The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Head of a girl, drawn between 1849 and 1851, was given to Whistler's schoolmate Edward Lawrence Hyde (1835-1917) at Christ Church Hall, Pomfret, CT.

It is catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 33). This entry has been revised.

Images

Subject

Description

The head of a young woman with shoulder-length brown hair. She is facing forward, her eyes looking to her right.

Technique

Technique

The water colour is carefully applied is a series of washes.

Conservation History

The sheet has been cut as an arch. It is rather rubbed.

History

Provenance

• 1849/1851: given to Whistler's schoolmate Edward Lawrence Hyde (1835-1917), in Pomfret, CT;
• 1917: bequeathed to his wife Imogine Adell Hyde née Clarke (b. 1847);
• By 1924: according to her niece Mary E. Hyde, Boston, given to her sister in California.
• 1936: owned by her sisters Laura, Bessie and Lillian Hyde in California, and passed by family descent to Silvia Hyde Rhodes, then to Imogene Hyde Alexieff (1907-1995), Mrs Theodore Stephen Alexieff; and to her son Stephen Theodore Alexieff (b. 1932);
• 1994: gift of Steven P. Alexeiff in honour of Professor and Mrs Albert Simonson to Rhode Island School of Design.

Photostats of drawings owned by Edward L. Hyde were sent to Joseph Pennell (1860-1926) in 1924.

Exhibitions

It was not exhibited in Whistler's lifetime.

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 33) as 'Head of a girl'.

Journals 1906-Present

• Pressly, Nancy D., 'Whistler in America: An Album of Early Drawings', Metropolitan Museum Journal, New York, vol. 5, 1972, pp. 125-54 (no. 11a).

Websites

• RISD website at https://risdmuseum.org/art-design/collection, as 'Head of a Young Woman'.