The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Lillie: An Oval was painted at Whistler's Fitzroy Street studio in London at some time after 1896, according to a note on the verso, written by Harold Wright (1885-1961), and recording information from Whistler's sister-in-law, Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958). ¹

Whistler took the studio at 8 Fitzroy Street in February 1896 and it was redecorated and ready for use by May. He owned the studio until his death. Thus this portrait was painted between May 1896 and 1903, or more likely, like other portraits of the model, Lilian ('Lily') Pamington (b. 1887/1888), after 1899.

Head and shoulders of a girl, 21 July 1900, GUL MS Whistler C71

She is said to have first posed in 1898 or 1899, and was certainly posing in 1900 and 1901. The drawing reproduced above was dated 21 July 1900. Furthermore, portraits of her were completed and exhibited over several years: Brown and Gold: Lillie 'In our Alley!' y464 was exhibited in 1899, The Golden Lily y542 in 1901 and Grenat et or: Le Petit Cardinal y469 in 1902. A date between 1900 and 1901 is suggested by the similarity of Lillie: An Oval to these and other portraits of this period, particularly The Little Red Glove y468, which was being painted in 1902.

Images

Subject

Titles

Whistler's own title is not known. Minor variations in the title are as follows:

• 'Lillie – An Oval' (1904, Royal Scottish Academy). ²
• 'Lily - (an oval)' (1905, R. Birnie Philip). ³
• 'Lily' (1905, Œuvres de James McNeill Whistler, Paris). ⁴
• 'Lillie: An Oval' (1980, YMSM). ⁵

'Lillie: An Oval' is the accepted title.

Description

Lillie: An Oval, The Hunterian, GLAHA 46366

An oval half-length portrait of a young woman seated, in vertical format. She is in slight three-quarter view to left, looking rather seriously at the viewer. She has thick auburn hair, cut in a long fringe. She wears a plum-coloured cap on the back of her head and dark reddish brown clothes. Her hands are clasped in front of her, at lower left. The background is a warm reddish brown.

Sitter

Lilian ('Lily') Pamington (b. 1887/1888) was a popular model with Whistler, who was discovered on a cab ride through the city of London, when he was looking for such child models. She posed around 1900, at which time, if she was indeed the Lilian Pamington recorded in census records, she was about eight years old.

Very little is known about her, although she appears in nine of Whistler's portraits, including several where she appears in similar pose and dress: Study for 'Brown and Gold: Lillie "In our Alley!" ' y463, Brown and Gold: Lillie 'In our Alley!' y464 and Grenat et or: Le Petit Cardinal y469.

Comments

' "Lillie: An Oval," one of the late portraits here, might fit comfortably into some medieval dream by Dante Gabriel Rossetti', wrote Paul Richard for The Washington Post during the major retrospective exhibition of 1995. ⁶

Technique

Composition

Lillie: An Oval, The Hunterian

Lillie Pamington appears in nine of Whistler's portraits, including several where she appears in a similar pose and dress: Study for 'Brown and Gold: Lillie "In our Alley!" ' y463, Brown and Gold: Lillie 'In our Alley!' y464 and Grenat et or: Le Petit Cardinal y469.

Grenat et or: Le Petit Cardinal, The Hunterian

The red cap, for instance, features conspicuously in the latter and inspired the title of 'Le Petit Cardinal'.

Technique

It was painted on a thin coarse canvas, and was possibly originally on a rectangular stretcher. The canvas has a thick commercial priming of lead white, fine bone black and fine synthetic ultramarine, applied over glue size. The artist's imprimatura is mainly dark-grey with possibly some brown. ⁷

In spite of its colour arrangement of rich reddish-browns, the surface of this portrait is rather rubbed and spoilt. The painting was heavily worked, and there is a dark area all round the head, and a dark outline to the left of Lillie's arm. Both her hands and the chair are barely indicated.

Conservation History

It was lined with a lighter, more closely woven fabric at an unknown date. There is some craquelure, including drying cracks, near the artist's eye, and very minor abrasions and paint loss. There is some cracking of the paint and varnish in two small areas at lower right, which have bulged under pressure at some time. Two natural resin-type varnishes overlie dirt, and so are not original. It may have been retouched and glossily varnished in 1980. ⁸ ?

Frame

Oval, 69.5 x 58.5 x 4.7 cm.

History

Provenance

• 1903: in Whistler's studio at his death and bequeathed to Whistler's ward and executrix, Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958);
• 1958: bequeathed by Miss R. Birnie Philip to the University of Glasgow.

Exhibitions

• 78th Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 1904 (cat. no. 78).
• Œuvres de James McNeill Whistler, Palais de l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1905 (cat. no. 38) as 'Lily'.

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. 465), plate 342, as 'Lillie: An Oval'.

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• 78th Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 1904 (cat. no. 78).
• Œuvres de James McNeill Whistler, Palais de l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1905 (cat. no. 38) as 'Lily'.

Newspapers 1855-1905

• Anon., 'The Royal Scottish Academy Exhibition', Edinburgh Evening News, Edinburgh, 4 February 1904, p. 4.

Journals 1855-1905

• Bénédite, Léonce, 'Artistes Contemporains: Whistler', Gazette des beaux-arts, vol. 33, 1905, pp. 403-10, 496-511; vol. 34, 1905, pp. 142-58, 231-46, repr. pl. 26.

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 (cat. no. 201).
• Peters, Lisa A., James McNeill Whistler: An American Master, New York, 1996, p. 78, repr.
• Sickert, Bernhard, Whistler, London and New York, 1908 (cat. no. 133).
• Walker, John, James McNeill Whistler, New York, 1987, pp. 149-50, repr.

Books, General

• Kelly, Franklin, American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Vol. 2, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1998.

Catalogues 1906-Present

COLLECTION:

• Hopkinson, Martin J., James McNeill Whistler at the Hunterian Art Gallery, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, 1990, repr. fig. 3.

EXHIBITION:

• Young, A. McLaren, James McNeill Whistler, Arts Council Gallery, London, and Knoedler Galleries, New York, 1960 (cat. no. 65).
• Decade 1890-1900, Arts Council London, 1967.
• Young, A. McLaren, Glasgow University's Pictures, Colnaghi, London, 1973 (cat. no. 112).
• ホイスラー展. Whistler Exhibition in Japan, Isetan Museum of Art, Tokyo; Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Sapporo; Shizuoka Prefectural Museum, Shizuoka, 1986, p. 193 (cat. no. 31).
• 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. 201).

Journals 1906-Present

• Shaw, Edith, and Margaret F. MacInnes [M. F. MacDonald], ‘Four Years with Whistler’, Apollo, vol. 87, March 1968, pp. 198-201, pp. 199-201, repr. fig. 2.

Newspapers 1906-Present

• Richard, Paul, 'Hi, Mom! She's here for a visit -- and a Whistler reappraisal, The Washington Post, 28 May 1995; website at https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive.

Websites

• The Hunterian website at http://collections.gla.ac.uk/#/details/ecatalogue/41229.
• Art UK website at http://artuk.org/discover/artworks/lillie-an-oval-139077

Unpublished

• Revillon, Joseph Whistler, Draft Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of J. McN. Whistler, [ca 1945-1955], Glasgow University Library (cat. no. 288).

Other

• None.