The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Portrait of Robert Barr dates from 1894/1895. ¹

According to the Academy, it was painted when Whistler was under 'mental strain', probably when his wife was diagnosed with cancer in 1894. The Academy reported as follows:

'Some years ago, at a time when Mr. Whistler was suffering great mental strain, it became customary for some of his intimate friends to visit him as frequently as possible, with the idea of keeping him interested and cheerful. Among these friends was Mr. Robert Barr, who saw the artist almost daily and who sat as model as frequently and patiently as his own busy life would allow.' ²

Then, Whistler asked if he could paint Barr's daughter (Portrait of Miss Laura Barr y429), and so Barr was freed 'from the somewhat trying duty of constantly sitting to be studied and sketched.' ³

Portrait of Robert Barr, Detroit Institute of Arts

Walter Richard Sickert (1860-1942) stated that he saw Whistler at work on a portrait of Barr, and it is probable that, like Portrait of Miss Laura Barr y429, it was painted in Sickert's studio at 13 Robert Street, between December 1894 and March 1895. ⁴ Barr's wife, Eva Bennett (Mrs Robert Barr) (d. ca 1919), confirmed that it was painted in 'a studio in Robert St.' and stated that Whistler made 'many studies if him & this one was chosen out of several.' ⁵

Images

Subject

Titles

Only one title is known:

• 'Portrait of Robert Barr' (1920, Burroughs). ⁶
• 'Portrait of Robert Barr' (1980, YMSM). ⁷

Description

Portrait of Robert Barr, Detroit Institute of Arts

A portrait in vertical format. It shows the head of a man facing the viewer, very slightly turned to left. He has a droopy moustache and pointed beard. He wears a dark jacket over a white shirt or cravat, and a jaunty felt hat.

Sitter

Robert Barr, photograph

Robert Barr (1849-1912), journalist and writer, was born in Glasgow and educated in Toronto. He joined the staff of the Detroit Free Press in 1876 and settled in London in 1881. He and his wife Eva Bennett (Mrs Robert Barr) (d. ca 1919) had a daughter, Laura Charlotte Barr (Mrs Dodd) (1880-1949), who also posed to Whistler, for Portrait of Miss Laura Barr y429.

Barr founded the Idler with Jerome K. Jerome in 1892. Whistler appears to have met Barr in the winter of 1894, when he brought his wife to London to see a doctor, who diagnosed her illness as cancer.

In 1894 Whistler made an etching of Barr wearing the same hat, Robert Barr [478]. This was not printed in Whistler's lifetime: the plate was discovered, bitten in and printed by Walter Richard Sickert (1860-1942) in 1908. ⁸

Technique

Technique

Portrait of Robert Barr, Detroit Institute of Arts

Although highly coloured, it is painted thinly, with patches of canvas clearly visible. The long loaded strokes of a full brush, outlining Barr's shoulder and his shirt front, appear fresh and spontaneous.

It shows few signs of the frequent long sittings mentioned by the Academy and could have been rubbed down between sessions. ⁹ The main sign of earlier versions of the portrait is the hat, which has been reduced in size, and wide pentimenti about the head.

However, it is also possible that, as Barr's wife, Eva Bennett (Mrs Robert Barr) (d. ca 1919), stated, Whistler made 'many studies if him', which would account for the frequent sittings. ¹⁰

Conservation History

Portrait of Robert Barr, Detroit Institute of Arts

Portrait of Robert Barr, photograph, 1980

The canvas was relined in 1966, at which time the varnish was thinned, scratch marks and old restorations retouched, and it was given a new coating of varnish.

Frame

61 × 55.9 × 7.6 cm (24 x 22 x 3").

History

Provenance

• 1894/1895: acquired by Robert Barr (1849-1912);
• 1912: bequeathed to his widow, Eva Bennett (Mrs Robert Barr) (d. ca 1919);
• 1919: probate granted for the will of Eva Barr;
• By 1920: sold through a London art dealer to Edward Guthrie Kennedy (1849-1932), New York dealer;
• 1920: sold by Kennedy Galleries to the Witenagemote Club of Detroit in 1920 for $3500;
• 1920: given by the Club to the Detroit Institute of Arts.

Exhibitions

There is no record of an exhibition in Whistler's lifetime.

At some time between 1912 and 1914 the painting was, according to the sitter's widow, sent to the Grosvenor Gallery where, according to Mrs Barr, 'It was pronounced by many to have distinctive Whistler qualities', but its authenticity was disputed by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919). ¹¹ It is not clear if it was submitted for exhibition or authentication.

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. 428), plate 265, as 'Portrait of Robert Barr'.

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• None.

Journals 1855-1905

• Anon., ' “The Lost Whistler” - concerning the portrait of Miss Laura Barr, daughter of Robert Barr', The Academy, vol. 65, 10 October 1903, p. 390.

Monographs

• Burroughs, C. H., 'Whistler’s Portrait of Robert Barr’', Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts, vol. 2, November 1920, pp. 13-14, repr. frontispiece.

Books on Whistler

• None.

Books, General

• Robins, Anna Gruetzner (ed.), Walter Sickert: the Complete Writings on Art, Oxford, 2000, p. 195.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• Figure Painting, College Art Association, Grand Rapids Art Gallery, MI., 1955 (cat. no. 45).
• Paintings by American Masters, Kalamazoo Art Center, MI, 1966, p. 10.
• Sixth Annual Exhibition of American Artists, Detroit Institute of Arts, 1920 (cat. no. 167).

Journals 1906-Present

• Sickert, Walter, 'Where Paul and I differ', Art News, No. 14, 10 February 1910, p. 113.

Websites

• Detroit Institute of Arts website at http://www.dia.org.

Unpublished

• Revillon, Joseph Whistler, Draft Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of J. McN. Whistler, [ca 1945-1955], Glasgow University Library (cat. no. 212).

Other

• Bookman, 1896, photograph of sitter repr. p. 101.