The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Rose et Opale probably dates from 1888 and was exhibited in 1889; it may also have been touched up in the early 1890s.

Rose et Opale, Freer Gallery of Art

It is catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1231).

Images

Subject

Sitter

Rose et Opale, Freer Gallery of Art

The model has not been identified.

Technique

Technique

Rose et Opale, Freer Gallery of Art

See MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1231).

History

Provenance

• 1894: bought from Whistler by Alexander Reid (1854-1928), Glasgow art dealer;
• 1902: bought by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919);
• 1919: bequeathed to the Freer Gallery of Art.

Further details are given in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1231).

Exhibitions

• 1889: probably “Notes” – “Harmonies” – “Nocturnes”, H. Wunderlich & Co., New York, 1889 (cat. no. 39) as 'A Rose Note'.
• 1892: possibly Société des Pastellistes français, Goupil, Paris, 1892 (ex cat., see Nude holding a fan m1322).

Rose et Opale, Freer Gallery of Art

The New York Herald, 2 March 1889, described a pastel of a nude 'a thin girl lying on a lounge', which may have been this drawing.

It was priced at 80 guineas in 1889, but remained unsold, and was returned to Whistler after the exhibition by Wunderlich's on the SS Servia. ¹

By the terms of Freer's will, 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. 1231) as 'Rose et Opale'.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• Probably “Notes” – “Harmonies” – “Nocturnes”, H. Wunderlich & Co., New York, 1889 (cat. no. 39) as 'A Rose Note'.
• 1892: possibly Société des Pastellistes français, Goupil, Paris, 1892 (ex cat.).

Newspapers 1855-1905

• New York Herald, New York, 2 March 1889.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• Curry, David Park, James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art, New York and London, 1984, p. 272, pl. 271.

Websites

• Freer Gallery of Art website at https://asia.si.edu/object/F1902.194a-c, as 'Pour le pastel: Rose and Opal'.