The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Arrangement in Violet and Pink: Mrs Walter Sickert dates from between 1885 and 1887. ¹

1885: The sitter's husband Walter Richard Sickert (1860-1942) commissioned a portrait of his wife, Ellen 'Nellie' Millicent Ashburner Cobden, Mrs W. R. Sickert (1848-1914). However, shortly afterwards he was in serious need of money and asked Whistler to let him have back the deposit:

'I want you if you can to let me have back the balance of £25 which you have on account for Nellie's portrait for a while. Of course whenever you can arrange to paint it & care to do so, we will make arrangements in good time to sell out & let you have the complete £100.' ²

1885-1886: Mrs Sickert sat to Whistler on 23 December 1885, and then there was a long delay (the Sickerts went abroad on 21 July 1886) but she suggested further sittings in December 1886. ³ It is, however, not entirely clear whether the sittings were for this portrait or for Green and Violet: Portrait of Mrs Walter Sickert y338.

1887: Arrangement in Violet and Pink: Mrs Walter Sickert was probably completed in October 1887, when Sickert sent Whistler a final cheque:

'I enclose a cheque for £42. 10. the balance for Nellie's portrait.

Of course it is impossible to thank you at all for doing us such a work. We shall always look upon it as practically a magnificent present. ... certainly the moneys are ludicrous, & bear no sort of proportion to the value of the work.

… Will you also tell your framemaker to send me in his bill for the frame.' ⁴

It was exhibited at the 64th Annual Exhibition, Royal Society of British Artists, London, 1887 (cat. no. 157) as 'Arrangement in violet and pink. (Portrait of Mrs. Walter Sickert)'.

Bernhard Sickert (1862-1932) stated in 1908 that, according to the sitter, the portrait was destroyed. ⁵

Images

Subject

Titles

Only one title is known:

• 'Arrangement in violet and pink. (Portrait of Mrs. Walter Sickert)' (1887, Royal Society of British Artists). ⁶
• 'Arrangement in Violet and Pink: Mrs Walter Sickert' (1980, YMSM). ⁷

The punctuation was simplified for the 1980 catalogue, so 'Arrangement in Violet and Pink: Mrs Walter Sickert' is the preferred title.

Description

The Artist described it as 'a full-length portrait of Mrs. Walter Sickert, an “Arrangement in Violet and Pink,” eminently powerful in handling, and full of refinement.' ⁸ The Sunday Times commented on the dress and décor: 'The dark violet dress ... against a pink curtain, and relieved by the red of a pretty hat and handkerchief is a masterly piece of painting. The right arm daintily holds the dress, while the left carries the hat.' ⁹ The Illustrated London News, however, described the dress as black silk, and the Standard said her hat was trimmed with red. ¹⁰

Sitter

Ellen 'Nellie' Millicent Ashburner Cobden, Mrs W. R. Sickert (1848-1914).

Green and Violet: Portrait of Mrs Walter Sickert, Fogg Art Museum

She also posed for the portrait reproduced above, Green and Violet: Portrait of Mrs Walter Sickert y338.

Technique

Technique

An art critic commented: 'The figure is beautifully drawn ... The dark violet dress ... against a pink curtain, and relieved by the red of a pretty hat and handkerchief is a masterly piece of painting' but added that the painting was 'barely completed.' ¹¹

Conservation History

The portrait was probably destroyed.

Frame

Unknown.

History

Provenance

• 1885/1886: commissioned by Walter Richard Sickert (1860-1942);
• 1887: Sickert made the final payment for the portrait.

The sitter's husband Walter Richard Sickert (1860-1942) commissioned a portrait of his wife, Ellen 'Nellie' Millicent Ashburner Cobden, Mrs W. R. Sickert (1848-1914). However, shortly afterwards he asked Whistler to let him have back the deposit temporarily. ¹² In October 1887 Sickert sent Whistler a final cheque for '£42. 10. the balance for Nellie's portrait.' ¹³

Exhibitions

• 1887: 64th Annual Exhibition, Royal Society of British Artists, London, 1887 (cat. no. 157) as 'Arrangement in violet and pink. (Portrait of Mrs. Walter Sickert)'.

According to The Sunday Times, the portrait was barely completed, and the paint had sunk in, when it was exhibited at the RBA, but it was described favourably:

'The figure is beautifully drawn, posed with grace and actuality, and is replete with refinement. The dark violet dress ... against a pink curtain, and relieved by the red of a pretty hat and handkerchief is a masterly piece of painting. The right arm daintily holds the dress, while the left carries the hat.' ¹⁴

Similarly, the colour harmony was appreciated by the Globe, but the reviewer criticized it for being 'undefined in form, and somewhat vaporous in effect'. ¹⁵

The Illustrated London News described Whistler's group of works: 'The central, and in a sense the most important, work is Mr. Whistler's “Arrangement in Violet and Pink” (157), but which to ordinary mortals is more intelligible as a portrait of Mrs. Walter Sickert.' ¹⁶ The Artist commended it as 'a full-length portrait of Mrs. Walter Sickert, an “Arrangement in Violet and Pink,” eminently powerful in handling, and full of refinement.' ¹⁷

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. 337) as 'Arrangement in Violet and Pink: Mrs Walter Sickert'.

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• 64th Annual Exhibition, Royal Society of British Artists, London, 1887 (cat. no. 157) as 'Arrangement in violet and pink. (Portrait of Mrs. Walter Sickert)'.

Newspapers 1855-1905

• Anon., 'Society of British Artists', Globe, London, 4 April 1887, p. 6.
• Anon., 'The Society of British Artists', Morning Post, London, 5 April 1887, p. 3.
• Anon., 'Art Exhibitions', Illustrated London News, 9 April 1887, p. 6.
• Anon., Sunday Times, London, 17 April 1887.
• Anon., 'The Society of British Artists', The Stage, London, 22 April 1887, p. 16.
• Anon., Tablet, London, 23 April 1887, pp. 21-22.
• Anon., 'The Pictures of the Season, Liverpool Mercury, Liverpool, 30 June 1887, p. 5.

Journals 1855-1905

• The Artist and Journal of Home Culture, 1887, vol. 8, p. 149.
• The British Architect: A Journal of Architecture and the Accessory Arts, 22 April 1887, vol. 27, p. 302.
• The Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art, 9 April 1887, vol. 63, p. 515.

Monographs

• None.

Books on Whistler

• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 2 vols, London and Philadelphia, 1908, vol. 2, p. 64.
• Sickert, Bernhard, Whistler, London and New York, 1908, p. 164.

Books, General

• Robins, Anna Gruetzner (ed.), Walter Sickert: the Complete Writings on Art, Oxford, 2000, pp. 194-96.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• None.

Journals 1906-Present

• Dempsey, Andrew, 'Whistler and Sickert: A Friendship and its End', Apollo, vol. 83, January 1966, pp. 30-37, pp. 32.
• Sickert, Walter R., 'Where Paul and I differ', Art News, No. 14, 10 February 1910, p. 113.

Websites

• None.

Unpublished

• Revillon, Joseph Whistler, Draft Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of J. McN. Whistler, [ca 1945-1955], Glasgow University Library (cat. nos. 189-190).

Other

• None.