The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Study for 'The Blue Girl: Portrait of Miss Elinor Leyland' dates from about 1879.

Study for 'The Blue Girl: Portrait of Miss Elinor Leyland', Art Institute Of Chicago

It is fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 717).

Images

Subject

Sitter

Study for 'The Blue Girl: Portrait of Miss Elinor Leyland', Art Institute Of Chicago

A drawing of Elinor Leyland (1861-1952) for The Blue Girl: Portrait of Miss Elinor Leyland y111.

Technique

Composition

This is a study for the uncompleted and destroyed painting, The Blue Girl: Portrait of Miss Elinor Leyland y111.

Technique

Study for 'The Blue Girl: Portrait of Miss Elinor Leyland', Art Institute Of Chicago

This is undoubtedly a drawing by Whistler, possibly done from memory.

It was apparently copied fairly carefully, possibly by Rosa Frances Corder (1853-1893) for Charles Augustus Howell (1840?-1890): a photograph of the fake is in the Pennell Collection, Library of Congress.

See further details in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 717), and Clarke, Jay A., and Sarah Kelly Oehler, eds., Whistler Paintings and Drawings at the Art Institute of Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, 2020, website (cat. no. 21).

History

Provenance

• ca 1879: acquired by Charles Augustus Howell (1840?-1890), London, and placed in an album;
• After 1884: the album was acquired by Cornelius Cox (1835-1889) and returned to Whistler.
• 1890/1891: the drawing was signed by Whistler for Edward Guthrie Kennedy (1849-1932), New York dealer.
• Date unknown: possibly with A. Rouillier, Chicago art dealer.
• 1916: bequeathed by Bryan Lathrop (1844-1916) to the Art Institute of Chicago.
• 1921: accessioned by the Art Institute.

The drawing was placed in an album by Charles Augustus Howell (1840?-1890), but it is not known if it was in the album when that was returned to Whistler, nor when and from whom it was acquired by Kennedy, or indeed, Rouillier. See further details in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 717).

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. 717) as 'Study for 'The Blue Girl: Portrait of Miss Elinor Leyland'.
• Young, Andrew McLaren, Margaret F. MacDonald, Robin Spencer, and Hamish Miles, The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler, New Haven and London, 1980 (oil, cat. no. 111).

Websites

• Clarke, Jay A., and Sarah Kelly Oehler, eds., Whistler Paintings and Drawings at the Art Institute of Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, 2020, website (cat. no. 21) as 'Study for “The Blue Girl: Portrait of Miss Elinor Leyland” '.