The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler
YMSM 372
The Greengrocer's Shop, Paris
Date
The Greengrocer's Shop, Paris dates from between 1887 and 1901. 1
The Greengrocer's Shop, Paris, The Hunterian
It is unfinished and therefore particularly difficult to date, but, given the technique, could date from as late as 1901.
Images
The Greengrocer's Shop, Paris, The Hunterian
Subject
Titles
Whistler's original title is not known. Only one title has been suggested:
- 'The Greengrocer's Shop – Paris' (1936, Glasgow University). 2
- 'The Greengrocer's Shop, Paris' (1980, YMSM). 3
The punctuation was changed to conform with other titles: 'The Greengrocer's Shop, Paris' is therefore the generally accepted title.
Description
The Greengrocer's Shop, Paris, The Hunterian
The ground floor frontage of a shop fills the horizontal panel. In the centre is an open window with small panes, and a glimpse of goods within. On the windowsill and on a low bench in front of it are bowls, baskets, and small piles of fruit and vegetables. Two bunches – possibly of herbs – hang to right of the window, and beyond them, at right, is a dark open doorway. At far right, a woman is standing with hands on hips. The colours are restricted to browns and ochres.
Site
A small shop, said to be in Paris, though it could easily have been in London or a smaller town: this is a very small-scale business, with no more goods for sale than a market stall.
The theme of shopfronts and streetscapes recurs in Whistler's work throughout the 1880s and 1890s.
Technique
Technique
The Greengrocer's Shop, Paris, The Hunterian
The thin panel is made from a single piece of timber 3-4 mm thick, the grain running horizontally, and it has bevelled edges on the verso. It was prepared with a very thin layer of grey priming, with faint application brushmarks along the long (horizontal) direction. This was used as a light tone in the sketch and was painted thinly and unevenly, with many areas left bare. 4
The panel, being unfinished, demonstrates Whistler's painting technique at a later period: the composition was first sketched roughly with charcoal on the pre-primed pale grey base, then the central areas were coloured with thinned-down oil paints in pale colours: yellow ochre, brown, a dull green, and a highlight of a more orange brown. 5 The woman was sketched in further to the right, and moved ca 2 mm to the left, resulting in two outlines for her proper left elbow, but then the figure was not completed.
Conservation History
The paint on the panel has damage along all four sides, suggesting it was transported or framed before it was dry (there are traces of gilding as well). There is a thin transparent varnish, fairly matte, and with a faint linear craquelure on a scale of 1 mm or less. This could be an egg white temporary varnish. There are traces of damage from impacts on the surface, and a light fingerprint at the lower left corner. 6
The panel is slightly warped, slightly split, and fragile. The pine panel support is bevelled on the verso and was also trimmed with a knife, possibly to fit into a paint box. There are spots and streaks of paint on the verso, mostly off-white, and one spot of emerald colour paint. 7
History
Provenance
- 1903: in Whistler's studio at his death and bequeathed to Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958);
- 1935: given by Miss R. Birnie Philip to the University of Glasgow in 1935.
Exhibitions
It was not exhibited in Whistler's lifetime, and by the terms of Miss Birnie Philip's gift to the University of Glasgow, is not lendable.
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. 372), plate 237, as 'The Greengrocer's Shop, Paris'.
Authored by Whistler
- None.
Catalogues 1855-1905
- None.
Journals 1855-1905
- None.
Monographs
- None.
Books on Whistler
- Sutton, Denys, James McNeill Whistler: Paintings, Etchings, Pastels and Watercolours, London, 1966, repr. pl. 109.
Books, General
- None.
Catalogues 1906-Present
- James McNeill Whistler, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, 1936 (cat. no. 3) as 'The Greengrocer's Shop – Paris'.
Journals 1906-Present
- None.
Websites
- The Hunterian website at http://collections.gla.ac.uk/#/details/ecatalogue/41186.
- ArtUK website at https://www.artuk.org.
Unpublished
- Revillon, Joseph Whistler, Draft Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of J. McN. Whistler, [ca 1945-1955], Glasgow University Library (cat. no. 354).
Other
- None.
Notes:
1: Dated 'about 1887/90' in YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 372).
2: James McNeill Whistler, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, 1936 (cat. no. 3).
3: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 372).
4: Clare Meredith, condition report, 8 May 2001, Hunterian files.
5: Dr. Joyce H. Townsend, Chief Conservator, Tate Britain, Report of examination, April 2017.
6: Townsend 2017, op. cit.
7: Meredith 2001, op. cit.; Townsend 2017, op. cit.
8: GUL Whistler BP II Ledger c, pp. 5-6