The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler
YMSM 192
Harmony in Pink and Red
Date
Harmony in Pink and Red probably dates from the late 1870s, between 1876 and 1878. 1
Harmony in Pink and Red, photograph, S. P. Avery Collection, New York Public Library
Arrangement in Yellow and Grey: Effie Deans, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
The very free technique, with the 'sauce' of the background running down onto the dress, is close to that in Arrangement in Yellow and Grey: Effie Deans y183 of about 1876.
Harmony in Flesh Colour and Black: Portrait of Mrs Louise Jopling, The
Hunterian
In composition and costume Harmony in Pink and Red y192 is very like Harmony in Flesh Colour and Black: Portrait of Mrs Louise Jopling y191, which was painted in 1877/1878.
It is a full-length portrait of Maud Franklin (1857-1939) and her appearance corresponds closely to the lithotint of her called The Toilet c010, published in July 1878.
Photographs of the painting were signed by Whistler about 1878 and 1881. 2
According to the Pennells, it was destroyed by Whistler (possibly at the time of his bankruptcy in 1879). 3 However, the French artist Jacques Émile Blanche (1861-1942) said he saw a portrait of the sitter, Maud Franklin, 'en or roux' in Whistler's studio in 1884. 4 Blanche unfortunately is not entirely reliable in his dating.
Images
Harmony in Pink and Red, photograph, S. P. Avery Collection, New York Public Library
Harmony in Pink and Red, albumen print, GUL Whistler PH4/20
Maud Franklin, photograph, Library of Congress
Arrangement in Yellow and Grey: Effie Deans, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Harmony in Flesh Colour and Black: Portrait of Mrs Louise Jopling, The
Hunterian
Subject
Titles
Several possible titles have been suggested:
- 'Harmony in Pink and Red' (ca 1878, Whistler). 5
- 'Harmony in Flesh Color & Red' (ca 1881, Whistler). 6
- 'Arrangement en couleur chair et rouge' (1904, T. Duret). 7
- 'Harmony in Pink and Red' (1980 YMSM). 8
The photograph reproduced by Théodore Duret (1838-1927) is from the collection of George Aloysius Lucas (1824-1909), now in Baltimore, and Duret's title 'Arrangement en couleur chair et rouge' is based on that inscription.
The preferred title is 'Harmony in Pink and Red'.
Description
Harmony in Pink and Red, photograph, New York Public Library
A full length portrait of a woman seen from the back, with her head in profile to left. Her skirt is gathered into a small bustle at the back, and trails behind her, at lower right. The sleeves are close-fitting, with puffs at the shoulder. The dress is very light in colour and she stands against a dark background. The canvas is in vertical format.
Harmony in Pink and Red, albumen print, GUL Whistler PH4/20
There are photographs of the painting in the Library of Congress, Glasgow University Library, the S. P. Avery Collection in New York Public Library, and the G. A. Lucas collection, Baltimore Museum of Art. The photographs give the proportions for Harmony in Pink and Red y192. Assuming it to have been life-size, these proportions would correspond to a canvas of approximately 191 x 98 cm (75 x 38½").
Sitter
Maud Franklin, photograph, Library of Congress
Maud Franklin (1857-1939), Whistler's mistress and chief model from the mid 1870s to 1880s.
Technique
Composition
Harmony in Pink and Red, photograph, New York Public Library
Harmony in Flesh Colour and Black: Portrait of Mrs Louise Jopling, The
Hunterian
In composition and costume Harmony in Pink and Red y192 is very like Harmony in Flesh Colour and Black: Portrait of Mrs Louise Jopling y191. 9
Technique
Harmony in Pink and Red, photograph, New York Public Library
Judging from the photographs, it was painted with thin liquid paint in a very free technique, with the background wash of thinned paint (sometimes referred to as Whistler's 'sauce') running down onto the dress.
Conservation History
Unknown. Probably destroyed.
Frame
Unknown.
History
Provenance
Unknown.
Exhibitions
Unknown.
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. 192), plate 130, as 'Harmony in Pink and Red'.
Authored by Whistler
- None.
Catalogues 1855-1905
- None.
Journals 1855-1905
- Blanche, Jacques-Émile, 'James McNeill Whistler', Renaissance Latine, vol. 4, no. 6, 15 June 1905, pp. 353-78, at p. 358.
Monographs
- None.
Books on Whistler
- Duret, Théodore, Histoire de J. McN. Whistler et de son oeuvre, Paris, 1904, repr. p. 161.
- MacDonald, Margaret F., Susan Galassi, Aileen Ribeiro, and Patricia de Montfort, Whistler, Women and Fashion, New Haven and London, 2003, pp. 139, 142.
- Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 5th (revised) edition, London and Philadelphia, 1911, repr. f.p. 264 (at right).
Books, General
- None.
Catalogues 1906-Present
- None.
Journals 1906-Present
- None.
Websites
- Revillon, Joseph Whistler, Draft Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of J. McN. Whistler, [ca 1945-1955], Glasgow University Library (cat. no. 149).
Unpublished
- None.
Other
- None.
Notes:
1: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 192).
2: Photographs in S. P. Avery Collection, New York Public Library, and G. A. Lucas Collection, Baltimore Museum of Art.
3: Pennell 1911 A [more], repr. f.p. 264 (at right).
4: Blanche 1905 [more], at p. 358.
5: Inscribed photograph, Avery collection, New York Public Library.
6: Inscribed photograph, Lucas Collection, Baltimore Museum of Art.
7: Duret 1904 [more], repr. p. 161.
8: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 192).
9: MacDonald 2003 [more], pp. 139, 142.