The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

The Little Red Glove probably dates from between 1901 and 1903. ¹ The model, Lilian ('Lily') Pamington (b. 1887/1888), was posing for Whistler from about the age of ten. She looks distinctly older than ten in this portrait, which may have been started in 1901 or the following year. In November 1901, she was apparently given a 'new frock' and it is possible that is the white dress seen in this portrait. ²

In 1902 Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) noted seeing 'A number [of portraits] known as "The Lilly" including the "Little Red Glove" ' in Whistler's studio, and on 18 June 1902 he noted that this painting was 'in progress' and Whistler agreed to sell it to him when completed, which he did in the following June. ³

Images

Subject

Titles

Only one title have been suggested:

• ' "The Lilly" including the "Little Red Glove" ' (1902, C. L. Freer). ⁴
• 'The Little Red Glove' (1902, Whistler). ⁵
• 'The Little Red Glove' (1904, Copley Society, Boston). ⁶
• 'The Little Red Glove' (1980, YMSM). ⁷

Description

The Little Red Glove, Freer Gallery of Art

A half-length portrait of a girl, in vertical format. She is turned very slightly to the left (her right). She wears a white blouse, and sits with her arms crossed. Her left hand, wearing a light red glove, clasps her right upper arm. Several strands of a red coral bead necklace are round her neck, under the high frilled neck of the blouse. She has a fringe and shoulder-length red hair, and wears a russet red cap, all set against a similar red background.

Sitter

Lilian ('Lily') Pamington (b. 1887/1888). Whistler painted several portraits of Lillie Pamington, starting in 1898 or 1899. This is by far the lightest in tone and brightest in colour: see, for instance, Brown and Gold: Lillie 'In our Alley!' y464, and Girl in Black y470.

Comments

David Curry makes the comparison of this portrait with a drawing by Albrecht Durer (1471-1528), Self-portrait at 13 (1584, Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna). ⁸ A photograph of this came with Whistler's estate to the University of Glasgow, but the source and date of the photograph is not absolutely certain. ⁹ The photographs in the Whistler collection came to the University from Whistler's sister-in-law Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958) and although some – such as photographs of works by Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velázquez (1599-1660) – can be conclusively linked to Whistler, others could have been collected by any member of the Birnie-Philip or Whistler family.

Technique

Technique

The Little Red Glove, Freer Gallery of Art

The light red of the background, and of Lillie's cap and glove, is set off by the fluffy pink/lila and white/grey of her blouse. The face, hair, and background, are smoothly and softly painted and finished. Calligraphic flicks of a narrow brush create what appear to be several dark red necklaces. The dress is painted boldly but the arms are roughly sketched and appear unfinished. The original outline of Lillie's hat and hair are clearly visible to the left of her head. There are drips of paint over her arms at lower right.

Conservation History

According to the Freer Gallery of Art curatorial files, it was lightly cleaned in 1921, relined and resurfaced in 1925, surface in 1933, cleaned and surface in 1951. In 1865 Ben Johnson noted that retouching on the face had turned white, and the thick layer of varnish was discoloured. It was cleaned, re-stretched onto a new stretcher, revarnished and inpainted.

Frame

The Little Red Glove, Freer Gallery of Art

A Grau-style frame, dating from the early 1900s. ¹⁰

History

Provenance

• 1903: bought from Whistler by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919), Detroit, in June 1903 for £800;
• 1919: bequeathed by C. L. Freer to the Freer Gallery of Art.

Freer noted seeing 'A number [of portraits] known as "The Lilly" including the "Little Red Glove" ' in Whistler's studio in 1902. ¹¹ In June 1902 Freer noted that this painting was 'in progress' and Whistler agreed to sell it to him when completed. ¹² In June or July 1903, shortly before the artist's death, Freer bought it for £800. ¹³

Exhibitions

• 1904: Oil Paintings, Water Colors, Pastels and Drawings: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Mr. J. McNeill Whistler, Copley Society, Boston, 1904 (cat. no. 41) as 'The Little Red Glove'.
• 1904: Comparative Exhibition of Native and Foreign Art under the auspices of the Society of Art Collectors, American Fine Arts Society, New York, 1904 (cat. no. 181) as 'The Little Red Glove'.
• 1905: Œuvres de James McNeill Whistler, Palais de l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1905 (cat. no. 39) as 'The Little Red Glove'.

It was not exhibited in Whistler's lifetime.

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

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. 468), plate 343, as 'The Little Red Glove'.

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• Oil Paintings, Water Colors, Pastels and Drawings: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Mr. J. McNeill Whistler, Copley Society, Boston, 1904 (cat. no. 41) as 'The Little Red Glove'.
• Comparative Exhibition of Native and Foreign Art under the auspices of the Society of Art Collectors, American Fine Arts Society, New York, 1904 (cat. no. 181) as 'The Little Red Glove'.
• Œuvres de James McNeill Whistler, Palais de l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1905 (cat. no. 39) as 'The Little Red Glove'.

Journals 1855-1905

• Matsuki, Bunkio (ed.), 'Whistler Memorial Exhibition', Lotus, vol. 1, no. 1, (Special Holiday Number in Memoriam: James A. McNeill Whistler), December 1903, pp. 7-9, at p. 9.

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, p. 162 (cat. no. 41).
• Gallatin, Albert Eugene, Whistler's Art Dicta and Other Essays, Boston, 1904, p. 42.
• Gallatin, Albert Eugene, Whistler, Notes and Footnotes, and other Memoranda, New York and London, 1907, p. 33.
• Merrill, Linda, With Kindest Regards. The Correspondence of Charles Lang Freer and James McNeill Whistler, 1890-1903, Washington, DC, and London, 1995, pp. 164-65.
• Sickert, Bernhard, Whistler, London and New York, 1908, p. 169 (cat. no. 134).

Books, General

• None.

Catalogues 1906-Present

COLLECTION:

• 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. 15 (03.180).
• Curry, David Park, James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art, New York and London, 1984, pp. 150, 295, pl. 59.

Journals 1906-Present

• None.

Websites

• Freer Gallery of Art website at https://asia.si.edu/object/F1903.180a-b.

Unpublished

• Revillon, Joseph Whistler, Draft Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of J. McN. Whistler, [ca 1945-1955], Glasgow University Library (cat. no. 292).

Other

• Parkerson, Sarah Lawrence, Variations in Gold: The Stylistic Development of the Picture Frames used by James McNeill Whistlers, PhD thesis, University of Glasgow, 2007.