Provenance

• 1899: with Charles Hessele (fl. 1892-1914), Paris art dealer;
• 1899/1900: sold by Hessele to Gaston Bernheim-Jeune (1870-1953), art dealer;
• 1900: sold by him to Alexander Reid (1854-1928), Glasgow art dealer;
• 1900: James Staats Forbes (1823-1904), London;
• 1904: with Forbes estate;
• 1904: with Obach, London art dealers;
• 1904: owned by Alexander Arnold Hannay (1858-1927).
• 1916: bought from W. B. Paterson, London dealer, by Knoedler's, New York dealers;
• 1916: sold by them to Stephen Carlton Clark (1882-1960), New York;
• 1922: with Agnew, London dealers;
• 1923: with John Levy Galleries and Milch Galleries, New York;
• 1926: bought from Stephen Carlton Clark by Knoedler's;
• 1926: sold by Knoedler's to Grand Central Galleries, New York;
• 1926: bought from them by William Lockhart Clayton (1880-1966), Texas;
• 1926: given by Mr and Mrs Clayton to their daughter, Ellen Burdine Clayton Garwood (Mrs St John Garwood) (1903-1993);
• 1993: bequeathed to the present owner.

In 1899 Whistler sold several canvases to Charles Hessele or Hessèle, a print dealer in Paris, but did not specify this painting. 1

According to Edward Guthrie Kennedy (1849-1932) of Wunderlich, New York dealers, Whistler was hard up when he sold several 'unfinished' canvases to Hessele, who in his turn sold them to Bernheim, and later, when one was sold by 'McLean' to 'Forbes' in London (probably James Staats Forbes), Whistler 'noticed how incomplete they were' and tried to retrieve them. 2

In April 1900 John James Cowan (1846-1936) saw a painting of a girl with long red hair and a crimson dress and/or background, in the possession of Alexander Reid. 3 Whistler asserted that this portrait, 'the head with the two crimsons', had been stolen from him. 4 In October 1901 Whistler told Cowan that 'The girl in red with the red background' had been found in London. 5 He asked Cowan to challenge Reid about his purchases:

'Most of these defective & purloined pictures have passed through Reid's hands - though of course he may be (?) quite square himself! However at this moment while he thinks that one only of the questionable works has been stopped, he will find himself called to account on all sides! The red head he will in a day or two hear of!' 6

Whistler 'impounded' the picture, which had been bought byJames Staats Forbes, but, according to Kennedy, since the pictures had not actually been stolen, Bernheim threatened to sue Whistler for slander and the artist had to give up his attempt to retrieve his pictures. 7

Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) noted that he had seen a 'Girls Head - Red, Upright' from Forbes's collection in 1904, but decided not to leave an offer with Obach, the London art dealers. 8 After Forbes's death in August 1904, the painting was lent by his executors to the exhibition of Pictures presented to the City of Dublin to form the Nucleus of a Gallery of Modern Art, also pictures lent by the executors of the late James Staats Forbes and others, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, 1904 (cat. no. 81) and to the Whistler Memorial Exhibition in London in 1905 (cat. no. 28).

The Girl in Red, photograph, Knoedler's, 1926

There is an apparent gap in the provenance at this point, until the story is taken up by Knoedler's archives. 9 The portrait was bought from W. B. Paterson by Knoedler's in June 1916 and sold by them to S. C. Clark in October of the same year. It was with Agnew's in 1922, and with John Levy Galleries and Milch Galleries, in 1923, but was probably still owned by S. C. Clark and was finally bought back from Clark in January 1926 by Knoedler's, who sold it to the Grand Central Galleries, six months later. It was immediately sold to W. L. Clayton, and given by Mr and Mrs Clayton to their daughter Ellen (later Mrs St John Garwood), as a graduation present. She lent it to the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, Texas, in 1946. 10

Exhibitions

• 1904: Pictures presented to the City of Dublin to form the Nucleus of a Gallery of Modern Art, also pictures lent by the executors of the late James Staats Forbes and others, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, 1904 (cat. no. 81) as 'The Girl in Red.'
• 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. 28) as 'The Girl in Red'.

It is not recorded as exhibited in Whistler's lifetime.

In 1905 the Pall Mall Gazette praised it as among the 'strongest, and the one having the most character' of the small portraits. 11