The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

This Interior probably dates from Whistler's days as a student in Paris (between 1855 and 1858), and most likely towards the end of this period, in 1857 or 1858. ¹

Interior, Private collection

La Mère Gérard (1), Colby College Museum of Art

Although it is not entirely consistent with the few extant student works by Whistler, the form of the signature suggests it could be an early work, and the brushwork, impasto, and realist subject matter connect it with such paintings as La Mère Gérard (1) y026 and La Mère Gérard (2) y027.

La Vieille aux Loques, etching, The Hunterian

The Kitchen, etching, Art Institute of Chicago

The subject also has links to Whistler's etchings, such as La Vieille aux Loques [27], Rag Pickers, Quartier Mouffetard, Paris [29] and The Kitchen [16] in the 'French Set' of 1858.

Images

Subject

Titles

Whistler's title is unknown. The sole title is as follows:

• 'Interior' (1879, Society of American Artists). ²
• 'Interior' (1980, YMSM). ³

Description

Interior, Whereabouts unknown, photo, 1954

An interior scene in vertical format. Two elderly people (a man on the left and a woman wearing a simple white cap or bonnet on the right), are seen from the back, looking towards a fireplace. Light comes from an unseen window at right. A number of pots and jugs are seen in front of the fire and on shelves at left.

The figures were described by a former owner, Fanny Hooper Curtis (1877-1963), in 1946:

'The woman is … wearing a white peasant's cap very dark blouse and dull green skirt. The man has dull greenish trousers, a whiteish shirt-sleeve, short dull brown vest and hat … the immediate background behind the two figures … is a dull white.' ⁴

Site

Unknown.

Sitter

Unknown.

Comments

The 1980 catalogue raisonné stated:

'[T]his … painting … is not wholly consistent with his [Whistler's] known and more thoroughly authenticated work. However, so few early works by Whistler are extant that it is difficult to follow with certainty the development of his style at this period.' ⁵

Although, the authors of the current catalogue have been unable to locate and see this painting, they believe that there are good reasons to accept the attribution to Whistler.

Technique

Technique

Interior, Private collection

It was freely painted with thick, creamy paint. A tiny brush defined the details of dress, and the still life of kitchen equipment.

Conservation History

There is a narrow vertical crack in the panel at the top.

Frame

Unknown.

History

Provenance

• By 1879: Edward William Hooper (1839-1901), Boston;
• 1901: bequeathed to his daughter Fanny Hooper Curtis (1877-1963), wife of Greely Stevenson Curtis (1871-1947).
• 1950: bought from Charles D. Childs (1906-1993) of Childs Gallery, Boston art dealer, by Knoedler, New York art dealers, 21 September 1950 (Knoedler #A4430, A7104);
• 1956: sold to Norman Bailey Woolworth (1901-1962), New York, 3 January 1956.
• ca 1965: exhibited by Knoedler's, New York.
• By 1972: Thomas Mellon Evans (1910-1997);
• 1998: sold at auction from the T. M. Evans Collection, Christie's, New York, 21 May 1998 (lot 25).
• 2018: Present whereabouts unknown.

Hooper owned an early watercolour by Whistler, Sketch m0039 and a later oil, A Red Note: Fête on the Sands, Ostend y366. He commissioned Whistler to paint his daughter in 1890 (Portrait of Ellen Sturgis Hooper y391). Although there is no reference in their correspondence to this much earlier painting, it appears that they shared a mutual friend, Edward Lawrence Hyde (1835-1917), who was interested in Whistler's early career.

Exhibitions

• 1879: Second Annual Exhibition, Society of American Artists, Kurtz Gallery, Madison Square, New York, 1879 (cat. no. 117) as 'Interior'.
• 1904: Oil Paintings, Water Colors, Pastels and Drawings: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Mr. J. McNeill Whistler, Copley Society, Boston, 1904 (cat. no. 49) as 'Interior'.

It was lent by Edward William Hooper (1839-1901), Boston, to the Second Annual Exhibition of the Society of American Artists, in 1879. Thus it was one of the first paintings attributed to Whistler to be exhibited in New York. The presence of 'a small interior with figure' in the exhibition was noted by the New York Herald on 3 March 1879. ⁶

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• Young, Andrew McLaren, Margaret F. MacDonald, Robin Spencer, and Hamish Miles, The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler, New Haven and London, 1980 (cat. no. 22), plate 7, as 'Interior'.

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• Society of American Artists. Catalogue of the Second Exhibition, 1879. At Kurtz Gallery, Madison Sq., New York, New York, 1879 (cat. no. 117) as 'Interior'.
• Copley Society (ed.), Oil Paintings, Water Colors, Pastels & Drawings: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Mr. J. McNeill Whistler, Boston, 1904 (cat. no. 49) as 'Interior'.

Newspapers 1855-1905

• Anon., 'Fine Arts', New York Herald, 3 March 1879, p. 8.

Journals 1855-1905

• None.

Monographs

• None.

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 (cat. no. 49).

Books, General

• None.

Catalogues 1906-Present

EXHIBITION:

• Americans Abroad, exhibition catalogue, Knoedler Galleries, New York, 1954 (cat. no. 50).
• 18th, 19th and 20th Century American Paintings and Sculpture, exhibition catalogue, Knoedler Galleries, New York, 1965 (cat. no. 55).

SALE:

• Important American Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture from The Thomas Mellon Evans Collection, Christie's, New York, Sale 8886, 21 May 1998 (lot 25) for $43,700.

Journals 1906-Present

• None.

Websites

• Art Sales Index, website at http://artsalesindex.artinfo.com.
• Christie's Lotfinder website at http://www.christies.com/lotfinder.

Unpublished

• Revillon, Joseph Whistler, Draft Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of J. McN. Whistler, [ca 1945-1955], Glasgow University Library (cat. no. 315) 'Interior'.

Other

• None.