The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Arrangement in Black: Lady Meux dates from 1881-1882. ¹

1881: It was commissioned with two other portraits, Harmony in Pink and Grey: Portrait of Lady Meux y229 and Portrait of Lady Meux in Furs y230, by the sitter's husband, Henry Bruce Meux (1857-1900), for 1500 guineas. ²

According to Leslie Ward (1851-1922), it was Charles Hallam Elton Brookfield (1857-1913) who suggested to Whistler that he should paint Mrs (later Lady) Meux. Brookfield later drew a caricature of Whistler painting the three portraits at once. ³

On 26 August 1881 Alan Summerly Cole (1846-1934) noted in his diary that Whistler was 'busy painting three portraits of Mrs. Meux.' ⁴ It was probably in September 1881 (shortly after Mrs Meux sent a haunch of venison to Whistler's younger brother William!), that the artist told his sister-in-law:

'I have been tremendously hard at work - and then lots of things - Mrs Meux came to town and we had up the pictures and slaved away until one of them is supposed to be finished - though it isn't! - and then off she went again … The World reports strangely enough - that Mr Whistler having completed the first of the Series of Mrs Meux has "gone for his holiday to the sea side!" - I wonder how these things happen!' ⁵

Arrangement in Black: Lady Meux, Honolulu Academy of Arts

In October 1881 two of the portraits were shown to the press in Whistler's studio, and, according to Mrs Hawthorne, Arrangement in Black: Lady Meux was 'considered completed' by Whistler. ⁶

1882: Alan S. Cole wrote in his dairy on 26 February 1882, 'To Jimmy's to see his painting of Mrs. Meux. One very fine.' ⁷ Edith Emma Marzetti (1865-1924), accompanying her sister for sittings for Scherzo in Blue: The Blue Girl y226 in the spring, commented, 'Whistler was just finishing the portrait of Lady Meux at the time, and I remember standing for him one day for about five minutes, while he put the lights in the eyes ... it was a full-length portrait in black evening dress, with a big white cloak over the shoulders.' ⁸

On 22 March Whistler told Samuel Wreford Paddon (1843-1920), 'I have completed and varnished my beautiful black lady and sent her to the salon.' ⁹ The portrait was exhibited in Ouvrages de peinture, sculpture, architecture, gravure et lithographie des artistes vivants, 100th exhibition, Salon de la Société des artistes français, Palais des Champs Elysées, Paris, 1882 (cat. no. 2687).

Images

Subject

Titles

Several possible titles have been suggested:

• 'Arrangement in Black - No. 3' (1881, Whistler). ¹⁰
• 'Arrangement in Black No 5' (1882, Whistler). ¹¹
• 'Arrangement en Noir. No. 5' (1882, Whistler). ¹²
• 'Portrait de M. Harry- Men' (sic) (1882, Société des artistes français). ¹³
• 'Lady Meux' (1893, Society of Portrait Painters). ¹⁴
• 'Arrangement in Black: Lady Meux' (1980, YMSM). ¹⁵

There are two pen drawings, each signed with a butterfly by Whistler, which relate to this painting, namely Study for 'Arrangement in Black: Lady Meux' m0850 and Arrangement in Black - No. 3 m0851. The latter is inscribed by Whistler 'Arrangement in Black - No. 3', but this is confusing, because both Arrangement in Black, No. 3: Sir Henry Irving as Philip II of Spain y187 and Arrangement in Black and Brown: The Fur Jacket y181 were exhibited at different times as 'Arrangement in Black, No. 3' (see also Arrangement in Black: Portrait of F. R. Leyland y097, the first in the series).

Given the confusion arising from Whistler's numbering, the title 'Arrangement in Black: Lady Meux' is preferred.

Description

Arrangement in Black: Lady Meux, Honolulu Academy of Arts

A full-length portrait of a woman in vertical format. Her dark curly hair is cut in a short fringe. She wears a black dress with a low neck-line trimmed with feathers. She has a diamond necklace, bracelet, ear-rings and tiara. A white fur stole or cloak hangs over her left shoulder and behind her right arm, down to the floor. Her left arm is hidden and her right arm, clad in a black glove with a lacy trim, hangs at her side, holding the edge of the stole. The background is also black.

Sitter

Lady Meux and Sir Henry Meux, photograph, Lowewood Museum

In 1878 Valerie Susan Meux (née Langdon) (1847-1910) married Henry Bruce Meux (1857-1900), the London brewer, who succeeded as third and last baronet in 1883 and died in 1900.

This was the first of three portraits to be completed (see Harmony in Pink and Grey: Portrait of Lady Meux y229 and Portrait of Lady Meux in Furs y230). It was also Whistler's first full-scale commissioned portrait following his bankruptcy and his return from Venice.

Thomas Robert Way (1861-1913) comments:

'The keenness with which [Whistler] painted these portraits engrossed him entirely, and Lady Meux used to boast that she taught him how to paint, so much did she appreciate them. She had been introduced to him by a fellow-member of one of the Clubs he belonged to, and this friend must have been a very strong admirer of his work. Whistler instanced this as one of the advantages of belonging to a number of different Clubs.' ¹⁶

'A caricature of Whistler painting simultaneously his three portraits of Lady Meux', by Charles Hallam Elton Brookfield (1857-1913), was published in The Graphic, 25 March 1911. ¹⁷

Shooting party with Lady Meux, photograph, Lowewood Museum

Later photographs suggest that she put on some weight at a later date, or that the costume and Whistler's painting were very flattering.

Technique

Composition

Arrangement in Black: Lady Meux, Honolulu Academy of Arts

Study for Arrangement in Black: Lady Meux, Art Institute of Chicago

Arrangement in Black - No. 3, National Gallery of Art

There are two pen drawings by Whistler that relate to Arrangement in Black: Lady Meux y228, namely Study for 'Arrangement in Black: Lady Meux' m0850 and Arrangement in Black - No. 3 m0851 (which was inscribed by Whistler with that title). They date from 1881 and show only minor variations in the composition. The first shows Lady Meux as rather more slender than in the oil, and wearing a glove, which she does in the oil. The other drawing, Arrangement in Black – No. 3, suggests a more slender, curving, shape for the dress, and clearly shows the skirt trailing out behind her at left.

Technique

Arrangement in Black: Lady Meux, Honolulu Academy of Arts

The canvas is approximately the size of the French 'toile de 120' (195 x 130cm) and may have been acquired in Paris. According to T. R. Way, Whistler found 'great difficulty in getting canvas to his liking' for the portraits of Lady Meux, and was 'very critical' of Arrangement in Black: Lady Meux, because in it he had departed from his usual practice, and carried out 'some slight painting upon her arm after it had dried.' ¹⁸

Mrs Julian Hawthorne saw Lady Meux posing;

'I once had the exhilarating experience of seeing Whistler paint a portrait. The subject was a very beautiful woman, of a sumptuous type ... On his left was the easel, supporting the tall canvas; beyond, at a distance of some twenty feet, stood the "sitter", on a dais, with her splendid furtrimmed cloak falling off her white shoulders. This side [of the easel], still more to the left, was a table as large as a five-o'clock tea-tray, the top of which consisted of a palette, fixed at a slight inclination. Whistler held in his left hand a sheaf of brushes, with monstrous long handles; in his right the brush he was at the moment using. His movements were those of a duellist fencing actively and cautiously with the small sword ... He advanced and retreated; he crouched, peering; he lifted himself, catching a swift impression; in a moment he had touched the canvas with his weapon and taken his distance once more. This would go on for an hour or two, most of it in silence ... I watched this operation day after day for a week or more.' ¹⁹

Whistler's biographer's, the Pennells, comment:

'M. Duret, who often saw the portrait in the studio, found in it something "mysterious and fantastic"; to us, the firm modelling of the face and beautiful bare neck and arms, gives to the almost regal figure more solidity than Whistler usually tried for, and less of the spirit, the phantom, that Desnoyers, and Huysmans after him, found in Whistler's paintings of women.' ²⁰

Conservation History

Before the Salon exhibition in Paris in 1882, Whistler told George Aloysius Lucas (1824-1909):

'I was foolish enough to varnish the picture just before it went - so that what with the damp weather and the crossing, I fancy that it will have "bloomed" - so that the transparency of the back ground will have for the moment been lost - and a nasty blue sort of breath be over the whole thing -

Tell Goupil to gently rub it over with an old soft silk handkerchief until the polish comes back - and by and bye when in the Salon - the day before the opening they are to give the whole picture a splendid coat of varnish.' ²¹

Similarly, he wrote to Charles Ephrussi (1849-1905):

'… la toile même pourrait se trouver dans une mauvaise condition - vu que je l'avais mal vernis et par ce temps humide le vernis a pu se couvrir de ce que nous appellons en Anglais "bloom" - c'est à dire une espèce de buée bleuâtre qui détruit pour le moment la transparence du fond.' ²²

Translation: '... the canvas could be found in bad condition - since I varnished it badly and in this humid weather the varnish could have been covered in what we call "bloom" in English - that is a kind of bluish bloom which can temporarily destroy the transparency of the background.'

Frame

In 1882, when he sent the portrait to the Salon, Whistler mentioned to Charles Ephrussi, 'J[e] crains un peu pour le cadre qui a été fraichement peint' ('I am a little concerned about the frame which has been freshly painted'). ²³ He also begged G. A. Lucas for his help with the frame:

'Now I want you to especially see to this for me - The frame requires a tablet gilded of course with my name upon it after the French fashion nailed over the name I have painted - and longer so that it will come in the proper centre - You will see that I have it a little to one side -

You know the kind of thing I mean - something like this WHISTLER.' ²⁴

Arrangement in Black: Lady Meux, Honolulu Academy of Arts

The present Portrait Whistler frame may have been added for exhibition in 1892/1893. ²⁵

History

Provenance

• 1881: commissioned by Henry Bruce Meux (1857-1900);
• 1900: bequeathed to the sitter, Valerie Susan Meux (née Langdon) (1847-1910);
• 1910: after the death of Lady Meux on 20 December 1910, it passed to her heir, Sir Hedworth Lambton (1856-1929), who assumed her name in 1911;
• 1929: at his death on 20 September 1929, bequeathed to his widow, Mildred C. H. Sturt, Viscountess Chelsea, Lady Lambton (1869-1942), who married Lord Charles Montagu (d. 1939) in 1930;
• 1942: bequeathed to her grandson, Ian Gilmour (1926-2007), Baron Gilmour of Craigmillar;
• 1960/1967: sold by Baron Gilmour to Hirschl & Adler, New York;
• 1967: bought from them by the Honolulu Academy of Arts with Acquisition Fund, funds from public solicitation, Memorial Fund, and Robert Allerton Fund.

It was commissioned in 1881 with two other portraits of Lady Meux (Harmony in Pink and Grey: Portrait of Lady Meux y229 and Portrait of Lady Meux in Furs y230) by the sitter's husband, Henry Meux, for 1500 guineas, although Whistler later agreed to accept 1200 guineas for the three. ²⁶ Robert de Montesquiou-Fezensac (1855-1921) described, with some humour, how 'les Meux, au moment de payer leurs portraits, s'étant mis en route pour un voyage que leur peintre dénomme "La Fuite en Egypte" (freely translated: 'how the Meuxes, when the moment came to pay for their portraits, set off on a journey that their painter calls "The Flight into Egypt" '). ²⁷

Exhibitions

• 1882: Ouvrages de peinture, sculpture, architecture, gravure et lithographie des artistes vivants, 100th exhibition, Salon de la Société des artistes français, Palais des Champs Elysées, Paris, 1882 (cat. no. 2687) as 'Portrait de M. Harry- Men' (sic).
• 1893: 3rd exhibition, Society of Portrait Painters, London, 1893 (cat. no. 46) as 'Lady Meux'.

Whistler wrote to Théodore Duret (1838-1927) in March 1882 when he sent the portrait to the Salon:

'Il est enfin parti mon "Arrangement en Noir. No. 5."! ['Ly Meux'] - et doit être rendu demain ou apres [sic] demain à la maison Goupil - Les Goupil vous savez ayant des representants ici, have taken all the trouble off my hands -

- d'abord j'ai eu le tort de le mal vernir la veille de son départ - and the varnish may have "bloomed" - you understand - so that the picture may have become covered with a sort of nasty thick blue veil - in which case it will want gently rubbing with a soft silk handkerchief - and afterwards when it is hung in the Salon, just before the opening it will want to be well varnished again -

Do ask Goupil to see to all this.' ²⁸

Partial translation: 'My "Arrangement in Black. No. 5" has gone at last and should be delivered to Goupils tomorrow or the day after tomorrow - Goupils having representatives here as you know have taken all the trouble off my hands - So my dear Duret go right away and see what condition the picture is in - I fear that something may not be quite right - to begin with I made the mistake of varnishing it badly the day before it left.'

Whistler added that he would have liked to exhibit Arrangement in Black: Lady Meux at the Rue du Sèze in Paris at the same time as Harmony in Black and Red y236, since the latter 'would appeal to the artists and explain or help the other.' ²⁹

The artist also told George Aloysius Lucas (1824-1909), on 28 January 1885, 'I have sent a great work to the Salon' – although he called it, misleadingly, 'Arrangement in black No. 5' – and he warned Lucas about the 'blooming', and asked him to instruct Goupil's to varnish the painting just before the opening of the exhibition. Likewise he expressed concerns about the state of the frame and canvas to Charles Ephrussi, adding 'je me permettrai de vous le recomander à votre sympathie et protection.' ³⁰

At the Salon, it held the attention of the artist Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas (1834-1917), who described it in a letter to Henri Rouart on 2 May 1882 as: 'Un Whistler étonnant, raffiné à l'excès, mais d'une trempe!' ³¹ Octave Mirbeau (1848-1917), a strong supporter of Whistler and his work, also admired the portrait, describing it as 'une simple, belle et grande œuvre', having 'dans l’harmonie générale du tableau, une mélancolie grandiose, qui fait penser à la Marche funèbre de Chopin.' ³²

Journal Amusant, 20 May 1882, GUL Whistler PC4/109

It was the subject of a caricature in the Journal Amusant: 'Madame Harry-Men [sic] seule inventeur de la pommade Albinos, pour faire blanchir instantanément les cheveux', showing her fair hair flowing down to her feet, instead of the ermine of her cloak. ³³

The Honolulu website comments:

'This portrait was exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1882 to an enthusiastic reception. Although one contemporary critic likened this depiction of Mrs. Meux to Venus, Whistler sought to depict more than her physical presence, concentrating instead on manipulating mood through color to create a composition which he likened to musical orchestration.' ³⁴

In 1884, Whistler, when requesting the loan of Harmony in Pink and Grey: Portrait of Lady Meux y229 for the Société des XX Exposition internationale de peinture et de sculpture in Brussels, told the sitter that 'The one in black velvet, by the way, was, I may tell you, an immense success in Paris.' ³⁵

Thomas Robert Way (1861-1913) asserted that Arrangement in Black: Lady Meux was shown at the Society of British Artists and that it was seen by royalty:

'This picture, which may very well be described as the State portrait, was exhibited at Suffolk Street, but has not been shown publicly since, as Lady Meux would not permit it to be moved from the wall it hangs upon. It is a memorable picture, and one of his finest. When it was finished the Prince and Princess of Wales our late King and Queen visited Whistler's studio to see it ... and they ... expressed their admiration of the picture.' ³⁶

This might suggest that it was shown some time between 1885 and 1887 in London but there is no record of this in the catalogues of the Society of British Artists.

In 1892 Francis Gerard Prange (b. ca 1843), describing Lady Meux as 'that refractory woman', had difficulty contacting or persuading her to lend the painting to the Grafton Galleries, but was eventually successful, and although the lighting in the gallery was much criticised, Prange told the artist that 'Your picture does look well.' ³⁷ At the Society of Portrait Painters show in the following year it was obvious that the sitter, her dress, and the dramatic portrait held equal fascination for the newspapers. The Westminster Gazette on 17 February 1893 praised it as 'one of his most sumptuous portraits', and on the following day the Sporting Gazette commented that 'Mr. Whistler's Lady Meux is accorded a place of honour in the music-room, its murky tints throwing into strong relief Mr. Shannon's portrait', while the Morning Post described it lyrically as 'Mr. J. M'Neill Whistler's fine portrait of Lady Meux, in black, with a white mantle and with a silver bracelet gleaming on the wrist of her sable- gloved arm'.

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. 228), plate 157, as 'Arrangement in Black: Lady Meux'.
• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. nos. 850-51).

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• Ouvrages de peinture, sculpture, architecture, gravure et lithographie des artistes vivants, 100th exhibition, Salon de la Société des artistes français, Palais des Champs Elysées, Paris, 1882 (cat. no. 2687) as 'Portrait de M. Harry-Men' (sic).
• 3rd exhibition, Society of Portrait Painters, London, 1893 (cat. no. 46) as 'Lady Meux'.

Newspapers 1855-1905

• Anon., 'In the Studios', London Daily News, London, 29 March 1882, pp. 5-6.
• 'Demiton' [Mirbeau, Octave], Paris-Journal, 4 May 1882, quoted in Dictionnaire Octave Mirbeau, website at http://mirbeau.asso.fr.
• Anon., The Westminster Gazette, London, 17 February 1893, p. 3.
• Anon., 'The Grafton Galleries', Daily Telegraph & Courier (London), London, 18 February 1893, p. 8.
• Anon., 'The Grafton Galleries', Morning Post, London, 18 February 1893, p. 5.
• Anon., 'The Country Gentleman', Sporting Gazette, London, 18 February 1893, p. 8.
• Anon., 'Notes', The Queen, London, 25 February 1893, pp. 56-57.
• Anon., 'Answers to Questions', Gentlewoman, London, 25 February 1893, pp. 20-21.

Journals 1855-1905

• Hawthorne, Mrs Julian [May Albertina], 'Mr. Whistler’s New Portraits', Harper’s Bazaar, 15 October 1881, pp. 658-59, at p. 658.
• Journal Amusant, Paris, 20 May 1882, caricature repr.
• Hawthorne, Julian, 'A Champion of Art', The Independent (New York), vol. 52, 2 November 1899, pp. 2954-60, at pp. 2957-58.

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. 485).
• Chaleyssin, Patrick, James McNeill Whistler: The Strident Cry of the Butterfly, Bournemouth, 1995, p. 86.
• Curry, David Park, James McNeill Whistler: Uneasy Pieces, New York, 2004, pp. 50-53, repr.
• Duret, Théodore, Histoire de J. McN. Whistler et de son oeuvre, Paris, 1904, pp. 94-95, 99, 150, repr. fp. 152.
• Gallatin, Albert Eugene, The Portraits and Caricatures of James McNeill Whistler: An Iconography, London, New York and Toronto, 1913, p. 48.
• MacDonald, Margaret F., Susan Galassi, Aileen Ribeiro, and Patricia de Montfort, Whistler, Women and Fashion, New Haven and London, 2003, pp. 35, 155, 159-70, 176, 190, figs. 152, 153, 154.
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 2 vols, London and Philadelphia, 1908, vol. 1, pp. 301, 308, repr. f.p. 308; vol. 2, p. 136.
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Whistler Journal, Philadelphia, 1921, f.p. 3.Petri, Grischka, Arrangement in Business: The Art Markets and the Career of James McNeill Whistler, Hildesheim, 2011, pp. 173, 382, 387-89, 442.
• Sickert, Bernhard, Whistler, London and New York, 1908, p. 161 (cat. no. 75) as 'Lady Meux, Arrangement in Black and White' [sic].
• Sutherland, Daniel E., Whistler: A Life for Art's Sake, New Haven and London, 2014, pp. 184-85, 189, 199, 256-57.
• Taylor, Hilary, James McNeill Whistler, London, 1978, p. 190.
• Walker, John, James McNeill Whistler, New York, 1987, pp. 92-93.
• Way, Thomas Robert, and G. R. Dennis, The Art of James McNeill Whistler: An Appreciation, 1st edition, London, 1903, p. 47.
• Way, Thomas Robert, Memories of James McNeill Whistler, the Artist, London and New York, 1912, pp. 64-66, 71, 137.

Books, General

• Dawson, Barbara, Images and insights, Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, Dublin, 1993.
• Ellis, George R., Honolulu Academy of Arts, Selected Works, Honolulu Academy of Arts, Honolulu, 1990, p. 222.
• Ellis, George R. and Marcia Morse, A Hawaii Treasury, Masterpieces from the Honolulu Academy of Arts, Tokyo, Asahi Shimbun, 2000, pp. 98, 208-09.
• The Frick Collection (ed.), Paintings: American, British, Dutch, Flemish and German,, vol. 1, Princeton, 1968, pp. 18-20.
• Guérin, M. (ed.), Lettres de Degas, Paris, 1945, p. 62.
• McConkey, Kenneth, Edwardian portraits: Images of an age of opulence, Woodbridge, 1987.
• Montesquiou, Robert de, Les Pas effacés: Mémoires, 3 vols, Paris, 1923, p. 255.
• Ward, Leslie, Forty Years of ‘Spy’, London, 1915, pp. 172-73.

Catalogues 1906-Present

EXHIBITION:

• British painting since Whistler, National Gallery, London, 1940 (cat. no. 25).
• Young, A. McLaren, James McNeill Whistler, Arts Council Gallery, London, and Knoedler Galleries, New York, 1960 (cat. no. 44).
• Sweet, Frederick A., James McNeill Whistler, Art Institute of Chicago and Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, 1968 (cat. nos. 31, 85).
• Dorment, Richard, and Margaret F. MacDonald, James McNeill Whistler, Tate Gallery, London, Musée d’Orsay, Paris, and National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1994-1995 (cat. no. 124).
• MacDonald, Margaret F., Susan Galassi, Aileen Ribeiro, and Patricia de Montfort, Whistler, Women and Fashion, New Haven and London, 2003 (no. cat. nos.).
• Gray, Anne, and Ann Galbally, The Edwardians: secrets and desires, National Gallery of Australia, Art Gallery of South Australia, 2004 (cat. no. 143).

Journals 1906-Present

• Sickert, Walter R., 'Where Paul and I differ', Art News, No. 14, 10 February 1910, p. 113.
• 'The Lost Lady: What became of a Whistler', The Graphic, 25 March 1911, p. 18, 'A caricature of Whistler painting simultaneously his three portraits of Lady Meux' by C. H. E. Brookfield repr.
• Reff, Theodore, 'The Butterfly and the Ox', Art News, vol. 70, no. 1, March 1971, pp. 26-31, 73-74, reprinted in Degas: The Artist’s Mind, pp. 15-36.
• Sutton, Denys, ‘Whistler and Lady Meux’, Journal of the Honolulu Academy of Arts, 1974, pp. 36-43, at pp. 38, 42, drawing repr. p. 39.

Newspapers 1906-Present

• 'The Missing Whistler of Lady Meux: The Artist's "Memorandum" ', Illustrated London News, vol. 138, part 1, 21 January 1911, p. 89, repr..

Websites

• Papanikolas, Theresa, 'Curator's notes: Extreme Makeover: Gallery 4 Edition', Honolulu Museum of Art website, 2011 (acc. 2020).

Unpublished

• Revillon, Joseph Whistler, Draft Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of J. McN. Whistler, [ca 1945-1955], Glasgow University Library (cat. no. 158).

Other

• None.