The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Girl in Black dates from between 1899 and 1902. ¹

The model, Lilian ('Lily') Pamington (b. 1887/1888), was posing for Whistler, possibly from 1899, and certainly in October 1900 and November 1901. ²

The dark green background, as seen in Girl in Black y470, is common to a number of Whistler portraits of the late 1890s, up to 1903, such as La Toison rouge y501, Brun et or: De race y511, The Boy in a Cloak y512, The Black Hat - Miss Rosalind Birnie Philip y535, and what was perhaps his last portrait, Dorothy Seton - A Daughter of Eve y552.

According to Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) (whose own portrait, Portrait of Charles L. Freer y550, had just such a green background), ‘The pouting girl’ was one of 'A number [of portraits] known as "The Lilly" ' which he saw in Whistler’s studio in 1902. ³ The 1905 ISSPG catalogue suggested it was 'Probably the last picture Whistler painted', but if Freer was right, that is not true. ⁴

Images

Subject

Titles

Alternative titles have been suggested:

• 'Girl in Black' (1905, ISSPG). ⁵
• 'Portrait Study of a young girl' (1905, H. W. Singer). ⁶
• 'Pouting Tom' (1910, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York). ⁷
• 'Girl in Black (Pouting Tom)' (1924, Pousette-Dart) ⁸
• 'Girl in Black' (1980, YMSM). ⁹
• 'Girl in Black (Pouting Tom)' (2018, Hirschhorn). ¹⁰

The title of 'Pouting Tom' given to this portrait in 1910, and on the Hirschhorn website, is misleading. The sitter was undoubtedly a girl.

Girl in Black, Hirschhorn Museum

Vert et or: Le Raconteur, The Hunterian

The 1962 auction catalogue noted that it was 'said to be the last picture Whistler painted and ... a pair to the painting "Pouting Tom".' ¹¹ Whistler did also paint a portrait of a young boy called Tom (Vert et or: Le Raconteur y513), but there is no real reason to suppose they were a 'pair'.

'Girl in Black' is therefore the generally accepted title.

Description

Girl in Black, Hirschhorn Museum

A half-length portrait in vertical format, showing a girl facing the viewer. She has shoulder-length brown hair, cut in a deep fringe. She wears a black dress with a white trim or blouse showing at the high neck, and is posed in front of a dark green background.

Sitter

Lilian ('Lily') Pamington (b. 1887/1888). Whistler painted about ten portraits of Lillie Pamington including Brown and Gold: Lillie 'In our Alley!' y464, Lillie: An Oval y465, and Lillie Pamington y466.

Technique

Technique

Girl in Black, Hirschhorn Museum

It is thinly painted, with a very carefully smoothed finish, on a fine weave canvas.

Conservation History

Girl in Black, photograph, 1910?

Girl in Black, photograph, 1962

Girl in Black, photograph, 1980

Girl in Black, Hirschhorn Museum

A comparison of photographs of this portrait suggests that it has been overcleaned, particularly around the nose and mouth.

History

Provenance

• Before 1905: possibly bought from a private collection in France by Robert Dunthorne (1850-1925), London art dealer.
• 1905: with Messrs Dowdeswell, London art dealers;
• Date unknown: sold by Dowdeswell's to Knoedler's, New York art dealers;
• Date unknown: sold by Knoedler's to Henry Harper Benedict (1844-1935), New York;
• 1935: bequeathed to his widow, Katherine Geddes Benedict (1879-1961);
• 1962: after her death, sold at auction, Sotheby, London, 21 November 1962 (lot 15) as 'Girl in Black', and bought in by Robert L. Graham (fl. 1862) at £2600;
• 1962: bought by Joseph Herman Hirshhorn (1899-1981), New York, NY, and Greenwich, CT;
• 1966: given to the Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.

The early owners of this painting have not been identified. It was lent by 'Monsieur X' to the Memorial Exhibition of the Works of the late James McNeill Whistler, First President of The International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, New Gallery, Regent Street, London, 1905 (cat. no. 6). According to Museum records, it passed from a private collection in France to the London art dealer Robert Dunthorne (1850-1925). However, according to Singer, it was with Dowdeswell's in London in 1905. ¹² According to Museum records, it passed from Dowdeswell's to Knoedler's, New York, and from them to H. H. Benedict, after which the provenance is clear.

Exhibitions

• 1905: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of the late James McNeill Whistler, First President of The International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, New Gallery, Regent Street, London, 1905 (cat. no. 6) as 'Girl in Black'.

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. 470), as 'Girl in Black', plates 302, 428.

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• Memorial Exhibition of the Works of the late James McNeill Whistler, First President of The International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, New Gallery, Regent Street, London, 1905 (cat. no. 6) as 'Girl in Black'.

Journals 1855-1905

• Singer, Hans Wolfgang, James Mc.N. [sic] Whistler, Die Kunst, Berlin, vol. 19, 1905 , repr. f.p. 52 as 'Portrait Study of a young girl'.

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. 212 (cat. no. 212).
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 2 vols, London and Philadelphia, 1908, vol. 2, repr. f.p. 292 as 'Girl in Black'.
• Pousette-Dart, Nathaniel, James McNeill Whistler, New York, 1924, repr. pl. 57 as 'Girl in Black (Pouting Tom)'.

Books, General

• None.

Catalogues 1906-Present

COLLECTION:

• Lerner, Abram (ed .), The Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, 1974.

EXHIBITION:

• Paintings in oil and pastel by James McNeill Whistler, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1910 (cat. no. 42) as 'Pouting Tom'.
• Childhood in Art, Knoedler Galleries, New York, 1926 (cat. no. 28).
• Spink, Nesta, Whistler: The Later Years, University of Michigan Art Gallery, Ann Arbor, 1978 (cat. no. 78).

SALE:

• Sotheby's, London, 21 November 1962 (lot 15) 'Girl in Black'.

Journals 1906-Present

• None.

Newspapers 1906-Present

• ' "Childhood in Art:" A selection of Paintings from the Exhibition Opening at the Knoedler Galleries Tomorrow', New York Times, New York, 28 November 1926, p. 3, repr.
• 'Exhibitions in New York: Childhood in Art: Knoedler Galleries,' The Art News, 25, 4 December 1926, p. 9.

Websites

• Hirschhorn Museum website at http://hirshhorn.si.edu/ as 'Girl in Black (Pouting Tom).'

Unpublished

• Revillon, Joseph Whistler, Draft Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of J. McN. Whistler, [ca 1945-1955], Glasgow University Library (cat. no. 284).

Other

• None.