The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Harmony in White and Ivory: Portrait of Lady Colin Campbell dates from 1886. ¹

Gertrude Elizabeth Campbell (Lady Colin Campbell) (1857-1911) posed to Whistler in the late summer and autumn of 1886. ² 'To be understood by you is my delight! - to do beautiful things with you is my ambition - I have a plan!' the artist wrote to his prospective sitter. ³ On 22 August he was in France and suggested another sitting after his return:

I shall be back by the end of the week - and ready to go on with our great work at once -

What do you say of Monday - 30th. at three? -

I hope the country has done you no harm -

It could not make you more beautiful.' ⁴

Lady Colin settled for the previous day, 29 August. ⁵ There is a suggestion that her dress was only ready in September, when Whistler commented, 'Je vois ca [sic] d'içi - the lovely frock!' ⁶ The dress that was shown in the final portrait was designed by Charles Frederick Worth (1825-1895).

The sitter had married Colin Campbell (1853-1895), fifth son of the eighth Duke of Argyll, in 1881. She obtained a judicial separation in 1884 on grounds of cruelty. In 1886 she petitioned for divorce, citing the housemaid, and her husband counter petitioned naming three co-respondents. Whistler was trying to complete Lady Colin's portrait before her divorce went to court. It has been suggested that the white dress may have had a specific meaning: 'the color chosen, perhaps, to signify virtue in the face of threats to her reputation.' ⁷

The portrait was first exhibited in the Winter Exhibition, Society of British Artists, London, 1886 (cat. no. 259) and described in the catalogue as 'unfinished'. The artist's sister-in-law Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958) told the sitter that it was subsequently destroyed. ⁸

Images

Subject

Titles

Only one main title has been suggested:

• 'the white picture' (1886, Whistler). ⁹
• 'Harmony in White and Ivory: Portrait of Lady Colin Campbell' (1886, Society of British Artists). ¹⁰
• 'Harmony in White and Ivory: Portrait of Lady Colin Campbell' (1980, YMSM). ¹¹

Description

A full length portrait of a woman in white evening dress, turned slightly to left. It was a portrait in vertical format.

Anon., Harmony in White and Ivory: Portrait of Lady Colin Campbell, woodcut

The wood engraving of Harmony in White and Ivory: Portrait of Lady Colin Campbell y354 suggests its proportions, and since it was a life-size full-length portrait, these proportions would correspond to a canvas of approximately 191 x 84 cm (75 x 33").

There are no photographs of the portrait extant but the woodcut published in the Pall Mall Gazette, 30 November 1886, appeared with Whistler's approval, and the original drawing may have been made by Walter Richard Sickert (1860-1942) or Théodore Roussel (1847-1926). ¹² Both of them had made drawings of paintings exhibited by Whistler at the Society of British Artists, for publication (Nocturne in Blue and Gold: Valparaiso Bay y076, Cremorne, No. 1 y163, and Arrangement in Black, No. 8: Portrait of Mrs Cassatt y250).

Anon., Harmony in White and Ivory: Portrait of Lady Colin Campbell, wood engraving

An engraving suggests slightly different proportions, and is rather narrower in relation to the height. It also shows more details of the costume. Albert Ludovici, Jr (1852-1932) described the portrait as 'a full-length portrait of Lady Colin Campbell in a white satin dress ... The frock was one of Worth's creations, made on purpose for the portrait.' ¹³ One journalist mentioned that the background was grey, another, that it was 'cloudy white' and showed a 'slight figure draped in white muslin and lace'. ¹⁴ One art critic, possibly Malcolm Charles Salaman (1855-1940), described it more fully:

'The tall finely proportioned figure, in a white evening dress of the present fashion, displaying the arms and throat, stands against a delicate grey wall and a floor of a slightly deeper tone, the left arm catching up the train of the dress, in graceful curves, while the right hangs by the side holding a black shawl, the whole composition being one of singular elegance. The handsome head, with its dark hair, is set upon the ivory-toned shoulders with dignity; and it is modelled with that unerring sense of beauty without which truth is valueless in art.' ¹⁵

Sitter

Lady Colin Campbell, carbon print, 1893, National Portrait Gallery, London, Ax16174

Gertrude Elizabeth Campbell (Lady Colin Campbell) (1857-1911). Whistler's affectionate letters address her as 'the lovely leopard' and 'O beautiful Leopard!' ¹⁶

Gertrude Elizabeth Blood, younger daughter of Edmond Maghlin Blood of Brickhill, Co. Clare, Ireland, married Colin Campbell (1853-1895), fifth son of the eighth Duke of Argyll, in 1881. Lady Colin's sister-in-law, Janey Sevilla Campbell (Lady Archibald Campbell) (ca 1846-d.1923), had already been painted by Whistler (see Portrait of Lady Archibald Campbell in Court Dress y240).

Whistler met Lady Colin Campbell in 1881, shortly after she had been painted by Frank Duveneck (1848-1919) in Venice. Whistler wrote to another friend of Venice days, one of the Duveneck 'Boys', Otto Henry Bacher (1856-1909): 'it was in the box of her future brother in law, Lord Archie, that I met the very handsome and exceedingly amiable lady – She spoke of "the Boys" and described to me her portrait with great admiration.' ¹⁷

The marriage did not last long. Lady Colin obtained a judicial separation in 1884 on grounds of cruelty. In I886 she petitioned for divorce, citing the housemaid, and her husband counter-petitioned naming three co-respondents. At the time of the exhibition, in December 1886, the lawyer George Henry Lewis (1833-1911) was cross-examining the Duke of Marlborough. Both petitions were dismissed. ¹⁸ After the case Lord Colin went to Bombay where he died in 1895.

Lady Colin was for a time art critic of The World and editor of the Ladies Field, and wrote several books including Darell Blake, A Book of the Running Brook and A Miracle in Rabbits. She was deeply interested in art, literature, fashion and sport. She died on 1 November 1911.

Technique

Composition

Anon., Harmony in White and Ivory: Portrait of Lady Colin Campbell, woodcut

Anon., Harmony in White and Ivory: Portrait of Lady Colin Campbell, wood engraving

The two prints reproduced above agree as to the general arrangement of the pose and dress, though the more highly detailed engraving suggests it was narrower in proportion to width than does the woodcut.

Technique

Sittings had been long and exhausting. On one occasion Whistler apologised:

'I want to say to you that I am really quite heartstricken to know that I fatigued you as I did today -

I felt an admiration and a fear as I looked at you superbly standing - so splendid and so plucky! - but I knew that my best apology was to work without words that you might be spared as much as possible - still I may reveal to you now my nervous anxiety and sympathy.' ¹⁹

When exhibited in the Winter Exhibition, Society of British Artists, London, 1886 (cat. no. 259) it was described in the catalogue as 'unfinished'.

However, Bernhard Sickert (1862-1932) described it as painted in 'delicate gradations' of 'white and ivory … in a broad and masterly style.' ²⁰

Conservation History

According to the Pennells, the artist's sister-in-law Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958) told the sitter that it was subsequently destroyed. ²¹

Frame

Unknown.

History

Provenance

Unknown. After the exhibition in 1886, no further reference is known.

Exhibitions

• 1886: Winter Exhibition, Society of British Artists, London, 1886 (cat. no. 259) as 'Harmony in White and Ivory: Portrait of Lady Colin Campbell'.

Lady Colin Campbell herself exhibited a sketch in the Society of British Artists winter exhibition of 1886-1887 (cat. no. 101). This, as well as Whistler's portrait of her, enjoyed a certain controversial success.

J. B. Partridge, At the Whistleries, Suffolk Street, drawing for Judy, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, MA

J. B. Partridge, At the Whistleries, Suffolk Street, from Judy, 8 December 1886

A page of sketches and caricatures of Whistler's exhibits at the SBA was drawn by J. Bernard Partridge (1861-1945) and published under the title 'At the Whistleries Suffolk Street', in Judy; or the London Serio-Comic Journal, 8 December 1886, p. 267.

The Pall Mall Gazette on 30 November 1886 commented favourably on Whistler and his influence on the SBA:

'As a whole, in spite of plentiful rejections of imitations of the presidents manner, the exhibition is distinctly one of "impressionists" and the kindred schools. The first to be considered, of course, is Mr. Whistler's full-length unfinished portrait of Lady Colin Campbell, " A Harmony in White and Ivory" (259). It is the portrait of a beautiful, stately, refined, and graceful woman. She is represented in evening costume, holding up the train of her dress (as will be seen from the sketch the artist has kindly caused to be made for us), a highly skilful piece of work.' ²²

Whistler's portrait was described in the 1886 catalogue as 'unfinished'. Wyke Bayliss (1835-1906), who later succeeded Whistler as president of the RBA, suggested that the portrait should be removed from the exhibition, although whether on the grounds of the unfinished state of the picture as suggested by the Pennells, or because of the scandal surrounding the sitter is not clear. ²³ George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), newly appointed art critic of The World, certainly thought that since the portrait was 'unfinished', it had 'no business in the gallery.' ²⁴ The Era on 11 December 1886 commented cryptically on the timing of the exhibit and its unfinished state:

'The most important of his exhibits (for other than artistic reasons) is ... " Harmony in White and Ivory," more interesting to the public just now from its sub-title, Portrait of Lady Colin Campbell. The picture is unfinished, especially about the head; and it is not, perhaps, our business to inquire what motive induced the artist to prematurely thrust this particular portrait upon the public. The lady is standing erect in a white evening-dress, with a sortie de bal thrown carelessly over the left arm, and the artist has made her "more than common tall;" indeed, for exaggeration of length, she rivals the figures in a French fashion-plate.'

In 1892 David Croal Thomson (1855-1930) suggested paintings that could be included in Whistler's retrospective at Goupil's, adding 'if you could consent to show the portrait of Lady Colin Campbell in white we should be specially pleased.' ²⁵ However, it may have already been destroyed by the artist and was never exhibited again.

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. 354) as 'Harmony in White and Ivory: Portrait of Lady Colin Campbell', plates 422, 425.

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• Winter Exhibition, Society of British Artists, London, 1886 (cat. no. 259) as 'Harmony in White and Ivory: Portrait of Lady Colin Campbell'.

Newspapers 1855-1905

• Anon., Canterbury Journal, Kentish Times and Farmers' Gazette, Kent, 19 June 1886, p. 3.
• Anon., 'The Society of British Artists', Pall Mall Gazette, London, 30 November 1886, repr. drawing of the portrait, p. 4.
• Anon., 'The Winter Exhibitions', London Evening Standard, London, 30 November 1886, p. 3.
• Anon., 'The Society of British Artists', Morning Post, London, 30 November 1886, p. 5.
• Anon., 'The Society of British Artists', The Globe, London, 1 December 1886, p. 6.
• Anon., 'Two Winter Exhibitions', St James Gazette, London, 1 December 1886.
• Anon., 'Under Mr. Whistler's Regime', Pall Mall Budget, London, 2 December 1886, drawing repr.
• Anon., 'The Society of British Artists', and 'The Ladies Column', Illustrated London News, London, 4 December 1886, pp. 3, 7.
• 'G. B. S.', [Shaw, George Bernard], [Review of Society of British Artists], The World, London, 8 December 1886.
• Anon., 'The Society of British Artists', Sunday Times, London, 12 December 1886.

Journals 1855-1905

• Partridge, J. Bernard, 'At the Whistleries Suffolk Street', Judy; or the London Serio-Comic Journal, 8 December 1886, p. 267.
• Anon., 'Current Art', Magazine of Art, vol. 10, 1887, pp. 109-113, at p. 111.
• 'Aliquis', 'Art Critics of Today', Art Journal, 1892, pp. 193-97, drawing of sitter, not by Whistler, repr. p. 193.

Monographs

• None.

Books on Whistler

• MacDonald, Margaret F., Susan Galassi, Aileen Ribeiro, and Patricia de Montfort, Whistler, Women and Fashion, New Haven and London, 2003, pp. 182-83, engraving repr. fig. 177.
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 2 vols, London and Philadelphia, 1908, vol. 2, p. 63.
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 5th (revised) edition, London and Philadelphia, 1911, wood engraving of portrait repr. f.p. 316.
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Whistler Journal, Philadelphia, 1921, p. 166.
• Petri, Grischka, Arrangement in Business: The Art Markets and the Career of James McNeill Whistler, Hildesheim, 2011, pp. 174, 390, 634, 684.
• Robins, Anna Gruetzner, A Fragile Modernism. Whistler and his Impressionist Followers, London and New Haven, 2007, pp. 54, 72-79, 84-85.
• Sickert, Bernhard, Whistler, London and New York, 1908, p. 190.
• Sutherland, Daniel E., Whistler: A Life for Art's Sake, New Haven and London, 2014, pp. 218, 220.

Books, General

• Ludovici, Anthony, An Artist's Life in London and Paris 1870-1925, New York, 1926, p. 88.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• None.

Journals 1906-Present

• None.

Websites

• None.

Unpublished

• Revillon, Joseph Whistler, Draft Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of J. McN. Whistler, [ca 1945-1955], Glasgow University Library (cat. no. 167).

Other

• None.