacific International Exposition, University of California, 2015, p. 20.
• Prettejohn, Elizabeth, After the Pre-Raphaelites: Art and Aestheticism in Victorian England, Manchester, 1999, p. 109, note 18.
• Stratis, Harriet K., and Britt Salvesen (eds), The Broad Spectrum: Studies in Materials, Techniques, and Conservation of Color on Paper, London, 2002, p. 37.
• Spencer, Robin, 'Whistler's First One-Man Exhibition Reconstructed' in: Gabriel P. Weisberg, Laurinda S. Dixon, and Antje Bultmann Lemke (eds), The Documented Image: Visions in Art History, Syracuse, New York, 1987, pp. 27-49, at pp. 30, 32.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• Panama-Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco, 1915 (cat. no. 3633) as 'Portrait: Mrs Huth'.
• Young, Andrew McLaren, James McNeill Whistler: An Exhibition of Paintings and Other Works, Organized by the Arts Council of Great Britain and the English-Speaking Union of the United States, London and New York, 1960 (cat. no. 32).
• Sweet, Frederick A., James McNeill Whistler, Art Institute of Chicago and Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, 1968 (cat. nos. 22, 53).
• Victorian paintings 1837-1890, Mappin Art Gallery, Sheffield, 1968 (cat. no. 147).
• Morris, Edward, American artists in Europe, 1800-1900, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, 1976-77, pp. 32-33 (cat. no. 79).
• Dorment, Richard, and Margaret F. MacDonald, James McNeill Whistler, Tate Gallery, London, Musée d’Orsay, Paris, and National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1994-1995 (cat. no. 63).
• James McNeill Whistler, Walter Richard Sickert, Fundación La Caixa, Madrid, and Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, Bilbao, 1998 (cat. no. 7).
• Andreeva, Galina, and Margaret F. MacDonald, Whistler and Russia, State Tretyakow Gallery, Moscow, 2006, pp. 10, 12, 75, 183 (cat. no. 11), repr. p. 10.
• American Art Masterworks, Seattle Art Museum, 2014.

Journals 1906-Present

• MacDonald, Margaret F., 'Whistler: The Painting of the “Mother” ', Gazette des beaux-arts, vol. 85, February 1975, pp. 73-88, at pp. 77-78.
• Nakanishi, Branka, 'A Symphony Reexamined: An Unpublished Study for Whistler's Portrait of Mrs Frances Leyland', Museum Studies, Art Institute of Chicago, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 156-67, 189-91.

Websites

• None.

Unpublished

• Revillon, Joseph Whistler, Draft Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of J. McN. Whistler, [ca 1945-1955], Glasgow University Library (cat. no. 110).

Other

• Siewert, John, 'Whistler’s Nocturnes and the Aesthetic Subject', PhD thesis, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1994, p. 215.
• Stephanie L. Strother, 'Cat. 14 Study for “Arrangement in Black, No. 2: Portrait of Mrs. Louis Huth” (recto), c. 1872: Curatorial Entry,' in Clarke, Jay A., and Sarah Kelly Oehler, eds., Whistler Paintings and Drawings at the Art Institute of Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, 2020, website (cat. no. 14).