The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Violet and amber – Tea dates from 1883/1884.

Violet and amber – Tea, Freer Gallery of Art

It is fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 897).

Images

Subject

Sitter

Violet and amber – Tea, Freer Gallery of Art

Probably Maud Franklin (1857-1939).

Technique

Technique

Violet and amber – Tea, Freer Gallery of Art

The Daily News on 21 May 1884 called it an 'essay in smudge'.

See technical details in Whistler in Watercolour, Freer|Sackler, Washington, 2019, website.

History

Provenance

• 1884: recorded as sold by Messrs Dowdeswell to Edward John Poole (b. ca 1848).
• Before 1902: acquired by Henry Studdy Theobald (1847-1934);
• 1902: sold in June to Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919), Detroit;
• 1919: bequeathed to the Freer Gallery of Art.

Details of provenance are given in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 897).

Exhibitions

• 1884: probably 'Notes' - 'Harmonies' - 'Nocturnes', Messrs Dowdeswell, London, 1884 (cat. no. 35) as 'Violet and amber – Tea'.
• 1904: Oil Paintings, Water Colors, Pastels and Drawings: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Mr. J. McNeill Whistler, Copley Society, Boston, 1904 (cat. no. 205) as 'Petit Déjeuner – Note in Opal'.

The Daily News on 21 May 1884 called it an 'essay in smudge'.

By the terms of Freer's will the work cannot be lent to another venue.

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 897) as 'Violet and amber – Tea'.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• Probably 'Notes' - 'Harmonies' - 'Nocturnes', Messrs Dowdeswell, London, 1884 (cat. no. 35) as 'Violet and amber – Tea'.
• Oil Paintings, Water Colors, Pastels and Drawings: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Mr. J. McNeill Whistler, Copley Society, Boston, 1904 (cat. no. 205) as 'Petit Déjeuner – Note in Opal'.

Newspapers 1855-1905

• Anon., 'Mr. Whistler's Gallery', Daily News, London, 21 May 1884, p. 7.

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, p. 173 (cat. no. 102).
• Glazer, Lee, Emily Jacobson, Blythe McCarthy, and Katherine Roeder, Whistler in Watercolor: Lovely Little Games, New Haven and London, 2019.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• Curry, David Park, James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art, New York and London, 1984, p. 196, pl. 126.
• Myers, Kenneth John, Mr. Whistler’s Gallery: Pictures at an 1884 Exhibition, Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 2003, p. 65 (cat. no. 39).

Websites

• Freer Gallery of Art website at https://asia.si.edu/object/F1902.162a-c, as 'Violet and Amber–Tea'.
• Whistler in Watercolour, Freer|Sackler, Washington, 2019, website.