The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Harmony in Grey and Peach Colour probably dates from between 1872 and 1874. ¹

The signature suggests a date of 1873/1874: it was probably signed in time for Mr Whistler's Exhibition at the Flemish Gallery, 48 Pall Mall, London, in 1874, when it was exhibited as 'Harmony in Grey and Peach Colour' (cat. no. 7).

Study in Grey and Pink, Freer Gallery of Art

Harmony in Grey and Peach Colour, Fogg Art Museum

A pastel study for the oil painting is entitled Study in Grey and Pink m0470, and this title helps to confirm the identity of the oil.

According to Thomas Robert Way (1861-1913), the painting was 'more or less destroyed' by Whistler and acquired by Way's father at the time of Whistler's bankruptcy in 1879; it was then cleaned about 1883 by Way Jr, with Whistler's permission, although 'the defacing had been so thorough that it was most difficult to reach the original painting.' ² However, both the Pennells and Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) thought that Whistler had not agreed to the restoration, and that T. R. Way, despite the artist's objections, had repainted it. ³

Images

Subject

Titles

Several possible titles have been suggested:

• 'Harmony in Grey and Peach Colour' (1874, Flemish Gallery). ⁴
• 'A Lady in White' (1910, ISSPG). ⁵
• 'The White Lady' (1912, T. R. Way). ⁶
• 'The White Girl' (1916, Sotheby's). ⁷
• 'The White Girl' (1917, Kraushaar Galleries). ⁸
• 'White Girl. No. IV' (1921, Pennell). ⁹
• 'Harmony in Grey and Peach Colour' (1980, YMSM). ¹⁰

'Harmony in Grey and Peach Colour' is the preferred title.

McBride admired the painting but was very critical of the title as published in 1917, although somewhat shaky on the actual titles of Whistler's white symphonies:

'It is … a little difficult to have a second "White Girl" sprung upon us, especially one with no relationship to the first. To be sure the protagonist in the second painting wears a white dress, but it takes more than that to make a "White Girl"…. it will scarcely do to begin a series of "White Girls No. 1, No. 2." etc., now that Whistler is no longer en scene. Even the "Girl in White" is preferable.' ¹¹

Description

Harmony in Grey and Peach Colour, Fogg Art Museum

A full-length portrait of a young woman, in vertical format. She wears a white dress with a close-fitting top and fairly narrow skirt. It has a grey and black ruff at the neck and a black rosette at her waist. Her left arm appears to be covered with a three-quarter length sleeve while the other has a long transparent gauze sleeve falling loosely from a short cap at the shoulder. A pinkish beige cloak is draped over her left arm and falls down her left side to the floor. She faces the viewer, with arms at her side, her right hand holding a fan. She has short brown hair, with a short curly fringe. The carpet has a neat chequered pattern in red and black around the edge, and a woven pattern of vertical grey lines under her feet. The dado is black; at the right edge, behind the woman, is a large grey vase, with a sprig of blossom. Above the dado at left, is Whistler's butterfly monogram on a circular field. On the wall at upper right there are two large palm fans, one black, and the upper one, white with a pattern of pink flowers. At upper left, there is a picture, possibly a view of the river Thames, with, in front and below it, sprays of pink and white blossom.

Sitter

Maud Franklin, photograph, Library of Congress

Maud Franklin (1857-1939). The portrait was titled 'The White Lady' by T. R. Way, who for no good reason thought it to be a portrait of Joanna Hiffernan (b. ca 1843-d.1886), and 'White Girl No. IV' by the Pennells, who thought it a portrait of Miss Way. ¹²

Maud Franklin, Fogg Art Museum

However, the features are very like those of Maud Franklin, who had begun to pose for Whistler in Mrs Leyland's dress for Symphony in Flesh Colour and Pink: Portrait of Mrs Frances Leyland y106, which was begun in 1871 and first exhibited in 1874, and posed for numerous portraits thereafter, including Maud Franklin y132, reproduced above.

Technique

Composition

Harmony in Grey and Peach Colour, Fogg Art Museum

Study in Grey and Pink, Freer Gallery of Art

Study for 'Harmony in Grey and Peach Colour', Manchester City Art Gallery

Two pastel drawings, Study in Grey and Pink m0470, and Study for 'Harmony in Grey and Peach Colour' m0469, are similar in colour and arrangement. They are undoubtedly studies for the oil painting.

Several attempts have been made to restore and repaint the canvas and it is impossible to establish to what extent its present condition represents Whistler's original work. It is apparent that the composition has been extensively altered, but whether these alterations were made by Whistler, T. R. Way, or later restorers, is difficult to tell.

The model's left hand may have originally been holding a hat, or a pink cloak, but has been almost completely destroyed. Her right hand is not much clearer: it was originally several inches lower, and to the left, holding the black fan, but now it stops short of the fan, which itself has been partially erased. The model's face has been defaced by a series of scratches. The figure appears at one time to have been further to the left, at another, further to the right, or to have had a much wider skirt. The hem of the skirt was about 4.5 cm (2") longer and the pink cloak, shorter. The vase on the floor, which is so prominent in the pastel drawings, has almost disappeared.

Technique

Harmony in Grey and Peach Colour, Fogg Art Museum

The canvas is a fairly fine weave.

Some areas appear totally fresh and unspoilt. The white fan with pink spots, the thickly painted blossoms in pink, gold and deep scarlet, and the broad, confidently handled picture frame appear untouched. The cloak was painted freely with a broad brush, and thinly, dripping down over her feet. The red and black pattern on the floor is incomplete, particularly on the right and between her feet.

The shoulders and parts of the head are the most thickly worked areas. Yet, despite the obvious reworking and rubbing down, the face is delicately finished, with softly blended shadows, and the pale pink flesh tones are set off by the fluffy grey ruff edged with black, inset with a touch of darker pink, possibly a ribbon or necklace.

Conservation History

According to T. R. Way, Harmony in Grey and Peach Colour was 'more or less destroyed' by Whistler at the time of his bankruptcy in 1879, and when Whistler saw it in Way's possession about 1883, Way 'suggested trying to clean it, and he [Whistler] made no objection. But the defacing had been so thorough that it was most difficult to reach the original painting'. ¹³ Years later, Whistler's biographers, the Pennells, stated that Whistler had objected 'and Way cleaned off his own work'; then, according to both the Pennells and C. L. Freer, it was repainted by Way to some extent. ¹⁴

Hugh Blaker (1873-1936) wrote to Joseph Pennell (1860-1926) that he had tried to buy 'the White Girl, No. IV' at Way's sale in 1916, and added 'It was a wreck then.' He thought that Way had repainted it after Whistler's bankruptcy, and wondered if it had since been restored. ¹⁵

After it was bought by John F. Braun, he 'had the picture restored to its original condition by Hannah Mee Horner: Pa.' ¹⁶ Hannah Mee Horner (1885-1961) was a Philadelphia-based artist and restorer, working in the 1920 and 1930s. It is not known what she actually did in order to restore this painting.

Frame

1874: it may have had a painted frame, but this has not survived.

It was recorded in the 1980 catalogue raisonné that the painting was framed with 'alternate panels decorated with a check and basket work pattern'. ¹⁷ Motifs in the carpet on which the model stands do show these patterns, but if the painting originally was in a frame with corresponding patterns, this is now missing. ¹⁸

Size: 219.7 x 127 x 8.9 cm (86 1/2 x 50 x 3 1/2"). A label reads ' "A White Lady" by J. M. Whistler / Belonging to the Misses Way / 21 Brunswick Sqr. / D.C.'

Harmony in Grey and Peach Colour, framed, Fogg Art Museum

Harmony in Grey and Peach Colour, frame detail

It is now in a Portrait Whistler frame, made in America, dating possibly from the 1940s, and therefore possibly added when it was acquired by Grenville Lindell Winthrop (1864-1943).

History

Provenance

• 1879: bought through an art dealer by Thomas Way (1837-1915), London;
• 1916: after his death, sold at auction, Sotheby's, London, 25 July 1916 (lot 77) to Agnew's, London art dealers;
• 1916: sold by Agnew's (a/c #11768) to C. W. Kraushaar Galleries, New York;
• 1918: either sold by them direct to John Frederick Braun (1867-1939), Merion, PA., or sold to Braun by Mrs Benjamin Thaw (1861–1931) through Henrietta Richardson Hind (Mrs C. Lewis Hind) (1862-1938);
• 1926: J. F. Braun owned it until at least 1926.
• 1932-1934: with Grand Central Gallery, New York.
• 1938: Ferargil Galleries, New York;
• 1939: sold to Grenville Lindell Winthrop (1864-1943), New York;
• 1943: bequeathed to the Fogg Art Museum.

According to Way's son T. R. Way, the painting was 'more or less destroyed' by Whistler at the time of his bankruptcy in 1879, rejected as unsaleable by the auctioneers, and bought by a picture dealer on behalf of Way's father. ¹⁹ The daughters of Thomas Way were cited as lenders to the 3rd Exhibition of Fair Women, International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, Grafton Galleries, London, 1910 (cat. no. 43). Way senior and his wife Louisa (1834-1911) had one son, T. R. Way (1861-1913), and several daughters: Louisa A. Way (b. 1864), Fannie Emmeline Way (b. 1866), Enid Mary Way (1868-1928), Mary Helen Way (1871-1955), and Ethel Kate Way (1871-1940). On their father's death in 1915, probate was granted to two of the unmarried daughters (Ethel Kate and Mary Helen) and a nephew, Arthur Thomas Way.

In the following year, the painting was sold at Sotheby's, bought by Agnew's for £2100, and sold immediately to the C. W. Kraushaar Galleries. According to Watts, writing in 1926, it was sold by Kraushaar to a New York collector, John F. Braun, who owned it until at least 1926; however, according to Mrs Braun, writing some years later, it was sold by Mrs Benjamin Thaw to Braun, through Mrs C. Lewis Hind, in 1918. ²⁰

Its provenance after 1926 is incomplete. It was with the Grand Central Gallery in New York from 1932-1934, but apparently it was not sold. It was advertised for sale in the Art Digest on 1 January 1938 by the Ferargil Gallery, priced at $75,000, and bought by G. L. Winthrop in the following year.

Exhibitions

• 1874: Mr Whistler's Exhibition, Flemish Gallery, 48 Pall Mall, London, 1874 (cat. no. 7) as 'Harmony in Grey and Peach Colour'.
• 1877: possibly exhibited in I Summer Exhibition, Grosvenor Gallery, London, 1877.

Whistler told T. R. Way that it had been 'one of the important works' in his first one-man exhibition of 1874. This is the one certain exhibition of the painting in Whistler's lifetime. It was described in the Builder of 1874 as a picture of a girl 'straight up-and-down in pose and drawing.' ²¹ It may also have been one of the paintings compared to the work of Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velázquez (1599-1660) by the Pall Mall Gazette:

'a young girl standing upright, looking forward out of the picture, and with both arms down by her side. In this power of taking the simply unconsidered attitudes of actual life and transferring them directly to the canvas without sacrifice of dignity, and even adding by this means a certain distinction of manner, Mr. Whistler may claim kinship with Velasquez.' ²²

It has been suggested, probably incorrectly, that Harmony in Grey and Peach Colour was one of two portraits shown at the Grosvenor Gallery in 1877, 'Harmony in Amber and Black' and 'Arrangement in Brown' (cat. nos. 8-9), and that Harmony in Grey and Peach Colour was probably the latter. ²³ The catalogue numbers for these two paintings were undoubtedly transposed; the 'Arrangement in Brown' has been identified conclusively as Arrangement in Black and Brown: The Fur Jacket y181.

The main reason for the misidentification was a review of the exhibition by William Michael Rossetti (1829-1919), where he described one of the portraits (which he thought was the 'Arrangement in Brown' but which is now assumed to have been the 'Harmony in Amber and Black') as 'a blonde lady in white muslin with black bows, and some yellow flowers in the corner.' ²⁴ Whistler described the picture quite differently, as 'a young lady in an amber dress with a black ground. ... These were impressions of my own. I make them my study. I suppose them to appeal to none but those who may understand the technical matter. I did not intend to sell the "Harmony in amber and black".' ²⁵ So what to Rossetti was 'white muslin' appears to be, to Whistler, an 'amber dress', which is distinctly confusing. Whistler also stated that he had 'painted over' the 'Harmony in Amber and Black', and it was 'in a transition state.' ²⁶

Rossetti's description of 'Harmony in Amber and Black', appears to match details of three paintings: Portrait of Miss Florence Leyland y107, Harmony in Grey and Green: Miss Cicely Alexander y129 and Harmony in Grey and Peach Colour y131.

Harmony in Grey and Peach Colour, Fogg Art Museum

Harmony in Grey and Green: Miss Cicely Alexander, Tate Britain

The points of resemblance between Harmony in Grey and Peach Colour and Harmony in Grey and Green: Miss Cicely Alexander include the background details of the dado, the dark grey wall, picture frame, blossoms and butterflies, and the design of the dress with its dainty rosette at the waist. Cicely, however, is a young girl, whereas the model in Harmony in Grey and Peach Colour is a young woman.

In some respects Rossetti's description (but not Whistler's) matches Harmony in Grey and Peach Colour more closely. She wears a white muslin dress and there are faint traces of 'black bows' which originally decorated the front of the dress, and there are pink and white flowers at the edge of the canvas, though not yellow ones.

Harmony in Grey and Peach Colour, Fogg Art Museum

'Arrangement in Grey and Black, No. 2', photograph, ca 1879, signed 1881, Baltimore Museum of Art, 33.53.9055

Portrait of Miss Florence Leyland, Portland Museum of Art

Nevertheless, Linda Merrill has argued fairly convincingly that the portrait exhibited as 'Harmony in Amber and Black' was yet another painting, Portrait of Miss Florence Leyland y107, in its original 1879/1881 version, when it was a portrait of Maud Franklin and was photographed, and as it appears in the photograph above, bore the title 'Arrangement in Grey and Black, No. 2'. ²⁷

It is just possible that like Arrangement in Grey and Black, No. 2: Portrait of Thomas Carlyle y137, the Harmony in Grey and Peach Colour y131 was exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery in 1877 but not included in the catalogue, but this is not actually a very likely scenario.

Finally, to round off this confusing array of possibilities, it is conceivable that the 'Harmony in Amber and Black' has yet to be identified, and may have been yet another portrait, possibly of Maud Franklin.

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. 131), plate 83, as 'Harmony in Grey and Peach Colour'.

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• Mr Whistler's Exhibition, Flemish Gallery, 48 Pall Mall, London, 1874 (cat. no. 7) as 'Harmony in Grey and Peach Colour'.
• Possibly exhibited in I Summer Exhibition, Grosvenor Gallery, London, 1877.

Newspapers 1855-1905

• Anon., 'Exhibition of Mr Whistler's Paintings and Drawings, Pall Mall Gazette, London, 13 June 1874, p. 11.

On the Whistler v. Ruskin trial:

• Anon., 'Action for Libel against Mr. Ruskin', London Evening Standard, London, 26 November 1878, p. 2.
• Anon., 'Charge of Libel against Mr. Ruskin', Morning Post, London, 26 November 1878, p. 3.

Journals 1855-1905

• Anon., 'Mr Whistler's Exhibition', The Builder, vol. 32, 25 July 1874, p. 622.

On the Grosvenor Gallery, 1877:

• [Rossetti, William Michael], 'The Grosvenor Gallery', The Academy: A Weekly Review of Literature, Science, and Art, new series, no. 11, 26 May 1877, pp. 467-68, at p. 467.
• Wilde, Oscar, 'The Grosvenor Gallery', Dublin University Magazine, vol. 90, no. 535, July 1877, pp. 118-26, at p. 124.

Monographs

• None.

Books on Whistler

• MacDonald, Margaret F., in Ruth E. Fine (ed.), James McNeill Whistler: A Reexamination, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1987, pp. 13-14, repr fig. 1, p. 13.
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 2 vols, London and Philadelphia, 1908, vol. 1, p. 258.
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Whistler Journal, Philadelphia, 1921, pp. 134-35, repr. f.p. 134, chalk drawing 'Attributed to Whistler' repr. f.p. 135.
• Preston, Stuart, Whistler, New York, NY, 1971.
• Spink, Nesta R., Harriet K. Stratis, and Martha Tedeschi, The Lithographs of James McNeill Whistler, (gen. eds, Harriet K. Stratis and Martha Tedeschi), 2 vols., Chicago, 1998, vol. 2, note 171.2, p. 154.
• Sutton, Denys, Nocturne: The Art of James McNeill Whistler, London, 1963, p. 72.
• Sutton, Denys, James McNeill Whistler: Paintings, Etchings, Pastels and Watercolours, London, 1966, repr. pl. 63.
• Way, Thomas Robert, and G. R. Dennis, The Art of James McNeill Whistler: An Appreciation, 1st edition, London, 1903, pp. 26-27, 90, pastel repr. f.p. 26.
• Way, Thomas Robert, Memories of James McNeill Whistler, the Artist, London and New York, 1912, pp. 135-37, photo lithograph repr. f.p. 139.

Books, General

• Burgard, Timothy Anglin, American Art at Harvard: Cultures and Contexts, brochure, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, MA, 1994, p. 12 (cat. no. 86).
• Henri, Robert, The Art Spirit, Philadelphia, PA and London, 1923, p. 275.
• Weinberg, Jonathan, Amibition and Love in Modern American Art,, Yale University Press, New Haven, 2001, p. 26.

Catalogues 1906-Present

COLLECTION:

• Stebbins, Theodore E., Jr., Virginia Anderson, and Kimberly Orcutt, eds, American Paintings at Harvard, Volume Two, Paintings, Drawings, Pastels and Stained Glass by Artists Born 1826-1856, Harvard University Art Museums/Yale University Press, Cambridge, MA and New Haven, CT, 2008, pp. 405-08 (cat. no. 435), repr. p. 407.

EXHIBITION:

• 3rd Exhibition of Fair Women, International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, Grafton Galleries, London, 1910 (cat. no. 43) as 'A Lady in White'.
• American Painting in the Braun Collection, Pennsylvania Museum of Art, Philadelphia, 1930.
• Rich, Daniel Catton, Catalogue of a Century of Progress: Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture Lent from American Collections, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, 1933 (cat. no. 434).
• A Century of Progress: Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, Art Institute of Chicago, 1934 (cat. no. 434).
• Master Paintings from the Fogg Collection, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, MA, 1977.
• Curry, David Park, James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art, New York and London, 1984, repr. fig. 240.3, p. 255 (not exhibited).
• American Art at Harvard: Cultures and Contexts, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, MA, 1994.
• The Persistence of Memory: Continuity and Change in American Cultures, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 1995-2001.
• Kitazaki, Chikashi, ed., Between Reality and Dreams: Nineteenth Century British and French Art from the Winthrop Collection of the Fogg Art Museum, National Museum of Western Art, Ueno, Japan, 2002, pp. 222-23 (cat. no. 70), repr.
• Wolohojian, Stephan, Ingres, Burne-Jones, Whistler, Renoir... La Collection Grenville L. Winthrop, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon and Réunion des Musées Nationaux, Paris, 2003, pp. 484-85 (cat. no. 213), repr.
• Wolohojian, Stephan, ed., A Private Passion: 19th-Century Paintings and Drawings from the Grenville L. Winthrop Collection, Harvard University, Cambridge, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2003-2004, pp. 468-69 (cat. no. 213), repr.
• For Students of Art and Lovers of Beauty: Highlights from the Collection of Grenville L. Winthrop, Harvard University Art Museums, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 2004.
• Fahlman, Betsy, Kraushaar Galleries: Celebrating 125 Years, Kraushaar Galleries, New York, 2010, detail, p. 6, repr. p. 9.

SALE:

• Sotheby's, London, 25 July 1916 (lot 77) as 'The White Girl'.

Journals 1906-Present

• McBride, Henry, 'Exhibitions at the New York Galleries', Fine Arts Journal, Chicago, 1917, pp. 134-42, 144-48, at pp. 137-39, repr. f.p. 134 as 'Girl in White'.
• Watts, Harvey M., 'The John F. Braun Collection of American Art', Arts & Decoration, vol. 25, July 1926, pp. 46-47, 77, repr. p. 47 as 'The White Girl'.
• Ferrargill Galleries advert, Art Digest, 1 January 1938.
• Heartney, Eleanor, 'What's Wrong with Beauty?', Independent Curators Inc., Winter 1987, vol. 2.

Websites

• Harvard Art Museums website at http://www.harvardartmuseums.org/art/230025.

Unpublished

• Revillon, Joseph Whistler, Draft Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of J. McN. Whistler, [ca 1945-1955], Glasgow University Library (cat. no. 34) 'White girl No: 4 / White Woman'.

Other

• Parkerson, Sarah Lawrence, Variations in Gold: The Stylistic Development of the Picture Frames used by James McNeill Whistlers, PhD thesis, University of Glasgow, 2007.