The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler
YMSM 357
Harmony in Black, No. 10
Date
Harmony in Black, No. 10 may have been painted between 1886 and 1887, and was exhibited in 1887.
Detail of At the Whistleries, Suffolk Street, from Judy, 8 December 1886
J. B. Partridge, Caricature of Whistler as Harmony in Black, No. 10, from unidentified press cutting, GUL PC 3, p. 116
Whistler's butterfly signature (shown in depictions of the painting in the newspaper) was of the type he was using about 1885/1886.
The artist Walter Richard Sickert (1860-1942) wrote that he had seen Whistler at work on several portraits of 'Maud'. 1 These would have been portraits of Maud Franklin (1857-1939), probably Portrait of Maud Franklin y353, Harmony in Black, No. 10 y357 and Maud y358.
Harmony in Black, No. 10 was first exhibited in the 64th Annual Exhibition, Royal Society of British Artists, London, 1887 (cat. no. 12), and may have been worked on after the exhibition, because when it was shown in Paris later in the year, Claude Phillips (1846-1924) thought it 'in what seemed to be an improved condition'. 2
Images
Harmony in Black, No. 10, Whereabouts unknown
J. B. Partridge, At the Whistleries, Suffolk Street, drawing for Judy, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, MA
J. B. Partridge, At the Whistleries, Suffolk Street, from Judy, 8 December 1886
Detail of At the Whistleries, Suffolk Street, from Judy, 8 December 1886
J. B. Partridge, Caricature of Whistler as Harmony in Black, No. 10, from unidentified press cutting, GUL PC 3, p. 116
A Portrait: Maud, Whereabouts unknown
Harmony in Red: Lamplight, The Hunterian
Subject
Titles
Several possible titles have been suggested:
- 'Harmony in Black, No. 10' (1887, Royal Society of British Artists). 3
- 'Arrangement en noir' (1887, Petit). 4
- 'Harmony in Black, No. 10' (1980, YMSM). 5
There were no 'Harmonies in Black' numbered 1-9. Whistler's usual terminology was 'Arrangement in Black' (including Arrangement in Black: Portrait of F. R. Leyland y097) and there were nine of these. Arrangement in Black: Portrait of Señor Pablo de Sarasate y315 was sometimes called 'No. 9' by Whistler. Perhaps he was confusing the two series, and thought this 'Harmony in Black' was the tenth in the sequence of 'Arrangements in Black'.
However, the original title 'Harmony in Black, No. 10' is preferred.
Description
It was described in the Magazine of Art:
'a young lady in a black walking costume, seen on a black ground, the only relief given to the picture being the small feather of neutral tint in her hat, and a small vague object of dark red, cleverly enveloped in the murky atmosphere of the middle distance.' 6
The 'small vague object of dark red' was undoubtedly Whistler's butterfly signature, which is visible in caricatures of the painting.
It was also described by Guigon when it was exhibited in Paris:
'La femme, d'une élégance maigre, se dresse en vêtements très sombres sur un fond gris, terne, mais élastique, comme baignée de l'air du crépuscule. Sous le chapeau aux larges ailes, la figure, d'un ton rose vivace ... illumine toute la toile.' 7
A rough translation is as follows:
'The woman, lean and elegant, stands in very dark clothes against a gray background, subdued, but elastic, as if soaked in the air of dusk. Under the hat with its broad wings, the face, of a vivacious pink tone, ... illuminates the entire canvas.'
The model was also described in L’Évènement, 18 August 1888, as
'sanglée dans une veste d'homme, la boutonnière fleurie d'une rose d'un rose mat, du même rose mat et glacé de ses lèvres … la pose des mains crânement enfoncées dans les poches, dans l'avancement du buste et le retraît des hanches'.Even more freely translated: 'confined in a man's jacket, a pink rose in her buttonhole, the same mat and glossy pink as her lips … the pose, with hands jauntily shoved in pockets, her bust pushed forward and hips, back.'
Sitter
Maud Franklin (1857-1939).
A Portrait: Maud, Whereabouts unknown
Detail of At the Whistleries, Suffolk Street, from Judy, 8 December 1886
The caricature by J. Bernard Partridge (1861-1945) of Harmony in Black, No. 10 y357, published in Judy, 8 December 1886, looks sufficiently like A Portrait: Maud y186 to suggest Harmony in Black, No. 10 was a portrait of Maud Franklin, possibly the last one of her.
Technique
Composition
J. B. Partridge, Caricature of Whistler as Harmony in Black, No. 10, from unidentified press cutting, GUL PC 3, p. 116
Whistler was caricatured in the pose and dress of Harmony in Black, No. 10 y357 by 'JBP', that is, J. Bernard Partridge (1861-1945), in 1886. 8
Harmony in Red: Lamplight, The Hunterian
The pose of the figure in the caricature is similar to that of Beatrice Godwin – later Beatrice Philip (Mrs E. W. Godwin, Mrs J. McN. Whistler) (1857-1896) – in Harmony in Red: Lamplight y253, although clearly the colour and cut of the costume was different.
Technique
Unknown.
Conservation History
Unknown.
Frame
Unknown.
History
Provenance
- Unknown.
Exhibitions
- 1887: 64th Annual Exhibition, Royal Society of British Artists, London, 1887 (cat. no. 12) as 'Harmony in Black, No. 10'.
- 1887: Exposition Internationale de Peinture et de Sculpture, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 1887 (cat. no. 211) as 'Arrangement en noir'.
At the Whistleries, Suffolk Street, drawing for Judy, 8 December 1886, Fogg Art Museum
At the RBA in 1887 it was priced at £800. It was mildly praised in the Magazine of Art: 'There is much to admire in the suppressed vivacity of the figure.' 9 Claude Phillips (1846-1924) thought it 'in what seemed to be an improved condition' when shown later in the same year in Paris. 10 Robins suggests that Whistler may well have worked on the portrait before sending it to Paris, where several critics commented on 'its distinctly masculine air'. 11
At that time it was described enthusiastically by Guigon:
'La femme, d'une élégance maigre, se dresse en vêtements très sombres sur un fond gris, terne, mais élastique, comme baignée de l'air du crépuscule. Sous le chapeau aux larges ailes, la figure, d'un ton rose vivace quoique étouffé, aux joues d'une pulpe pareille à la chair des pêches, illumine toute la toile. On peut s'arrêter sur cette sensation et ne pas chercher à pénétrer dans le caractère raffiné du modèle, dans l'étrange originalité de la physionomie. C'est déjà un plaisir rare de voir les bruns et les gris fins de la toile s'unir et fleurir en ce ton rose délicieuse.' 12
According to the Pennells, one of the portraits exhibited by Whistler at the SBA in 1886-1887 was a portrait of Maud Franklin 'in bonnet and furs, owned by Mrs. Walter Sickert, and by her returned to Whistler'. 13 However, Pennell's description fits A Portrait: Maud y186 far better than Harmony in Black, No. 10 y357.
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. 357), as 'Harmony in Black, No. 10', plates 423, 425.
Authored by Whistler
- None.
Catalogues 1855-1905
- 64th Annual Exhibition, Royal Society of British Artists, London, 1887 (cat. no. 12) as 'Harmony in Black, No. 10'.
- Exposition Internationale de Peinture et de Sculpture, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 1887 (cat. no. 211) as 'Arrangement en noir'.
Newspapers 1855-1905
- L’Évènement, Paris, 18 August 1888.
Journals 1855-1905
- Partridge, J. Bernard, 'At the Whistleries Suffolk Street', Judy; or the London Serio-Comic Journal, 8 December 1886, p. 267.
- Anon., 'Current Art', Magazine of Art, London, vol. 10, 1887, pp. 109-13, at p. 111.
- Guigon, Paul, 'L’Exposition internationale', Le Passant, No. 93, July 1887, pp. 235-40.
- Phillips, Claude, ‘The Americans at the Salon’, Magazine of Art, vol. 10, 1887, pp. 421-26, at p. 423.
Monographs
- None.
Books on Whistler
- MacDonald, Margaret F., Susan Galassi, Aileen Ribeiro, and Patricia de Montfort, Whistler, Women and Fashion, New Haven and London, 2003, p. 146.
- Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Whistler Journal, Philadelphia, 1921, pp. 166-67.
- Robins, Anna Gruetzner, A Fragile Modernism. Whistler and his Impressionist Followers, London and New Haven, 2007, pp. 72, 76, 79, 82.
Books, General
- Robins, Anna Gruetzner (ed.), Walter Sickert: the Complete Writings on Art, Oxford, 2000, pp. 194-95.
Catalogues 1906-Present
- None.
Journals 1906-Present
- Ludovici, Anthony, 'The Whistlerian Dynasty at Suffolk Street. I-II', The Art Journal, nos. 817-18, July-August 1906, pp. 193-95, 237-39, caricature by Bernard Partridge, repr. p. 239.
- Sickert, Walter Richard, ‘Where Paul and I differ’, Art News, no. 14, 10 February 1910, p. 113.
- 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.
Websites
- Drawing, At the Whistleries, Suffolk Street, Harvard Art Museums website.
Unpublished
- Revillon, Joseph Whistler, Draft Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of J. McN. Whistler, [ca 1945-1955], Glasgow University Library (cat. no. 137, 137a).
Other
- None.
Notes:
1: Sickert 1910 [more].
2: C. Phillips 1887 [more], at p. 423.
3: 64th Annual Exhibition, Royal Society of British Artists, London, 1887 (cat. no. 12).
4: Exposition Internationale de Peinture et de Sculpture, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 1887 (cat. no. 211).
5: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no 357).
6: Anon., 'Current Art', Magazine of Art, vol. 10, 1887, pp. 109-13, at p. 111.
7: Guigon 1887 [more].
8: GUL PC 3, p. 116.
9: Anon., 'Current Art', Magazine of Art, vol. 10, 1887, pp. 109-13, at p. 111.
10: C. Phillips 1887 [more], at p. 423.
11: Robins 2007 [more], p. 82.
12: Guigon 1887 [more]; translated approximately, but not so poetically, this reads: ‘The slender elegant woman stands in very dark clothes against a grey background, dull, but elastic, as if bathed in the twilight air. Under the hat with its large wings, the face, of a vivacious but subtle pink tone, with cheeks of a texture like the flesh of peaches, illuminates the whole canvas. One can dwell on this sensation and not seek to penetrate into the refined character of the model, into the strange originality of the physiognomy. It is a rare pleasure to see the browns and fine grays of the canvas come together and flower in this delicious pink tone.’
13: Pennell 1921C [more], pp. 166-67.