The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Rose et vert: Une étude dates from the 1890s, possibly between 1892 and 1899. It is difficult to date, but is dated from the technique and its relationship to other works. ¹

Rose et vert: Une étude, The Hunterian

Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Little Blue Girl, Freer Gallery of Art

In 1902 the collector Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) mentioned seeing in Whistler's studio '1 tall lady without background like Little Blue girl', which may have been this study (except that it is not blue). ² The 'Little Blue girl' was Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Little Blue Girl y421, which was painted between 1894 and 1903, and has a similar composition, but with the figure in reverse.

Images

Subject

Titles

One title has been suggested, with variations in punctuation:

• ' "Rose et Vert" (une étude)' (1904, Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts). ³
• 'Rose et Vert – Une Étude' (1936, University of Glasgow). ⁴
• 'Rose et vert: Une étude' (1980, YMSM). ⁵

'Rose et vert: Une étude' is the preferred title, in conformity with other titles.

Description

Rose et vert: Une étude, The Hunterian

A study of a full-length nude in vertical format. She wears a blue cap and holds a deep plum-red robe over her head, as if dressing or disrobing. She poses in three-quarter view to left. She stands on a patterned blue and white rug on a dark floor and against a beige wall.

Sitter

Possibly Eva Victoria Carrington (1887-1979).

Comments

La Jeunesse, The Hunterian

A nude pulling a black robe over her head, The Hunterian

A nude girl holding up a pink cloak, The Hunterian

Variations on the motif of a girl or woman disrobing abound in Whistler's work. Both artist and viewer become like voyeurs of an intimate activity: the models vary from a young girl with head bowed to a bold and sensual mature woman. Drawings include La Jeunesse m1380, the recto of r.: A nude pulling a black robe over her head; v.: Cockerel m1382, and A nude girl holding up a pink cloak m1621. Lithographs of nude and robed figures include Model Draping c031 and a rather more energetic figure, La danseuse: A Study of the Nude c049.

Technique

Composition

Rose et vert: Une étude, The Hunterian

Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Little Blue Girl, Freer Gallery of Art

The model for this painting is thought to be Eva Carrington, who also posed for Whistler's Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Little Blue Girl y421. The pose is also very similar though in reverse. A related drawing is in the Fogg Art Museum, Sketch of 'Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Little Blue Girl' m1379.

Technique

Rose et vert: Une étude, The Hunterian

The carpet, and the pale greenish strokes on the top of the woman's head, have been painted very freely, with clearly differentiated brush strokes, using a square ended brush. The figure has been worked up with layer on layer of thin paint. The plum coloured tints of the robe are as thin and liquid as watercolour. The face has been overworked and the features are blurred. The pinkish and grey background has been revised and painted around the top and right of the figure, suggesting the head and cloak may originally have extended up and to right. The whole surface of the painting has been rubbed down, probably as part of the painting process.

Conservation History

Rose et vert (Étude), from Les Arts, 1904

Rose et vert: Une étude, The Hunterian

Unknown. It is not known when the photograph published in 1904 was actually taken; the lighting and reproduction process may account for minor differences, such as the sharper outline of the face seen in Les Arts, and variations in the texture of the cloak and the wall behind it at right.

Frame

116.0 x 84.4 x 8.2 cm.

History

Provenance

• 1903: in Whistler's studio at his death in 1903 and bequeathed to his ward and executrix, Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958);
• 1935: given by Miss Birnie Philip to the University of Glasgow.

Exhibitions

• 1904: Ouvrages de Peintures, Sculpture, Dessin, Gravure, Architecture et Objets d'Art, 14th exhibition, Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1904 (cat. no. 1314) as ' "Rose et Vert" (une étude)'.
• 1905: Œuvres de James McNeill Whistler, Palais de l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1905 (cat. no. 49).

Rose et vert (Étude), from Les Arts, 1904

It was not exhibited in Whistler's lifetime. By the terms of Miss Birnie Philip's gift to the University of Glasgow, the painting cannot be lent.

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. 489), plate 315, as 'Rose et vert: Une étude'.

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• Ouvrages de Peintures, Sculpture, Dessin, Gravure, Architecture et Objets d'Art, 14th exhibition, Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1904 (cat. no. 1314) as ' "Rose et Vert" (une étude)'.
• Œuvres de James McNeill Whistler, Palais de l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1905 (cat. no. 49).

Journals 1855-1905

• Hamel, Maurice, 'Les Salons de 1904, Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts', Les Arts, no. 29, May 1904, pp. 12-23, repr. p. 19.

Monographs

• None.

Books on Whistler

• None.

Books, General

• Gerdts, William H., The great American nude: a history in art, New York and Washington, 1974, p. 140.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• James McNeill Whistler, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, 1936 (cat. no. 28).
• Curry, David P. 1984. James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art,Smithsonian Institution Press,Washington.Curry, David Park, James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art, New York and London, 1984, p. 308 note 93.1 (not exhibited).

Journals 1906-Present

• MacDonald, Margaret F., and Joy Newton, 'Correspondence Duret-Whistler', Gazette des beaux-arts, November 1987, pp. 150-64, p. 155.

Websites

• The Hunterian website at http://collections.gla.ac.uk/#/details/ecatalogue/41104.
• Art UK website at https://artuk.org/discover/artworks.

Unpublished

• Revillon, Joseph Whistler, Draft Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of J. McN. Whistler, [ca 1945-1955], Glasgow University Library (cat. no. 266).

Other

• None.