The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Arrangement in White and Black is a portrait of Maud Franklin (1857-1939), fashionably dressed in a costume that can be dated between 1876 and 1878. ¹

Arrangement in White and Black, Freer Gallery of Art

It was first exhibited in II Summer Exhibition, Grosvenor Gallery, London, 1878 (cat. no. 55) as 'Arrangement in White and Black'.

Images

Subject

Titles

Several possible titles have been suggested:

• 'Arrangement in White and Black' (1878, Grosvenor). ²
• 'Damenbildniss' (1897, Colnaghi's). ³
• 'Amerikanerin' (1903, E. Heilbut). ⁴
• 'Jeune femme dite L'Américaine' (1904, T. Duret) ⁵
• 'Arrangement in White and Black' (1980, YMSM). ⁶

According to Théodore Duret (1838-1927), the title of 'L'Américaine' was given to the picture in Germany, possibly due to a misunderstanding, since it was the artist, and not his sitter, who was American. ⁷

This might be considered the last of Whistler's 'White Girls' (see Symphony in White, No. 1: The White Girl y038). ⁸

'Arrangement in White and Black' is the preferred title.

Description

Arrangement in White and Black, Freer Gallery of Art

A full-length portrait of a woman in vertical format. She stands against a black background. She wears a close-fitting white dress, the train gathered and held at left in her right hand. She has a white bonnet and a black scarf. She stands with hands on hips, arms akimbo, and looks as if she is walking forward on her right leg.

Sitter

Maud Franklin, photograph, Library of Congress

Whistler's mistress and chief model, Maud Franklin (1857-1939), posed for several major portraits, including Arrangement in Black and Brown: The Fur Jacket y181, and many smaller drawings, paintings and prints.

Comments

A discussion of Maud's dress appears in Whistler, Women and Fashion:

'In Arrangement in White and Black, Maud fairly sizzled with youth and vigour. The close-fitting dress was the height of fashion. Contemporary cartoons mocked the fashionable woman’s inability to bend, climb stairs, and so on. “Shall we – a – sit down?” invites a gentleman at a dress party; “I should like to; but my Dressmaker says I mustn’t!” replies the young lady who must have been sewn into her dress. The Graphic for 4 May 1878 described a hat with delicate plumes curling over the brim just like Maud’s, and recommended similar costumes: “white sateen will be much worn, more or less trimmed with coloured ribbons … those whose features are irregular … can disguise their high foreheads with light curls, fringes etc … Bonnets and hats are very graceful … White or black, whether in silk, satin or tulle, form dress-bonnets and hats.” The figure-hugging satin dress was downright sexy and she strode out in a way that signalled sexual liberation. Her confrontational pose, hands on hips, offended the critics: the Magazine of Art considered it “vulgar in action”. The various elements that contributed to the image, including beauty and self-confidence, colour and costume, were analysed by an audience that was highly attuned to nuances of caste and class.' ⁹

Technique

Technique

Arrangement in White and Black, Freer Gallery of Art

It was painted on coarse weave canvas. There are few signs of alterations except to the left of the bust and waist, which have been reduced in size, and her right shoulder, which has been lowered. The butterfly, on the left of the figure, is now practically invisible. Though thinly painted, with soft brushstrokes and extensive rubbing down of layers of paint, merging and blurring the outlines of the figure, it is rich and dark in colour. ¹⁰

Conservation History

According to Freer Gallery of Art conservation files, in 1921 the canvas was rotten and the painted surface uneven, so it was relined, but not fully restored. It was cleaned in 1922, 1935, and 1951, and was 'surfaced' in 1935 and 1951. Ben Johnson commented that in 1965 it showed signs of 'disturbing retouches' and the varnish was dirty and discoloured, and it was therefore cleaned and the varnish was partially removed.

Frame

• 1876/1878: the style and whereabouts of the original frame are unknown.
• ca 1910: Portrait Whistler with incised basket weave, American. ¹¹

Arrangement in White and Black, Freer Gallery of Art

It has a single panel of basket-weave pattern, between narrow bands with a running irregular design of indented dashes. The styling of the frame and decoration differs greatly from the incised frames used by Whistler, such as the portrait of Mrs Leyland (her frame has a flat reeded outer edge, whereas this one is much more rounded). Also there are incised lines on the reeds and not just on the frieze, which is not a practice seen on other Whistler frames. ¹²

History

Provenance

• 1896: bought from Hugo Othmar Miethke (1834-1911) of Miethke & Wawra, art dealers, Vienna, by Colnaghi, London art dealers;
• 1897: sold by Colnaghi's to Dr Max Linde (1862-1940), Lübeck;
• 1904: with a Paris art dealer;
• 1904: bought by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919), Detroit;
• 1919: bequeathed by C. L. Freer to the Freer Gallery of Art.

It was bought as 'An Arrangement in black and white' from H. O. Meithke by Colnaghi's in December 1896, and sold by them to an important collector, the opthalmologist Dr Linde of Lübeck, on 22 March 1897 for £900, under the title 'Damenbildniss', according to Colnaghi's stock books (a/c no. 580). According to Emil Heilbut (1861-1921), 'Amerikanerin' was still in Dr Linde's collection in 1903. ¹³ It was sold through art dealers in Paris, according to the Pennells. ¹⁴ Indeed, on 9 April 1904 Théodore Duret (1838-1927) wrote to Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) of Detroit that he could get the portrait for him from some people in Paris. ¹⁵ Duret hung it in his apartment in the rue Vignon, Paris, and Freer bought it in June 1904 for 62,500 francs. ¹⁶

Exhibitions

• II Summer Exhibition, Grosvenor Gallery, London, 1878 (cat. no. 55) as 'Arrangement in White and Black'.
• II Kunstausstellung der Berliner Secession, Berlin, 1900 (cat. no. 343) as 'Damenbildniss'.
• Comparative exhibition of Native and Foreign Art under the auspices of the Society of Art Collectors, New York, 1904 (cat. no. 175) as 'Arrangement in Black and White No.1'.
• Sixth International Art Exhibit, Venice, 1905.

One newspaper reported in 1878 that Whistler had asked a visitor to his studio whether he should send the 'arrangement in white and black' to the Grosvenor, and this 'art cynic of the Whistler school' advised him to do so! ¹⁷

Arrangement in White and Black, Blackburn, 1878

Whistler made a pen drawing of the portrait, Arrangement in White and Black m0691, for reproduction by Blackburn in 1878. ¹⁸ The critic of The Times on 2 May 1878 described Whistler's two portraits of Maud Franklin as: 'two of those vaporous full lengths – of young ladies in this case – it pleases him to call "arrangements" ... as if the colour of the dress imported more than the face; and as if young ladies had no right to feel aggrieved at being converted into "arrangements".' ¹⁹ The Evening Mail on the following day asserted that 'Mr. Whistler's "arrangements" in blue and green, in black and white, in blue and yellow, flesh-colour and green, once more puzzle the uninitiated.'

The Sheffield Daily Telegraph, on 28 May 1878, contrasted Whistler's work with that of Edward Coley Burne-Jones (1833-1898), whose paintings Laus Veneris (Laing Art Gallery), Chant d'Amour (Metropolitan Museum of Art) and Pan and Psyche (Harvard Art Museums) were in the Grosvenor that year:

'[Mr. Whistler] … out-heroded Herod by his unspeakable "arrangements," "symphonies," "harmonies," and the like … If Mr. Whistler's theories of art be true, if it is right to sketch in the rudest fashion some figure which looks as if it was lost in a London fog, then one fails to see how Mr. Burne Jones' ideas of art can be true.'

It is true, however, that Whistler's portraits of women in contemporary dress were an enormous contrast to Burne-Jones's trio of classical and literary figures.

By the terms of C. L. Freer's bequest to the Freer Gallery of Art, the painting cannot be lent.

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. 185), pl. 154, as 'Arrangement in White and Black'.

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• II Summer Exhibition, Grosvenor Gallery, London, 1878 (cat. no. 55) as 'Arrangement in White and Black'.
• Blackburn, Henry, Grosvenor Notes, London, 1878, drawing repr. p. 20.
• II Kunstausstellung der Berliner Secession, Berlin, 1900 (cat. no. 343) as 'Damenbildniss', repr.
• Comparative exhibition of Native and Foreign Art under the auspices of the Society of Art Collectors, New York, 1904 (cat. no. 175) as 'Arrangement in Black and White No.1'.
• Sixth International Art Exhibit, Venice, 1905.

Newspapers 1855-1905

• Anon., 'The Grosvenor Gallery,' The Times, London, 2 May 1878, p. 7.
• Anon., 'The Grosvenor Gallery,' Evening Mail, London, 3 May 1878, p. 1.
• Anon., 'The Grosvenor Gallery,' The Scotsman, Edinburgh, 3 May 1878, p. 3.
• Anon., 'Metropolitan Notes', Sheffield Independent, Sheffield, 4 May 1878, p. 6.
• Anon., ['London correspondent'], 'The Grosvenor Gallery,' Sheffield Daily Telegraph, Sheffield, 28 May 1878, p. 3.

Journals 1855-1905

• Ruskin, John, ‘Prerafaelitizm’, trans. Olga Soloveva, Mir Ishusstva, vol. 4, 1900, pp. 73-96, repr. p. 93.
• Heilbut, Emil, 'Die Sammlung Linde in Lübeck', Kunst und Künstler, vol. 2, October 1903, pp. 6-20, repr. p. 19, repr. p. 20 on wall of Dr Linde's dining room.
• Kessler, Harry Graf, 'Whistler', Kunst und Künstler: Illustrierte Monatsschrift für Kunst und Kunstgewerbe, vol. 3, August 1905, pp. 445-66, repr. p. 450.

Monographs

• None.

Books on Whistler

• Cary, Elizabeth Luther, The Works of James McNeill Whistler: A Study, with a Tentative List of Artist’s Works, New York, 1907, p. 228 (cat. no. 496).
• Curry, David Park, James McNeill Whistler: Uneasy Pieces, New York, 2004, pp. 111-112, fig. 3.55.
• Duret, Théodore, Histoire de J. McN. Whistler et de son oeuvre, Paris, 1904, pp. 34, 36-37, repr. p. 114 as 'Jeune femme dite L'Américaine'.
• Glazer, Lee, Emily Jacobsen, Blyth McCarthy, and Katherine Roeder, Whistler in Watercolor. Lovely Little Games, Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 2019, p. 193, repr.
• Lane, James W., Whistler, (American Artists Series), New York, 1942, repr. p. 49.
• MacDonald, Margaret F., Susan Galassi, Aileen Ribeiro, and Patricia de Montfort, Whistler, Women and Fashion, New Haven and London, 2003, pp. 135, 137, 146, 220, repr. fig. 126.
• Merrill, Linda, The Peacock Room. A Cultural Biography, New Haven and London, 1998, p. 134, fig. 3.20.
• Pearson, Hesketh, The Man Whistler, London, 1952, pp. 87, repr. pp. 116-17.
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 2 vols, London and Philadelphia, 1908, vol. 1, pp. 217-18; vol. 2, repr. f.p. 100 as 'L'Américaine (Arrangement in Black and White, No. I).
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Whistler Journal, Philadelphia, 1921, drawing after, repr. as 'Sketch of Maud'.
• Pousette-Dart, Nathaniel, (ed.), James McNeill Whistler,(with introduction by Joseph & Elizabeth Robins Pennell), New York, 1924, repr. pl. 48.
• Prideaux, Tom, The World of Whistler, New York, 1970, p. 100.
• Sickert, Bernhard, Whistler, London and New York, 1908, p. 159 (cat. no. 64).
• Spencer, Robin, Whistler, New York, 1990, pp. 98-99.
• Sutton, Denys, Nocturne: The Art of James McNeill Whistler, London, 1963, fig. 33.
• Sutton, Denys, James McNeill Whistler: Paintings, Etchings, Pastels and Watercolours, London, 1966, pl. 62.

Books, General

• Denney, Colleen, At the Temple of Art: The Grosvenor Gallery, 1877-1890, Madison, NJ, 1999, pp. 115-17, 119.
• Lawton, Thomas, Freer: a Legacy of Art, Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, 1993, p. 187, fig. 125.

Catalogues 1906-Present

COLLECTION:

• Stubbs, Burns A., Paintings, Pastels, Drawings, Prints and Copper Plates by and attributed to American and European Artists, together with a List of Original Whistleriana in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1948, p. 13 (04.78).
• Curry, David Park, James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art, New York and London, 1984, pp. 116, 292, repr. plate 19.

EXHIBITION:

• Selection of Art Objects from The Freer Collection, National Museum, Washington, DC, 1912 (cat. no. 20).
• University of Michigan Club, exhibition in Freer's home, Detroit, 1914 (cat. no. 15).

Journals 1906-Present

• Hobbs, Susan, 'A Connoisseur's Vision: The American Collection of Charles Lang Freer', American Art Review, vol. 4, August 1977, pp. 76-101, p. 99.
• Hobbs, Susan, 'Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art', Magazines Antiques, vol. 121, November 1981, pp. 1194-202, pl. 11.
• MacDonald, Margaret F., 'Maud Franklin', in: Ruth Fine (ed.), James McNeill Whistler: A Reexamination, Studies in the History of Art, vol. 19, Washington, DC, 1987, pp. 13-26, at pp. 18-19.
• Curry, David Park, 'Charles Lang Freer and American Art', Apollo, vol. 118, no. 258, August 1983, new series, pp. 168-79, fig. 3.

Websites

• Freer Gallery of Art website at https://asia.si.edu/object/F1904.78a-b.

Unpublished

• Revillon, Joseph Whistler, Draft Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of J. McN. Whistler, [ca 1945-1955], Glasgow University Library (cat. no. 144).

Other

• Bumann, Mary A., Whistler's "White Girl" Paintings: A Development of Style 1861-1876, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1986, p. 67.
• Parkerson, Sarah Lawrence, Variations in Gold: The Stylistic Development of the Picture Frames used by James McNeill Whistlers, PhD thesis, University of Glasgow, 2007.