The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

The Daughter of the Concierge probably dates from 1894 or 1895. ¹

The Daughter of the Concierge, Worcester Art Museum

According to dealers' records, it was in Glasgow in 1894. ² The technique and butterfly signature fits with this date.

The painter Thomas Wilmer Dewing (1851-1938) thought he remembered seeing a picture, possibly this, being painted in London by Whistler in the studio of Walter Richard Sickert (1860-1942) in 1895. ³

C. H. Sawyer commented :

'The Daughter of the Concierge is strongly reminiscent of [The Master Smith of Lyme Regis y450] and was probably painted in the early nineties. Its extremely gentle gradations of tone make it seem to the modern eye almost monochromatic and suggest the complete withdrawal of the artist into the domain of his own limited aesthetic.' ⁴

Images

Subject

Titles

Possible titles include:

• 'Study of a girl's head' (1903, W. Scott). ⁵
• 'The Daughter of the Concierge' (1915, Panama-Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco). ⁶
• 'The Daughter of the Concierge' (1980, YMSM). ⁷

'The Daughter of the Concierge' is the preferred title.

Description

The Daughter of the Concierge, Worcester Art Museum

A head and shoulders portrait of a girl in vertical format. She has brown eyes and thick brown hair, arranged in a large bun or roll on her head. She faces the viewer, wearing a dark high-necked dress, in front of a dark brown/khaki background. The lower part of the dress is unfinished.

Sitter

Not identified.

Technique

Technique

The Daughter of the Concierge, Worcester Art Museum

The composition has been outlined in crayon on the dark grey primed canvas, the paint brushed on rather dryly, except for the face, which was built up with soft, olive tints. The butterfly was painted with thin, fluid paint.

Conservation History

The Daughter of the Concierge, photograph, 1900

The Daughter of the Concierge, photograph, 1980

The Daughter of the Concierge, Worcester Art Museum

Unknown. There are some slight changes apparent between the image as seen in early photographs and now, particularly on and along her shoulder at right and round her neck; it appears to have darkened slightly. Some of these changes may just be the effect of the conditions when it was photographed.

Frame

The frame is not original.

History

Provenance

• 1894-1900: with Alexander Reid (1854-1928), Glasgow art dealer;
• 1900: bought by Vickery, Atkins & Torrey, San Francisco;
• 1900: W. S. Noyes (dates unknown), Oakland, California, and Mrs Noyes, until 1915;
• 1915: bought from Clara McChesney (1960-1928?), Oakland and New York, by Macbeth Galleries, New York art dealers;
• 1919: sold by Macbeth to Theodore T. Ellis (1887-1934), Worcester, MA;
• 1940: bequeathed by him to the Worcester Art Museum.

The Daughter of the Concierge, photograph, Torrey & Vickery, 1900

According to art dealers' records, it was in Glasgow in 1894, and with the Glasgow art dealer Alexander Reid until 1900. It was bought from him by Vickery, Atkins & Torrey, San Francisco, in April 1900, for £400. ⁸

It was acquired by William S. Noyes, Oakland, in 1900, and lent by Mrs Noyes to an exhibition in San Francisco 1915 (cat. no. 279) as 'The Daughter of the Concierge'.

The painter Clara McChesney (who was originally from Oakland) owned it until January 1919 when it was bought by the Macbeth Galleries, New York, and exhibited by them New York 1919 (cat. no. 29). Macbeth sold it to Theodore T. Ellis on 18 February 1919 for $2500 or $5000. ⁹ He bequeathed it to the Worcester Art Museum in 1940 (Theodore T. and Mary G. Ellis Collection).

Exhibitions

It was not exhibited in Whistler's lifetime as far as is known.

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. 436), plate 286, as 'The Daughter of the Concierge'.

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• None.

Journals 1855-1905

• Scott, William, 'Reminiscences of Whistler. Some Venice Recollections', The Studio, vol. 30, November 1903, pp. 97-108, repr. p. 106 as 'Study of a girl's head'.

Monographs

• None.

Books on Whistler

• Pousette-Dart, Nathaniel, (ed.), James McNeill Whistler,(with introduction by Joseph & Elizabeth Robins Pennell), New York, 1924.

Books, General

• None.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• Panama-Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco, 1915 (cat. no. 279) as 'The Daughter of the Concierge'.
• Thirty Paintings by Thirty Artists, Macbeth Gallery, New York, 1919 (cat. no. 29), repr.
• Spink, Nesta, Whistler: The Later Years, University of Michigan Art Gallery, Ann Arbor, 1978 (cat. no. 92).

Journals 1906-Present

• Art Notes, Macbeth Galleries, New York, April 1919, no. 68, p. 1132, repr. p. 1133 as 'Daughter of the Concierge'.
• Sawyer, Charles H., ‘The Theodore T. and Mary G. Ellis Collection, III: American Paintings’, Worcester Art Museum Annual, Worcester, MA, vol. 4, 1941, pp. 42-48, at p. 47.

Websites

• Worcester Art Museum website at https://worcester.emuseum.com/collections (acc. 2020).

Unpublished

• Revillon, Joseph Whistler, Draft Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of J. McN. Whistler, [ca 1945-1955], Glasgow University Library (cat. no. 209).

Other

• None.