The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Harmony in Green and Amber: A Draped Study dates from the 1890s, probably between 1892 and 1898. ¹

Harmony in Green and Amber: A Draped Study, The Hunterian

Modèle drapé, debout devant une balustrade, 1890/1894, The Hunterian

A dancing woman in a pink robe, 1888/1895, The Hunterian

Studies of similar compositions, in other media, such as a watercolour, A dancing woman in a pink robe m1212, and a pen drawing, Modèle drapé, debout devant une balustrade m1307, suggest a date in the early 1890s. However, although the technique is unusual, it suggests a later date, between 1894 and 1898.

Images

Subject

Titles

One title, with variations in punctuation, is known:

• 'Harmony in Green and Amber – A Draped Study' (1936, Glasgow University). ²
• 'Harmony in Green and Amber: A Draped Study' (1980, YMSM). ³

'Harmony in Green and Amber: A Draped Study' is the preferred version.

Description

Harmony in Green and Amber: A Draped Study, The Hunterian

A full-length figure study in vertical format. It shows a woman in transparent green/brownish draperies, standing and facing the viewer, with arms resting on a railing behind her. There appear to be draperies over the railing, grey/cerulean blue at left and paler grey with touches of the same blue/grey at right. The background is dark, with hints of grey and greenish blue, possibly intended to suggest sea and sky. The study is in vertical format, and is not finished (she lacks features and a left hand).

Sitter

Not identified.

Technique

Composition

Harmony in Green and Amber: A Draped Study, The Hunterian

Modèle drapé, debout devant une balustrade, 1890/1894, The Hunterian

A dancing woman in a pink robe, 1888/1895, The Hunterian

In subject and technique this oil is closely related to some of Whistler's watercolours of dancing girls including A dancing woman in a pink robe m1212. In composition it is also related to drawings such as Modèle drapé, debout devant une balustrade m1307 and lithographs including the Figure Study c113 of 1894.

Technique

Harmony in Green and Amber: A Draped Study, The Hunterian

It is painted very thinly, almost like watercolour, with the design just blocked in over the light grey primed canvas.

Conservation History

Unknown.

Frame

69.8 x 57.2 x 3.5 cm.

History

Provenance

• 1903: in Whistler's studio at his death and bequeathed to his ward and executrix, Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958);
• 1935: given by her to the University of Glasgow.

Exhibitions

It was not exhibited in Whistler's lifetime. By the terms of Miss Birnie Philip's gift to the University of Glasgow, it 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. 488), plate 348, as 'Harmony in Green and Amber: A Draped Study'.
• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. nos. 1212, 1307).

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• None.

Journals 1855-1905

• None.

Monographs

• None.

Books on Whistler

• None.

Books, General

• None.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• James McNeill Whistler, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, 1936 (cat. no. 37) as 'Harmony in Green and Amber – A Draped Study'.

Journals 1906-Present

• None.

Websites

• The Hunterian website at http://collections.gla.ac.uk/#/details/ecatalogue/41111.
• Art UK website at https://artuk.org.

Unpublished

• Revillon, Joseph Whistler, Draft Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of J. McN. Whistler, [ca 1945-1955], Glasgow University Library (cat. no. 265).

Other

• None.