The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Blue and Coral: The Little Blue Bonnet may have been started in 1897 and was certainly completed in 1898. ¹

The model, Muriel Smith (1883-1923), was posing to Whistler, probably for this portrait, in August 1897. Whistler's sister-in-law, Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958), was involved in making, cleaning, altering, or repairing a dress, almost certainly for this portrait, and Whistler wrote to her: 'I do hope the dress came out all right - pity I hurried you - for find the abominable girl Muriel can't come until Saturday.' ²

Blue and Coral: The Little Blue Bonnet, Los Angeles County Museum of Art

When it was exhibited at the International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers in 1898 it was, according to the second edition of the catalogue, 'fresh from the easel.' ³

Images

Subject

Titles

There are several variations on the original title:

• 'Blue and Coral – The Little Blue Bonnet' (1898, ISSPG). ⁶
• 'Devochka b golubom' [girl in blue] (1899, 1st World of Art Exhibition, St Petersburg). ⁷
• 'The Little Blue Bonnet' and 'The Little Blue Bonnet, Blue and Coral' (1905, ISSPG). ⁸
• 'The Little Blue Bonnet' (1913, Armory Show, New York). ⁹
• 'The Blue Bonnet' (1940, New York World's Fair). ¹⁰
• 'Blue and Coral: The Little Blue Bonnet' (1980, YMSM). ¹¹

'Blue and Coral: The Little Blue Bonnet' is based on the original title, with punctuation amended to conform with other titles.

Description

Blue and Coral: The Little Blue Bonnet, Los Angeles County Museum of Art

A half-length portrait of a young woman, in oval format. Her face looks directly at the viewer but her body is turned slightly to her right. Her thick light brown hair falls in a rough fringe over her forehead. She has dark brown eyes, an oval face, and a small mouth.

The structure of her dress is not clear. She seems to have a white dress or blouse (touched with pale blue and grey tones) with a grey ruff at her neck. Over this she wears what may be a tunic or surcoat in white with a dark blue trim, possibly laced at the front. There are dark blue puffs indicated at her shoulders, and white sleeves below.

Her pale blue hat has a high crown and small brim with dark greenish-blue feathers or ribbons. The background is a brownish-grey, with an orange butterfly signature at left. Only the head and hat are fully painted: the dark outlines of the original drawing are visible on her clothes.

Sitter

The sitter was Muriel Smith (1883-1923), who posed for several portraits when she was an art student, before her marriage. ¹²

Miniature and press cutting, [1923/1924] private collection

According to a newspaper report after her death,

'As a girl she was a great friend and a pupil of Whistler, who always evinced the greatest interest in her and her work. So much so that at various times he painted five portraits of her. One of these is in the possession of Mr. Heinemann, one is owned by Mr. Van der Bilt [sic], and one is in the Luxembourg. Two of these are reproduced in Pennell's life of Whistler, the one entitled "Girl with a Feather", and the other "Blue and Coral".' ¹³

Grey and Silver: La Petite Souris, The Hunterian

Violet and Blue: The Red Feather y503 is the 'Girl with a Feather' cited in this article. Grey and Silver: La Petite Souris y502 is almost certainly another (unfinished) portrait of Muriel Smith. It is not certain what portrait was supposedly owned by George Washington Vanderbilt (1862-1914), because The Little London Sparrow y477 shows a younger child, supposedly Elizabeth Willis (fl. 1890/1900).

Technique

Composition

Blue and Coral: The Little Blue Bonnet, Los Angeles County Museum of Art

The Blue Girl: Portrait of Connie Gilchrist, The Hunterian

Blue and Coral: The Little Blue Bonnet y500 appears to be the last in Whistler's sequence of 'Blue Girls', started in the 1870s. The dress is based loosely on a full-length portrait of the dancer Connie Gilchrist (1864-1946), The Blue Girl: Portrait of Connie Gilchrist y207. It dates from about 1879 and was probably in Whistler's London studio. The original dress is extremely unlikely to have survived but it may be that Whistler wished it to be recreated. However, the hat gave the model an up-to-date, fashionable appearance.

This is the largest and the most finished of Whistler's oval portraits (see, for instance, A Paris Model y458).

Technique

Blue and Coral: The Little Blue Bonnet, photograph by W. E. Gray, 1898

The right side of her face, as seen in 1898 reproductions, was originally painted with a very dark, hard outline, although this was somewhat blurred by the ruff over her chin. ¹⁴

Academy, 10 December 1898, p. 417, drawn on by Whistler; GUL Whistler PC 17/36

Blue and Coral: The Little Blue Bonnet, Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Whistler altered a reproduction from the Academy of 10 December 1898, in his own press cutting book, by further accenting the outline of the face in ink, making it squarer. ¹⁵ However, if anything the effect was later softened: the tone of her hat was darkened, and the cloak and shadow behind her right shoulder were extended nearly to the butterfly. A shadow behind her ruff and shoulder at right was emphasized with dark paint, as – to a lesser extent – was the curve of her bodice.

Conservation History

Blue and Coral: The Little Blue Bonnet, photograph by W. E. Gray, 1898

Blue and Coral: The Little Blue Bonnet, Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Unknown. It does appear lighter in early photographs, but this might have been the effect of lighting and the photographic process.

Frame

82.5 x 68.6 x 5.72 cm.

History

Provenance

• 1898: bought from Whistler by William Heinemann (1863-1920), London, who still owned it in 1905;
• 1906: bought from William Macbeth, New York art dealer, by Florence Gibb, Mrs H. L. Pratt (1872-1935), New York;
• 1935: bequeathed to Herbert Lee Pratt (1871-1945), who gave it to his daughter, Edith Gibb Pratt (Mrs A. McLane, Mrs H. W. Maxwell) (1898-1956), New York;
• 1956/1958: passed by family descent to Edith Gibb McLane Dillon (Mrs Thomas P. Dillon) (dates unknown);
• By 1986: passed by family descent to Edith, Mrs E. D. Ledson (dates unknown), who lent it to Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York;
• After 1986: bought by Gail K. Liebes (1931-2000) and her husband John Martin Liebes (1930-2015) of Brentwood, Los Angeles;
• 2001: gift of John Liebes, in memory of Gail Liebes, to Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Heinemann bought Blue and Coral: The Little Blue Bonnet y500 from Whistler on 29 June 1898, for 500 guineas (£525.0.0), and wrote to the artist:

"Here is the money & I say 'thank you!' The little lady will be a fascinating companion - at last for the lost celibate. I am only too anxious to have her with me soon & I revel in anticipation in the joy of envious friends when they see my Kakemono." ¹⁶

The Japanese term kakemono implies a vertical painting to hang on a wall. Whistler replied, 'I am glad to know the little Blue girl is looking so well!' and added that some one 'wanted to carry her off to Chicago with him.' ¹⁷ This was almost certainly Arthur Jerome Eddy (1859-1920), who had arrived in London. Whistler wrote to Christine Anderson (Christiana Barrett, Mrs C. L. Baldwyn, Mrs C. A. M. Anderson) (b. 1865/1866), manager of the Company of the Butterfly: 'You might write to Mr. Arthur Eddy - Morleys Hotel, Trafalgar Square - and say ... that the "Blue Bonnet" was bought by Mr. Heinemann ... the publisher', and he suggested that Eddy might like to buy Violet and Blue: The Red Feather y503 (another portrait of the same model) instead. ¹⁸ Whistler later wrote to Heinemann:

'I am glad to know that the little Blue lady will be petted in her home, with the place of honour to herself! so that is all charming! - and delightful! And if ever you think she becomes in the least spoiled by much indulgence, you must at once complain to me! - Meanwhile she is slightly misconducting herself with the Press - with whom she seems to be on rather amiable and ogling terms! - Did you notice the Spectator of the 18th?' ¹⁹

The portrait was acquired by the art dealer William Macbeth on 31 August 1906, and sold to Mrs Pratt on 25 October for $6500. ²⁰ It was given by Herbert Lee Pratt to their daughter, Mrs Pratt McLane (later Mrs Howard W. Maxwell) at some time before 1940, when it was lent to the New York World's Fair; it remained in the family until at least 1949. ²¹ It has been in Los Angeles County Museum of Art since 2001.

Exhibitions

Blue and Coral: The Little Blue Bonnet, photograph by W. E. Gray, 1898

• 1898: Exhibition of International Art, International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, Knightsbridge, London, 1898 (cat. no. 182) as 'Blue and Coral – The Little Blue Bonnet'; de luxe edition, p. 22, repr. frontispiece.
• 1899: 1st World of Art Exhibition, Schtiglitz School, Saint Petersburg, 1899 (cat. no. 279) as 'Devochka b golubom' [girl in blue].
• 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. 8) as 'The Little Blue Bonnet' and 'The Little Blue Bonnet, Blue and Coral' in ordinary and deluxe editions respectively.

Arrangement of paintings at the ISSPG, Library of Congress

Arrangement of paintings at the ISSPG, Library of Congress

It was first shown in 1898 at the inaugural exhibition of the International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, of which Whistler was the first President. Whistler was concerned about the layout of his works at the ISSPG and sent Albert Ludovici, Jr (1852-1932) two sketches of the proposed hang, first, Arrangement of paintings at the ISSPG m1539 ²² and next, Arrangement of paintings at the ISSPG m1540, in which he gave Ludovici detailed instructions (referring to Blue and Coral: The Little Blue Bonnet y500 just as 'oval'):

'[pictures numbered left to right:] 6 5 4 1. 3 2. 7. 8 9 [and three frames numbered:] '10.'

1. Rose Corder. 2. Princess. 3. Portrait. 4. Piano. 5. Oval. 6. Thames in ice. 7. Philosopher. 8. Nocturne Valparaiso. 9. Petite Souris (girls head with feather boa) 10. "Etchings by Mrs McNeill Whistler".

Or [sketch of pictures numbered left to right:] 2 10 7. 8 9. Yes this * last way I prefer - and it gives you no trouble ... Hang all my pictures on the line - excepting the Holloway (Philosopher) just a tiny bit up to make the line pretty - and perhaps the Petite Souris - also slightly - a matter for your eye - And be sure to see to the proper tilting over - so that [they] can be well seen.' ²³

Wall of the First International Exhibition at Knightsbridge, 1898, from Pennell 1921, f.p.150

A photograph of the hanging of Whistler's panel was reproduced by the Pennells, showing that Whistler's suggestions were adopted. ²⁴

On 16 May 1898 The Times described Whistler's exhibits inaccurately as: 'none of them new ... Mr. Whistler ... has contented himself ... with old work ... the least well known is "The Little Blue Bonnet" - but it would have become the president of a new society to have sent some new pictures.' ²⁵ Whistler promptly incorporated a slightly revised version of The Times review in a new edition of the exhibition catalogue: their criticism, 'old works ... among which the "Little Blue Bonnet" is the least known', being followed by Whistler's own ironic comment: 'As the painting has never been out of the studio, but comes fresh from the easel to its first exhibition, the "plain man" is, once more, profoundly right, and we see again the advantage of memory over mere artistic instinct in the critic.' ²⁶

The Spectator, reviewing the 'remarkable' ISSPG show, praised Blue and Coral: The Little Blue Bonnet, describing it as 'a finely modelled face, full of subtlety. The realisation of the form of the orbits and eyes is masterly, and so is the relation of the warm flesh, low in tone, to the sober hue of the bonnet.' ²⁷

In the following year, the new owner, William Heinemann (1863-1920) , agreed to lend it to an important exhibition organised by Sergei Diaghilev (1872-1929) in St Petersburg. It was one of the few works by Whistler to be exhibited in Russia. ²⁸

There were almost no reviews of Whistler's paintings in 1899. Vladimir Vasilievich Stasov denigrated the works selected by Sergei Diaghilev (1872-1929), including Whistlers two exhibits:

'Of the English [sic], Whistler is represented by two small canvases – 'Blue Girl' and 'Marine', but they are both so colourless and insignificant that without captions no-none would ever guess that these were things by the self same Whistler who is so renowned for his colour! Was it really worth bringing such nonentities from afar?' ²⁹

Its later exhibition history is interesting too: it was shown at the Armory Show in 1913 and the New York World's Fair in 1940, although since the 1950s it has led a comparatively quiet life. ³⁰

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. 500), plate 322, as 'Blue and Coral: The Little Blue Bonnet'.

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• Exhibition of International Art, International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, Knightsbridge, London, 1898 (cat. no. 182) as 'Blue and Coral – The Little Blue Bonnet'; de luxe edition, p. 22, repr. frontispiece.
• 1st World of Art Exhibition, Schtiglitz School, Saint Petersburg, 1899 (cat. no.279) as 'Девочка въ голубомъ' ['Devochka b golubom', girl in blue].
• 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. 8) as 'The Little Blue Bonnet' and 'The Little Blue Bonnet, Blue and Coral' in ordinary and deluxe editions respectively.

Newspapers 1855-1905

• Anon., 'Exhibition of International Art', The Times, London, 16 May 1898, p. 12.
• 'H. S.', 'International Art at Knightsbridge', The Spectator, London, 18 June 1898, vol. 80, p. 859.

Journals 1855-1905

• 'The Souvenir Catalogue of the Exhibition of International Art at Knightsbridge', Academy, 10 December 1898, repr. p. 417.
• 'МЕЖДУНАРОДНАЯ ХУДОЖЕСТВЕННАЯ ВЫСТАВКА КАРТИНЪ ЖУРНАЛА „МIРЪ ИСКУССТВА" ' ['Exposition Internationale des Beaux Arts Organisée par La Revue "Le Monde Artiste" '], Мир искусства [Mir Iskusstva, 'World of Art'], vol. 2, no. 6, 1899, contains a list of exhibits.
• Гюисман, И . [Huysmans, I.], 'Уистлер' [Uistler], Мир искусства [Mir Iskusstva, 'World of Art'], vol. 2, nos. 16-17, 1899, pp. 61-68, repr. p. 67.
• Stasov, V. V., 'Podvoriye prokagennykh', [The Leper House], [1899], in Isbranniye sochineniya [Selected Works], 3 vols., Moscow, 1952, vol. 3, p. 257.

Monographs

• None.

Books on Whistler

• Calosse, J. P., Whistler, New York, 2011, repr. fig. 54.
• 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. 372).
• D'Anvers, N., James McNeill Whistler, 1904, p. 43.
• MacDonald, Margaret F., 'What is a Whistler?', in: Glazer, Lee, Margaret F. MacDonald, Linda Merrill, and Nigel Thorp (eds), James McNeill Whistler in Context. Essays from the Whistler Centenary Symposium, University of Glasgow, 2003, Washington, DC, 2008, pp. 1-18, at pp. 2-3.
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 2 vols, London and Philadelphia, 1908, vol. 2, p. 221, repr. f.p. 220.
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 5th (revised) edition, London and Philadelphia, 1911, p. 357.
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Whistler Journal, Philadelphia, 1921, repr. f.p. 150.
• Pousette-Dart, Nathaniel, (ed.), James McNeill Whistler,(with introduction by Joseph & Elizabeth Robins Pennell), New York, 1924, repr. pl. 61.
• Sutton, Denys, Nocturne: The Art of James McNeill Whistler, London, 1963, p. 133.

Books, General

• Art and Progress, American Federation of Arts, 1913, vol. 4, p. 984.

Catalogues 1906-Present

EXHIBITION:

• 76th Annual Exhibition, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 1907 (cat. no. 332) as 'Blue and Coral: The Little Blue Bonnet'.
• International Exhibition of Modern Art, Association of American Paintings and Sculpture, Armory of the 69th Infantry, New York, 1913 (cat. no. 1086) as 'The Little Blue Bonnet'.
• Masterpieces of Art, European and American Paintings, 1500-1900, New York World's Fair, 1940 (cat. no. 298) as 'The Blue Bonnet'.
• Whistler Loan Exhibition, Macbeth Gallery, New York, 1947 (ex.cat) 'The Blue Bonnet'.
• White, Nelson C., James McNeill Whistler Seventeenth Anniversary Exhibition, Lyman Allyn Museum, New London, CT, 1949 (cat. no. 32) as 'The Blue Bonnet'.
• Poetic Painting: American Masterworks from the Clark and Liebes Collections, Vance Jordan Fine Art, New York, 2001.
• Merrill, Linda, et al., After Whistler: The Artist and His Influence on American Painting, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, 2003, pp. 31 note 132, 247 note 63 (not in exhibition).
• Kruglov, Vladimir, 'Whistler in Russian criticism', in Andreeva, Galina, and Margaret F. MacDonald, Whistler and Russia, State Tretyakow Gallery, Moscow, 2006, pp. 162-69, at p. 166 (not exhibited).
• MacDonald, Margaret F., 'James McNeill Whistler', in: Andreeva, Galina and Margaret F. MacDonald (eds), Whistler and Russia, Tretyakow Gallery, Moscow, 2006, pp. 16-57, at pp. 55-56, repr. p. 56 (not in exhibition).

SALE:

• American Art Association, New York, 13 January 1922 (lot 173).

Journals 1906-Present

• Gallatin, A. E., 'An Exhibition of Women's Portraits by Modern Artists', Art and Progress, vol. 4, no. 8 (June 1913), pp. 933-88, at p. 984.
• L'Amour de L'Art, July 1938, vol. 19, repr.

Websites

• Los Angeles County Museum of Art website at http://collections.lacma.org.

Unpublished

• Revillon, Joseph Whistler, Draft Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of J. McN. Whistler, [ca 1945-1955], Glasgow University Library (cat. no. 290).

Other

• 'W. R. M.', 'The Work of a Dead Artist. / Striking Exhibition in the city. / A Pupil of Whistler and Leighton,' [Cape?] Times] South Africa), June or July, n.d. (unidentified press cutting, Whistler archives, University of Glasgow).