The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Rose and Brown: La Cigale possibly dates from 1898 or 1899. ¹

Rose and Brown: La Cigale, Freer Gallery of Art

It was first exhibited at the 2nd Exhibition, Pictures, Drawings, Prints and Sculptures, International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, London, 1899 (cat. no. 137) as 'Rose and Brown – La Cigale'.

Images

Subject

Titles

There are only minor variations on the title:

• 'Rose and Brown – La Cigale' (1899, ISSPG). ²
• 'Cigale' (1899, Whistler). ³
• 'Rose et Or – La Cigale' (1901, J. J. Rousseau). ⁴
• 'Rose and Brown: La Cigale' (1980, YMSM). ⁵

'Rose and Brown: La Cigale' is the preferred title. The pose, with the model's arms bent sharply beside her head like a grasshopper or cicada's legs, may have suggested the title.

Curry suggested that the title is associated with the burlesque The grasshopper performed at the Gaiety Theatre in 1877, and starring the acrobatic dancer Ellen ('Nellie') Farren (1848-1904) and a character called 'Pygmalion Flippit', 'the artist of the future'; Curry suggested that this painting was 'a gentle homage from one ageing star to another.' ⁶

Description

Rose and Brown: La Cigale, Freer Gallery of Art

A nude study, in vertical format. A girl stands with both hands clasped under her chin, her head bent, facing slightly to left (her right). She has short brown hair cut in a curly fringe. A greyish cap and white cloth or turban half covers her head and there appears to be a cream shawl around her shoulders. A fluffy grey object, possibly a kitten (it may have a tail hanging down), is held in her hands, as if she is kissing it. The floor is brown, the dado behind her a warmer pinkish brown, and the wall above it, beige with grey tones.

Sitter

Unidentified. The girl is very young. On 29 July 1899 Whistler wrote to C. L. Freer, 'I am glad you have the little "Cigale"- she is one of my latest pets - and of a rare type of beauty - the child herself I mean.' ⁷

Technique

Technique

Rose and Brown: La Cigale, Freer Gallery of Art

It is on a reddish wood champered panel; the figure appears to have been drawn carefully before being painted very thinly, the grey underpaint being visible in places. There appear to be pentimenti around the head and torso.

Conservation History

It was repaired, cleaned and resurfaced in 1930, cleaned and surfaced in 1935, resurfaced in 1938 and 1952-53, according to Freer Gallery of Art curatorial files.

Frame

A Grau-style frame, dating from ca 1900. ⁸

History

Provenance

• 1899: bought from Whistler by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919), Detroit;
• 1919: bequeathed by C. L. Freer to the Freer Gallery of Art.

On 29 July 1899 Whistler wrote to Freer, 'I am glad you have the little "Cigale".' ⁹ Whistler would not accept payment at that time; Freer recorded the purchase on 31 August 1899, and eventually paid Whistler £420 in May 1902. ¹⁰

Exhibitions

• 1899: 2nd Exhibition, Pictures, Drawings, Prints and Sculptures, International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, London, 1899 (cat. no. 137) as 'Rose and Brown – La Cigale'.
• 1901: possibly Exposition Internationale de Peinture et de Sculpture, Galeries George Petit, Paris, 1901 as 'Rose et Or – La Cigale'.
• 1903: Seventy-second Annual Exhibition, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 1903 (cat. no. 1).
• 1904: Oil Paintings, Water Colors, Pastels and Drawings: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Mr. J. McNeill Whistler, Copley Society, Boston, 1904 (cat. no. 79).

Plan of a panel of pictures for the ISSPG, Tate Archive, London

Paintings at the ISSPG, Glasgow University Library

Whistler took great care over the hanging of his own panel of pictures at the ISSPG in 1899. A sketch sent to John Lavery (1856-1941), Plan of a panel of pictures for the ISSPG m1582, shows the hanging scheme suggested to include Purple and Gold: Phryne the Superb! - Builder of Temples y490, which in the end was not shown, and Blue and Silver: Trouville y066, Nocturne: Black and Gold - Rag Shop, Chelsea y204, Rose and Brown: La Cigale y495, Rose and Gold: The Little Lady Sophie of Soho y504, and Violet and Rose: Carmen qui rit y506, which were shown. He sketched another possible arrangement in another drawing, Paintings at the ISSPG m1583.

Whistler wrote in February 1901 asking Freer to lend it for a proposed exhibition in Paris in the following year, and he agreed, saying, ' "La Cigale" … will smile benignly upon all.' ¹¹ 'Rose et Or – La Cigale' is listed in a letter from Jean Jacques Rousseau (1861-1911) to Whistler on 26 November 1901, regarding the forthcoming exhibition, Exposition Internationale de Peinture et de Sculpture, Galeries George Petit, Paris, 1901. ¹²

Panel of four pictures, Glasgow University Library, Special Collections

Whistler sketched a possible arrangement of his exhibits in a drawing, Panel of four pictures m1703, but it is not absolutely clear if it was in fact exhibited.

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. 495), plate 319, as 'Rose and Brown: La Cigale'.
• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. nos. 1582, 1583).

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• 2nd Exhibition, Pictures, Drawings, Prints and Sculptures, International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, London, 1899 (cat. no. 137) as 'Rose and Brown – La Cigale'.
• Possibly Exposition Internationale de Peinture et de Sculpture, Galeries George Petit, Paris, 1901 as 'Rose et Or – La Cigale'.
• Seventy-second Annual Exhibition, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 1903 (cat. no. 1).
• Copley Society (ed.), Oil Paintings, Water Colors, Pastels & Drawings: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Mr. J. McNeill Whistler, Boston, 1904 (cat. no. 79).

Newspapers 1855-1905

• Anon., 'At Knightsbridge, Daily Telegraph & Courier (London), 10 May 1899, p. 10.
• 'Venatrix', 'The International Society's Exhibition', Gentlewoman, London, 20 May 1899, p. 34.

Journals 1855-1905

• None.

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. 76), p. 168.
• Merrill, Linda, With Kindest Regards. The Correspondence of Charles Lang Freer and James McNeill Whistler, 1890-1903, Washington, DC, and London, 1995, pp. 123-24, 132-33, 136, 164, 184, repr. pl. 11.
• Sickert, Bernhard, Whistler, London and New York, 1908, cat. no. 117, p. 167.
• Sutton, Denys, James McNeill Whistler: Paintings, Etchings, Pastels and Watercolours, London, 1966, repr. pl. 116.

Books, General

• None.

Catalogues 1906-Present

COLLECTION:

• Curry, David Park, James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art, New York and London, 1984, pp. 154, 296, pl. 63.
• 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. 14 (02.110).

EXHIBITION:

• Lanigan, Dennis, and Christopher Newall, Beauty’s Awakening: Drawings by the Pre-Raphaelites and Their Contemporaries from the Lanigan Collection, National Gallery of Canada Touring Exhibition, 2015-2016 (not in exhibition).

Journals 1906-Present

• MacInnes, Margaret F., [M. F. MacDonald], 'Whistler's Last Years: Spring 1901 - Algiers and Corsica', Gazette des beaux-arts, vol. 73, 1969, pp. 323-42, at p. 331.

Websites

• Freer Gallery of Art website at https://asia.si.edu/object/F1902.110a-b.

Unpublished

• Revillon, Joseph Whistler, Draft Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of J. McN. Whistler, [ca 1945-1955], Glasgow University Library (cat. no. 269).

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.