The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Portrait of Henry E. Dixey was started in 1886, and possibly continued later in the 1880s.

1886: Henry E. Dixey (1859-1943) was the star and co-author of a burlesque, Adonis: A Perversion of Common Sense, by William Gill, in which a statue comes to life, but finds humans so unpleasant that he willingly turns back into marble, after impersonating famous people along the way. It played successfully at the Bijou Theatre, New York, from 4 September 1884 until May 1886, when it transferred to London. It opened at the Gaiety on 31 May 1886.

It was in the costume of the chief character that Dixey posed. 'I can never see your most artistic and dainty performance too often.' wrote Whistler, 'Will Monday next be all right for the first sitting? Two o'clock.' ¹ On 11 September 1886 the Sporting Gazette reported that Whistler was thinking of going to America, and added : 'His soul is in his portrait of Mr. Dixey. This is a wondrous piece of work, I hear.' ² Sittings were interrupted when Dixey returned to America in September 1886, as a journalist reported:

'Mr Whistler has painted a superb full-length of Mr. Henry E. Dixey, in the Directoire costume, foil in hand. The figure is full of dignity, grace, elegance, and life, the colour harmony is perfectly beautiful, and the whole thing, in Mr. Whistler's greatest manner, is a triumph of art. Unfortunately, Mr. Dixey's departure from London prevented the picture being quite finished, but Mr. Whistler proposed completing it during his visit to America in November, and it will probably be exhibited at next year's Salon, where it is sure to be recognised as a masterpiece. Mr. Dixey himself is enthusiastic about the picture.' ³

1887: On 2 June 1887 the Boston Herald reported that 'Mr. Whistler is to paint, or rather complete painting, the portrait of Henry Dixey, who has recently come over to this side of the water.'

1888: On 10 July 1888 the New York Tribune announced: '[Henry Dixey] who sailed for Europe last week, took with him his costume of the Chevalier in "Adonis", in which he will sit for Mr. Whistler ... for a portrait which was almost finished when Mr. Dixey was last in London.' ⁴ There is, however, no record of further sittings.

Note: The artist Jacques Émile Blanche (1861-1942) wrote that he saw 'un acteur en costume d'incroyable, harmonie d'opale, de gris et de rose' in Whistler's studio in 1884. ⁵ Blanche was almost certainly wrong about the date, as it seems too much of a coincidence for Whistler to have worked on two portraits of an actor in an 'incroyable' costume.

Images

Subject

Titles

Only one title has been suggested:

• 'Portrait of Henry E. Dixey' (1980, YMSM). ⁶

Description

Jacques Émile Blanche (1861-1942) described the subject as 'un acteur en costume d'incroyable, harmonie d'opale, de gris et de rose.' ⁷

The Incroyables ('incredibles') and their female counterparts, the Merveilleuses ('marvellous women'), formed an aristocratic and political subculture in Paris during the French Directoire (1795–1799). They were characterised by extreme, exaggeratedly fashionable, dress, combined with effete and decadent behaviour.

Henry E. Dixey in Adonis, photograph by Sarony, 1884

Dixey's costume was of this late 18th century period, as confirmed by another journalist, who described it as 'a superb full-length of Mr. Henry E. Dixey, in the Directoire costume, foil in hand.' ⁸ Dixey's costume, which showed off his muscular legs in alabaster-coloured tights and high-heeled shoes, was much admired. Most photographs of Dixey show him with a long cane, but a letter from Whistler to Dixey suggests that the inclusion of a duelling foil was being considered ('Bring with you one of your foils as well as the cane - that I may choose'). ⁹

Sitter

Henry E. Dixey in Adonis, photograph by Sarony, 1884

Henry E. Dixey (1859-1943) was born in Boston and became a member of the Stock Company at the Howard Athenaeum in 1868. His first great success was in Adonis, a burlesque in two acts by Gill and Dixey, which was brought to the Gaiety Theatre in London in May 1886. It was not a success: on 5 June 1886 the Athenaeum described the audience reaction:

'the Dixey troupe experienced how inhospitable and offensive an English gallery can be. An injudicious eagerness to accept encores did something to provoke the hostility shown during the latter half of the entertainment ... for those who applaud the "Little Fausts" ... and we know not what else that is little, to howl at "Adonis", which is the equal of most and is acted better than any, is absurd ... Mr. Dixey is in his way a singularly bright actor, and his imitation of Mr. Irving is the cleverest thing of the kind we can recall.' ¹⁰

Dixey later starred as a comedian in many plays both in Britain and America.

Technique

Composition

Henry E. Dixey in Adonis, photograph by Sarony, 1884

Master Menpes, Whereabouts unknown

It is curious that Whistler also painted a boy, Mortimer James Menpes ( 1879-1900), the son of Mortimer Luddington Menpes (1860-1938), in a version of Directoire costume, Master Menpes y261. That picture has been tentatively dated 1886/1887, but could date from later. Could it possibly have been either a precursor, or later reworking of the portrait of Dixey?

Technique

Unknown.

Conservation History

Unknown.

Frame

Unknown.

History

Provenance

Unknown.

Exhibitions

It was not exhibited in Whistler's lifetime.

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. 356) as 'Portrait of Henry E. Dixey', plate 435.

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• None.

Newspapers 1855-1905

• Anon., Boston Herald, Boston, 2 June 1887.
• Anon., Sporting Gazette, London, 11 September 1886, p. 7.
• Anon., New York Tribune, New York, 10 July 1888.

Journals 1855-1905

• The Athenaeum, London, 5 June 1886, p. 757.
• 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

• None.

Books, General

• Hollingshead, John, Gaiety Chronicles, London, 1898, photograph of sitter repr. p. 436.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• None.

Journals 1906-Present

• None.

Websites

• None.

Unpublished

• None.

Other

• None.