The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler
M.1098
r.: Tête d'homme barbu; v.: Head of a woman
Date
r.: Tête d'homme barbu; v.: Head of a woman dates from 1886.
r.: Tête d'homme barbu, The Hunterian
It is fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1098).
Images
r: Tête d'homme barbu, The Hunterian
v.: Head of a woman not reproduced.
Subject
Sitter
r.: Tête d'homme barbu, The Hunterian
The beareded man has not been identified.
Technique
Technique
r.: Tête d'homme barbu, The Hunterian
See MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1098).
History
Provenance
- 1903: in Whistler's studio at his death in 1903 and bequeathed to his sister-in-law, Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958);
- 1935: given to the University of Glasgow.
Exhibitions
- 1886: Possibly 'Notes' - 'Harmonies' - 'Nocturnes', Second Series, Messrs Dowdeswell, London, 1886 (cat. no. 72 or 73) as 'Portrait'.
- 1889: Possibly Retrospective Exhibition, College for Working Men and Women, London, 1889 (no cat. nos).
- 1905: Œuvres de James McNeill Whistler, Palais de l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1905 (cat. no. 172) as 'Tête d'homme barbu'.
Charles de Kay, describing Whistler's 1886 exhibition, wrote: 'Pencil sketches and a framed joke from Punch ... complete the round of this curious little den.' 1 There were five pencil drawings in the show, and Whistler's inscription, 'No.5', suggests this drawing was one of these. It is one of five drawings that came to Glasgow University similarly mounted and framed, which all appear to correspond to the Dowdeswell titles: Mother and child m1062, Baby's head m1063, Child m1064, Woman and child m1065. See also Tête d'homme barbu m1099 and Harper Pennington m1100.
On the other hand, the numbering may refer to the exhibition organised by Walter Richard Sickert (1860-1942) in May 1889. This included what the Evening News on 14 May 1889 called 'pencil sketches of exceeding interest'.
NOTE: By the terms of Miss Birnie Philip's Gift, this 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. 1098) as 'r.: Tête d'homme barbu; v.: Head of a woman'.
Catalogues 1855-1905
- Possibly 'Notes' - 'Harmonies' - 'Nocturnes', Second Series, Messrs Dowdeswell, London, 1886 (cat. no. 72 or 73) as 'Portrait'.
- Possibly Retrospective Exhibition, College for Working Men and Women, London, 1889 (no cat. nos).
- Œuvres de James McNeill Whistler, Palais de l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1905 (cat. no. 172) as 'Tête d'homme barbu'.
Newspapers 1855-1905
- The Evening News, London, 14 May 1889.
Journals 1855-1905
- Charles de Kay, 'Whistler. The head of the Impressionists', Art Review, vol. 1, no. 1, 1886, pp. 1-3, at p. 2.
Websites
- The Hunterian website at http://collections.gla.ac.uk.
Notes:
1: Charles de Kay, 'Whistler. The head of the Impressionists', Art Review, I, no. 1, 1886, pp. 1-3, at p. 2.