The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Arrangement in Pink, Red and Purple probably dates from between 1884 and 1885. ¹

Arrangement in Pink, Red and Purple, Cincinnati Art Museum

Note in Red: The Siesta, Terra Foundation for American Art

The chaise longue in Arrangement in Pink, Red and Purple is like that in Red and Pink: La Petite Mephisto y255 and Note in Red: The Siesta y254, and the butterfly monogram is very like that on the latter. These two paintings are dated 1883/1884.

It had been suggested that Arrangement in Pink, Red and Purple was painted in Dieppe in the autumn of 1885. ² This was based on a statement by the artist Jacques Émile Blanche (1861-1942), that he bought a portrait of Olga Alberta Caracciolo (1871–1930/1931) from Whistler in Dieppe in 1885: 'Scherzo, arrangement in pink, red purple, a few spots of colour which I bought from the painter ... because the pose he used was the same as that in my portrait.' ³ However, it is not certain that this has been correctly interpreted: it does not, for instance, say that it was painted in Dieppe.

The setting and the chaise longue in Arrangement in Pink, Red and Purple look more like those in Whistler's London studio, as seen in several studies of sitters in London, including Milly Finch m0907.

Images

Subject

Titles

The original title is not known. Suggested titles include:

• Possibly 'Scherzo, arrangement in pink, red purple' (1937, J. E. Blanche). ⁴
• 'Arrangement in Pink and Purple' (1947, Macbeth). ⁵
• 'Arrangement in Pink and Purple' (1960, Arts Council). ⁶
• 'Arrangement in Pink, Red and Purple' (1980, YMSM). ⁷

'Arrangement in Pink, Red and Purple' is the preferred title.

Description

Arrangement in Pink, Red and Purple, Cincinnati Art Museum

A study in vertical format of a young woman standing in front of a chaise longue (the high end of the couch being at left) which is covered in red drapery that has a white and grey pattern. Clothes (possibly scarves or shawls) in white and pink, grey, black and dark reddish brown are scattered on the chaise longue. Behind this is a dark blue curtain and other hangings in grey (at left) and buff (at right). The woman is wearing a close-fitting dress in very pale pinkish-lilac (nearly white), with a narrow black belt. It has a high neck and three-quarter length sleeves. In her right hand she holds up her skirt, which has two broad rows of pleats at the hem. There is a red ribbon in her short curly brown hair, a red scarf round her neck, and red stockings on one slim foot – the left foot, which points forward; her other foot is barely visible in the shadows under her skirt.

Sitter

Several suggestions as to the identity of the sitter have been made, including Maud Franklin (1857-1939), Millie Finch (fl. 1875-1885) and Olga Alberta Caracciolo (1871–1930/1931).

Frederick Sweet first suggested the model was Maud Franklin, as did Andrew McLaren Young (1913-1975) in 1960, but in 1968 it was proposed that this Arrangement in Pink, Red and Purple was a painting bought by J. E. Blanche in 1885 and that the sitter was Olga Alberta Caracciolo, later the Baroness de Meyer, who was the daughter of the Duchess of Caracciolo. ⁸

Adolf De Meyer, Portrait d'Olga de Meyer, photograph, 1902

Arrangement in Pink, Red and Purple, Cincinnati Art Museum

However this is not certain. What Blanche actually said was that he, Walter Richard Sickert (1860-1942) and Whistler were admirers of the lovely young Olga Caracciolo in Dieppe in 1885: 'Olga inspired a Scherzo, arrangement in pink, red and purple, a few spots of colour which I bought from the painter of Nocturnes because the pose he used was the same as that in my portrait.' ⁹

There is indeed a portrait by Blanche showing Olga Caracciolo in a pink dress, facing right (her face in three-quarter view to right) and holding a hat, which is dated 1889, and which bears a faint resemblance to Whistler's Arrangement in Pink, Red and Purple. ¹⁰ A couple of years later, in 1891, a portrait of Olga, seated, by Blanche, was exhibited in the New English Art Club (cat. no. 55) as Pink Rose, and admired by Sickert at that time; Blanche asserted that this portrait had originally been seen by Sickert and Whistler in Dieppe (which would have been in 1885). ¹¹ However, the pose and composition of Pink Rose does not look remotely like Arrangement in Pink, Red and Purple y324, and it seems likely Blanche got his lines crossed, as he often did. He was, after all, writing some fifty years after the events recorded.

Study of a Girl's Head and Shoulders, Art Institute of Chicago

It has also been suggested – unconvincingly – that other portraits by Whistler show Olga Caracciolo; these include Study of a Girl's Head and Shoulders y486 (but this dates from the 1890s), and Study in Brown y313 (a Chelsea girl, also from the 1890s).

Note in pink and purple, Cincinnati Art Museum

Arrangement in Pink, Red and Purple, Cincinnati Art Museum

Milly Finch, Freer Gallery of Art

A watercolour, Note in pink and purple m0935, also in the Cincinnati Art Museum, provides an interesting comparison with oil, Arrangement in Pink, Red and Purple, and suggests another possibility as to the model. ¹² This watercolour has been identified as a portrait of Millie Finch (fl. 1875-1885). Finch appeared in several paintings when Maud Franklin was indisposed (Harmony in Coral and Blue: Miss Finch y237, Harmony in Fawn Colour and Purple: Portrait of Miss Milly Finch y238, and Harmony in Blue and Violet: Miss Finch y239). She has a strong resemblance to the model in Arrangement in Pink, Red and Purple. Furthermore, she posed reclining on the famous red chaise longue for another watercolour, Milly Finch m0907.

Technique

Composition

Red and Pink: La Petite Mephisto, Freer Gallery of Art

Note in Red: The Siesta, Terra Foundation for American Art

The chaise longue is probably the same as that seen in Red and Pink: La Petite Mephisto y255 and Note in Red: The Siesta y254. They share a similar fiery colour scheme, and form a striking group of studies in red.

Technique

Arrangement in Pink, Red and Purple, Cincinnati Art Museum

It was painted boldly on a grey primed panel, and, considering the size of the panel, the brushes used were rather large, 5 mm (3/16") wide, on the luminous lilac dress, and 10 mm (5/16") on the deep blue curtain in the back-ground. There are signs of alterations under the chaise longue, on the right, and a series of brushstrokes following the changing outlines of the figure. Altogether there are a wide variety of brushstrokes, applying the thin paint in small blobs and dots, short dashes, broader slashes, and fluid, expressive lines.

Conservation History

Arrangement in Pink, Red and Purple, photograph, 1980

Unknown. There seems to have been some rubbing and paint loss at the edges, probably from an earlier frame.

History

Provenance

• 1885: bought, possibly from Whistler, by Jacques Émile Blanche (1861-1942), in Dieppe.
• 1919: bought from Alphonse Kann (1870-1948), Paris dealer, by Agnew's, London dealers, on 21 October 1919 (a/c # 5630);
• 1919: sold by Agnew's to James P. Labey, New York art dealer, 22 October 1919;
• 1920: bought back from Labey on 16 February 1920 by Agnew's and sold to the John Levy galleries, New York, 7 April 1920 (a/c #5722);
• 1920: bought by Cincinnati Art Museum, 20 April 1920, for $7500 (John J. Emory Fund).

According to the artist Jacques Émile Blanche, he bought a portrait of Olga Alberta Caracciolo (1871–1930/1931) from Whistler in Dieppe in 1885. ¹³ It is not known when it was sold by Blanche. A label on the verso appears to state that the painting was once in the collection of 'J. Emery'. However, it is possible that this actually refers to the John J. Emory Fund, which provided the funds for the purchase by Cincinnati Art Museum. The Museum records state that the painting was bought direct from James P. Labey, but, according to the records of Messrs Agnew, other art dealers acted as intermediaries.

Exhibitions

• Unknown.

It is very likely that it was shown at one of the Dowdeswell exhibitions, in 1884 or 1886, but the title has not been identified. The little painting is very striking and one might have expected it to be mentioned in reviews, but so far none have been located.

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. 324), plate 220, as 'Arrangement in Pink, Red and Purple'.

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• None.

Journals 1855-1905

• None.

Monographs

• None.

Books on Whistler

• Lane, James W., Whistler, (American Artists Series), New York, 1942, repr. p. 85.
• MacDonald, Margaret F., Susan Galassi, Aileen Ribeiro, and Patricia de Montfort, Whistler, Women and Fashion, New Haven and London, 2003, pp. 151-53, repr. fig. 145.
• Sutton, Denys, Nocturne: The Art of James McNeill Whistler, London, 1963, p. 104.

Books, General

• Blanche, Jacques-Émile, Portraits of a Lifetime: The Late Victorian Era, the Edwardian Pageant, 1870-1914, W. Clement (trans. and ed.), London, 1937, vol. 1, p. 56.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• Whistler Loan Exhibition, Macbeth Gallery, New York, 1947 (cat. no. 31) as 'Arrangement in Pink and Purple'.
• Sweet, Frederick A. (ed.), Sargent, Whistler and Mary Cassatt, Art Institute of Chicago and Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1954 (cat. no. 102) as 'Arrangement in Pink and Purple'.
• Young, A. McLaren, James McNeill Whistler, Arts Council Gallery, London, and Knoedler Galleries, New York, 1960 (cat. no. 48) as 'Arrangement in Pink and Purple'.
• The Whistlers: A Family Reunion, Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, 1965.
• Sweet, Frederick A., James McNeill Whistler, Art Institute of Chicago and Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, 1968 (cat. no. 32) 'Arrangement in Pink and Purple'.
• Spencer, Robin, James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), Nationalgalerie, Berlin, 1969, p. 79 (not exhibited).
• Spink, Nesta, Whistler: The Later Years, University of Michigan Art Gallery, Ann Arbor, 1978, checklist (cat. no. 79).
• Myers, Kenneth John, Mr. Whistler’s Gallery: Pictures at an 1884 Exhibition, Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 2003, pp. 74, 83, 85.

Journals 1906-Present

• The Connoisseur, vol. 80, 1928, repr. in reverse, p. 139.
• Anon., 'Whistlers at the Cincinnati Museum', Fine Arts Review, vol. 2, October 1922, pp. 9, 30, repr. p. 9.

Websites

• Cincinnati Art Museum website at https://www.cincinnatiartmuseum.org/art/explore-the-collection?id=23342161.

Unpublished

• Revillon, Joseph Whistler, Draft Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of J. McN. Whistler, [ca 1945-1955], Glasgow University Library (cat. no 179).
• Pickvance, Ronald, 'Blanche and Whistler', November 1961, ts copy in GUL WPP.

Other

• None.