The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

The White House dates from between 1884 and 1885. ¹

The White House, Freer Gallery of Art

Andrew McLaren Young (1913-1975) thought that it probably dated from the late 1880s, but the purchase by H. S. Theobald suggests an earlier date, after a Dowdeswell exhibition of 1884 or 1886. ²

Images

Subject

Titles

Whistler's original title has not been identified. Only one title is known:

• ‘The White House' (1910, New York). ³
• ‘The White House' (1980, YMSM). ⁴

Description

The White House, Freer Gallery of Art

A beach scene in horizontal format. In the foreground is a broad beach with a breakwater at left. A group of houses, including a white-washed cottage at right, is seen beyond the beach. The scattered clouds are touched with sunlight. A small sailing ship is seen in the sea beyond the breakwaters, and the masts of more ships to left of the buildings.

Site

St Ives, Cornwall.

The White House, Freer Gallery of Art

Note in Blue and Opal: The Sun Cloud, Freer Gallery of Art

The scene appears closely related to Note in Blue and Opal: The Sun Cloud y271, but the sky is brighter and more sunny. It is possible that the titles were mixed up.

Technique

Composition

The White House, Freer Gallery of Art

The pencil outlines, to the right of the breakwater by the sea and to the right of the white house itself, show that Whistler first drew the whole scene further to the right.

Technique

It was painted over a pencil sketch, with thin paint of a creamy consistency, in fluid brushstrokes. The fine detail of the ships and cottages was painted precisely with a fine-pointed sable brush.

Conservation History

Freer Gallery records show that the varnish was removed in 1921, and spots in the sky arising from earlier damage, possibly when the picture was painted, were touched up with paint. In 1937, it was cleaned and varnished, and in the following year, resurfaced and cradled. It was again resurfaced in 1952-1953.

Frame

The White House, Freer Gallery of Art

Replica Dowdeswell frame, made in American, 2004. ⁵

History

Provenance

• 1885: bought by Henry Studdy Theobald (1847-1934);
• 1902: bought by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919), Detroit;
• 1919: bequeathed by C. L. Freer to the Freer Gallery of Art.

It was probably exhibited in Whistler's one-man show 'Notes' - 'Harmonies' - 'Nocturnes', Messrs Dowdeswell, London, 1884 and acquired at that time by H. S. Theobald, who was almost certainly the collector described by Whistler as having bought a number of paintings after the first Dowdeswell exhibition. Whistler wrote to Walter Dowdeswell (1858-1929):

'I must know the whereabouts of every one of my little pictures … you must arrange with the man who bought the lot that remained over after the exhibition of the "Flesh color & grey", to let his collection go with me to America.' ⁶

In June 1902, Whistler sent C. L. Freer a telegram 'Theobald paintings at Marchants') informing him that the paintings owned by Theobald were apparently for sale, and Freer bought this in August 1902 for $750. ⁷

Exhibitions

• 1884/1886: probably 'Notes' - 'Harmonies' - 'Nocturnes', Messrs Dowdeswell, London, 1884 (possibly as cat. no. 52, 'Note in blue and opal – The Sun Cloud') or 'Notes' - 'Harmonies' - 'Nocturnes', Second Series, Messrs Dowdeswell, London, 1886.

Since the first owner, H. S. Theobald, 'bought the lot that remained over after the [Dowdeswell] exhibition [of 1884]' and later sold a number to Freer, it seems likely that this painting was also in one of the Dowdeswell exhibitions (1884 or 1886) but none of the titles correspond conclusively. A painting with an appropriate title was shown in 1884 (cat. no. 52) and the press at the time commented that the title did not appear to apply to the numbered picture Note in Blue and Opal: The Sun Cloud y271: could the gallery have muddled up the titles?

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

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. 289), plate 213, as 'The White House'.

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• Probably 'Notes' - 'Harmonies' - 'Nocturnes', Messrs Dowdeswell, London, 1884or 'Notes' - 'Harmonies' - 'Nocturnes', Second Series, Messrs Dowdeswell, London, 1886.

Journals 1855-1905

• None.

Monographs

• None.

Books on Whistler

• Holden, Donald, Whistler Landscapes and Seascapes, New York, 1969, repr. pl. 28.
• Spencer, Robin, James McNeill Whistler, London, 2003, p. 62.

Books, General

• None.

Catalogues 1906-Present

COLLECTION:

• Curry, David Park, James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art, New York and London, 1984, pp. 136, 294, pl. 40.
• 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. 16 (02.154) as 'The White House'.

EXHIBITION:

• Loan Exhibition of Pictures by T. W. Dewing, A. H. Thayer, D. W. Tryon, J. A. McN. Whistler, Montross Gallery, New York, 1910 (cat. no. 20) as ‘The White House'.
• Panama-Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco, 1915 (cat. no. 260).
• Myers, Kenneth John, Mr. Whistler’s Gallery: Pictures at an 1884 Exhibition, Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 2003, pp. 82-83.
• Ayako Ono, ホイッスラー展. James McNeill Whistler Retrospective, National Museum of Modern Art, Kyōto, 2014, and Yokohama Museum of Art, 2014–2015, p. 213, fig. 60 (not exhibited).

Journals 1906-Present

• None.

Websites

• Freer Gallery of Art website at https://asia.si.edu/object/F1902.154a-b.

Unpublished

• Revillon, Joseph Whistler, Draft Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of J. McN. Whistler, [ca 1945-1955], Glasgow University Library (cat. no. 340).

Other

• None.