The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Arrangement in Black, No. 8: Portrait of Mrs Cassatt was painted from 1883 to 1885. ¹

1883: on 3 April 1883 the sitter, Maria Lois Cassatt (1847-1920) and her husband, Alexander Johnston Cassatt (1839-1906) of Haverford, Pennsylvania, went to visit Whistler. as she noted in her diary, 'we found the distinguished artist most polite and most curious looking'; they asked if he would paint her, and arranged to start the following day. ² She posed in Whistler's studio at 13 Tite Street: 'We spent every morning from 11-1 in the studio ... It was an ordeal for me as you can imagine standing so long, but the time passed pleasantly and quickly.' ³ And after lunch they continued until dark, as she noted in her diary. On 6 April she posed from 11 a.m. to 1.45 p.m. and again continued in the afternoon, on the following day, from 10.30-1.30, and on the 8th, she wrote, not surprisingly, 'I was tired'. It was too foggy to paint on the 9th but on the 10th April she posed from 11 a.m. to 5.15 p.m, and further long sittings took place on 14, 17, 21, and 23 April. ⁴

In May 1883 Whistler wrote that he had stayed on in London 'because I had to paint in the midst of things a full length portrait of an American who was determined to give me 500 guineas.' ⁵ According to the Pennells, Cassatt paid for the portrait before they left for America. ⁶ According to Sweet, they sailed on 28 April 1883, and Whistler, who was in Paris by 13 May, was reported as saying he was 'extremely well pleased' with the portrait. ⁷ Whistler nevertheless considered it incomplete, for he told Cassatt's sister, the artist Mary Stevenson Cassatt (1844-1926), that he had very few sittings, and would have liked just 25 more minutes. ⁸

Alexander's brother, J. Gardner Cassatt (1849-1911), saw the portrait in September, and commented 'It will give me great pleasure to give my brother your message, & also to assure him from myself what a fine & artistic portrait he will soon come into possession of.' ⁹ In October Mary Cassatt saw it, in company with John Singer Sargent (1856-1925), who said, 'It is a good thing to have a portrait by Whistler in the family.' ¹⁰

1884: Early in June 1884 the Paris dealer Durand-Ruel – probably Charles Durand-Ruel (1865-1892), Georges Durand-Ruel (1866-1931), or Joseph Durand-Ruel (1862-1928) – called on Whistler at the request of Mary Cassatt, and the artist promised to complete the portrait and send it to Alexander Cassatt immediately. ¹¹ Jacques Émile Blanche (1861-1942) remembered that he saw it in Whistler's Tite Street studio in 1884. ¹²

1885: In January 1885, to Whistler's horror, A. J. Cassatt came to see the portrait and Whistler sponged it over and promised to complete it in three weeks. ¹³ The artist Sidney Starr (1857-1925) recorded that after Cassatt's visit, Whistler told him, 'I have been so long over it and the man has been so nice about it, that I feel ashamed of myself', so when he sent the portrait to Cassatt he added The Chelsea Girl y314 as a present. ¹⁴ Mary Cassatt wrote on 21 September,

'I had a letter from Scott a ... young English painter ... He had been to see Whistler and saw Lois' portrait which he said was very fine but not done yet, that Whistler was dreadfully distressed, but could not find a model to finish the dress with.' ¹⁵

W. Sickert, 'An Arrangement in Black', Pall Mall Gazette, 8 December 1885

Arrangement in Black, No. 8: Portrait of Mrs Cassatt, Private collection

It was exhibited in the Winter Exhibition, Society of British Artists, London, 1885 (cat. no. 362).

1886: Whistler wrote to the art dealer Walter Dowdeswell (1858-1929) regarding 'papers' sent to Cassatt's lawyer, possibly regarding the export of the painting. ¹⁶

1887: Possibly sent to Cassatt in the summer of 1887, when Whistler wrote somewhat cryptically to Messrs Dowdeswell:

'Mr Dowdeswell père, promised me to telegraph to Messrs Spence Liverpool, asking if case from Whistler for Cassatt America shall be forwarded to them -

Please do this and prepay their answer -

Cassatt's address is: A. J. Cassatt. Esq./ Chiswold - / Haverford Cottage P. Q. / Montgomery Co. P. A. / U. S. A.' ¹⁷

Images

Subject

Titles

Several possible titles have been suggested:

• 'Arrangement in Black No. 8: Portrait of Mrs. Cassatt' (1885, Society of British Artists). ¹⁸
• 'Portrait' (1894, National Academy of Design). ¹⁹
• 'Portrait of a Lady' (1904, Copley Society, Boston). ²⁰
• 'Arrangement in Black, No. 8: Portrait of Mrs Cassatt' (1980, YMSM). ²¹

The original, and preferred, title is 'Arrangement in Black, No. 8: Portrait of Mrs. Cassatt' (see Arrangement in Black: Portrait of F. R. Leyland y097 regarding the series of Arrangements in Black).

Description

Arrangement in Black, No. 8: Portrait of Mrs Cassatt, private collection

A full-length portrait of a woman in vertical format. She stands in three-quarter view to left. She wears black riding dress, including a black hat, and is adjusting her gloves. The background is a very dark, warm black.

Sitter

Maria Lois Cassatt (1847-1920). In 1868 Lois Buchanan, niece of James Buchanan, 15th President of the United States, married Alexander Johnston Cassatt (1839-1906), a president of the Pennsylvania Railroad, and brother of the artist Mary Stevenson Cassatt (1844-1926).

The likeness of Mrs Cassatt was apparently not entirely satisfactory to the artist or the family, as the sitter recalled: 'from something I said Whistler took it that I did not consider it a likeness, nor do I, but he replied, "After all it's a Whistler".' ²²

Whistler replied to a letter from A. J. Cassatt,

'I know it is not a striking likeness ... I do not delude myself in the least- and when I come over I will paint you another ... with pleasure - Anything in this world rather than that Mrs Cassatt should be obliged to put on her hat & costume and stand in a particular light in order that she may faintly resemble her unfortunate picture.' ²³

Technique

Composition

According to the Pennells, A. J. Cassatt suggested Lois Cassatt pose in riding habit, although she would have preferred evening dress. ²⁴ However, the decision was Whistler's, as Mrs Cassatt wrote in her diary on 4 April 1884:

'he [Whistler] decided in favor of the riding habit, much to my disappointment, … but Aleck likes it.' ²⁵

Study for 'Portrait of Miss May Alexander', British Museum, London

Whistler had proposed a similar composition for a portrait of young Agnes Mary ('May') Alexander (1862-1950), as is seen in the Study for 'Portrait of Miss May Alexander' m0498 reproduced above.

Study for 'Portrait of Miss Leyland', British Museum, London

Mrs Cassatt's riding dress is similar to that in a missing oil, Portrait of Miss Leyland (1) y109, which is known from a drawing, Study for 'Portrait of Miss Leyland' m0502, illustrated above. ²⁶

Technique

Arrangement in Black, No. 8: Portrait of Mrs Cassatt, private collection

It is thinly painted and shows signs of rubbing down and alterations.

Conservation History

Arrangement in Black, No. 8: Portrait of Mrs Cassatt, photograph

Photographs suggest that the face has been rubbed down, although the picture appears to be in a stable condition.

Frame

W. Sickert, 'An Arrangement in Black', Pall Mall Gazette, 8 December 1885

Frame with panels decorated with a fish-scale pattern on three sides, and signed with a butterfly. Sickert's drawing gives a rough impression of the signed frame in 1885.

Whistler Memorial Exhibition, Boston 1904, photograph, GUL PH6/005

A 1904 photograph shows the picture in its frame.

History

Provenance

• 1883: commissioned by the sitter and her husband, Alexander Johnston Cassatt (1839-1906);
• 1906: after his death, passed to his second wife, Mrs Packard Laird, and to his son, Edward Cassatt (1869-1922), and granddaughter, Lois Buchanan Cassatt (Mrs John B. Thayer) (1894-1977);
• 1977: passed by family descent to Charlotte Rush Toland Thayer (Mrs J. B. Thayer IV) (1922-2006).
• 2006-present: Private collection.

Exhibitions

• 1885: Winter Exhibition, Society of British Artists, London, 1885 (cat. no. 362) as 'Arrangement in Black No. 8: Portrait of Mrs. Cassatt'.
• 1894: Portraits of Women, loan exhibition for the Benefit of St. John's Guild and the Orthopaedic Hospital, National Academy of Design, New York, 1894 (cat. no. 355) as 'Portrait'.
• 1904: Oil Paintings, Water Colors, Pastels and Drawings: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Mr. J. McNeill Whistler, Copley Society, Boston, 1904 (cat. no. 45) as 'Portrait of a Lady'.

W. Sickert, drawing after the portrait of Mrs Cassatt, 1885, Victoria and Albert Museum E.829-1919

W. Sickert, 'An Arrangement in Black', Pall Mall Gazette, 8 December 1885

When Arrangement in Black, No. 8: Portrait of Mrs Cassatt y250 was exhibited at the SBA, Walter Richard Sickert (1860-1942) made a drawing of it in pen, reproduced above. This was probably the basis for the illustration published in the Pall Mall Gazette, also reproduced above. They show the picture in its painted frame but do not include such details as Mrs Cassatt's features. The paper explained:

'To us, Philistines that we are, it has rather the appearance of an arrangement in white, but Mr. Whistler's clever pupil protested so vehemently against the introduction of Mrs. Cassatt's eyes, or Mrs. Cassatt's nose and mouth, that we gave in. The size of the drawing does not, according to the Whistlerian cult, allow of the introduction of such "small facts as eyes." So we felt compelled to put the facts (if not the eyes) before our readers and Mrs. Cassatt.' ²⁷

The Eastern Morning News commented on 10 December 1885 that 'despite his eccentricity', Whistler was 'represented by some powerful portraits' including that of Mrs Cassatt.

Whistler Memorial Exhibition, Boston 1904, photograph, GUL PH6/005

The painting was hung (rather near a radiator!) in the Boston 1904 exhibition.

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. 250), plate 172, as 'Arrangement in Black, No. 8: Portrait of Mrs Cassatt'.

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• Winter Exhibition, Society of British Artists, London, 1885 (cat. no. 362) as 'Arrangement in Black No. 8: Portrait of Mrs. Cassatt'.
• Portraits of Women, loan exhibition for the Benefit of St. John's Guild and the Orthopaedic Hospital, National Academy of Design, New York, 1894 (cat. no. 355) as 'Portrait'.
• Oil Paintings, Water Colors, Pastels and Drawings: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Mr. J. McNeill Whistler, Copley Society, Boston, 1904 (cat. no. 45) as 'Portrait of a Lady'.

Newspapers 1855-1905

• Anon., Truth, 3 December 1885, p. 16.
• Pall Mall Gazette, London, 8 December 1885, p. 4, drawing by Sickert repr.
• Anon., Eastern Morning News, Yorkshire, 10 December 1885, p. 2.

Journals 1855-1905

• The Bat, London, 8 December 1885, drawing repr.
• Blanche, Jacques-Émile, 'James McNeill Whistler', Renaissance Latine, vol. 4, no. 6, 15 June 1905, pp. 353-78, at p. 358.

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.
• MacDonald, Margaret F., (ed.) Whistler's Mother: An American Icon, Aldershot and Burlington, 2003, p. 33.
• MacDonald, Margaret F., Susan Galassi, Aileen Ribeiro, and Patricia de Montfort, Whistler, Women and Fashion, New Haven and London, 2003, p. 124.
• Merrill, Linda, The Peacock Room. A Cultural Biography, New Haven and London, 1998, p. 299.
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 6th edition, revised, Philadelphia, 1920, p. 257, repr. f.p. 344.
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Whistler Journal, Philadelphia, 1921, drawing repr. f.p. 136 as 'Mrs. A. J. Cassatt'.
• Petri, Grischka, Arrangement in Business: The Art Markets and the Career of James McNeill Whistler, Hildesheim, 2011, pp. 174-75, 382, 389, 433, 684.
• Robins, Anna Gruetzner, A Fragile Modernism. Whistler and his Impressionist Followers, London and New Haven, 2007, pp. 95-97.
• Sickert, Bernhard, Whistler, London and New York, 1908, p. 163, cat. no. 85.
• Sutherland, Daniel E., Whistler: A Life for Art's Sake, New Haven and London, 2014, pp. 195, 213.
• Sweet, Frederick A., Miss Mary Cassatt: Impressionist from Pennsylvania, Norman 1966, pp. 74-76, 82, 91-93, 107.

Books, General

• Victoria and Albert Museum, Department of Prints and Drawings and Department of Paintings Accessions 1949, HMSO, London, 1961.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• Sweet, Frederick A., James McNeill Whistler, Art Institute of Chicago and Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, 1968 (cat. no. 34).
• 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. 128).
• Merrill, Linda, et al., After Whistler: The Artist and His Influence on American Painting, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, 2003, pp. 57-58, repr. fig. 48 (not in exhibition).

Journals 1906-Present

• Dempsey, Andrew, 'Whistler and Sickert: A Friendship and its End', Apollo, vol. 83, January 1966, pp. 30-37, at pp. 30-31.
• Starr, Sidney, 'Personal Recollections of Whistler', Atlantic Monthly, vol. 101, April 1908, pp. 528-37, at p. 535.

Websites

• None.

Unpublished

• Revillon, Joseph Whistler, Draft Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of J. McN. Whistler, [ca 1945-1955], Glasgow University Library (cat. no. 169).

Other

• None.