The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Doorway in College Street has not been identified and so is impossible to date: however, a date in the late 1890s is most likely.

On 16 February 1901 Whistler’s sister-in-law, Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958), listed among small panels in his studio at 8 Fitzroy Street, ‘Doorway in College Street.' ¹

A Shop, The Hunterian

Gold and Orange: The Neighbours, Freer Gallery of Art

A Shop y376, dating from the mid-1880s, and Gold and Orange: The Neighbours y423, from the 1890s, both of which were in Whistler's possession in 1901, are possible candidates for the 'Doorway in College Street'.

Images

Subject

Titles

Only one title has been suggested:

• ‘Doorway in College Street’ (1901, R. Birnie Philip). ²
• 'Doorway in College Street' (1980, YMSM). ³

Description

Miss R. Birnie Philip described it as a 'Doorway in College Street'. ⁴ It presumably showed a door, though whether of a shop, house, church or other structure is unknown.

Site

The site was described as College Street. ⁵

Elystan Street in Chelsea was originally named College Street. A pub, the College Arms (now demolished) at 47 College Street in SW3 stood at the junction of College and Leader Street. In 1886 the east side residents of College Street included Joseph Eaton at the 'Red House'; John Dible, grocer, at No. 4; Thomas Nash, greengrocer, at No. 6; John Henry Hiscock, oilman, at No. 8. Any of these could have provided a reason for a visit or subject for a painting.

There is a College Street in the City of London, near Cannon Street Station, New College Street in Camden Town (where Charles Dickens once lived, now College Place) and Great College Street in Westminster. Whistler was living mostly in London, but also visited Howth in Ireland (there is a College Street in Dublin); if the painting was of an early date then other sites are possible.

A Shop, The Hunterian

Gold and Orange: The Neighbours, Freer Gallery of Art

The 'Doorway in College Street' could possibly have been A Shop y376 or Gold and Orange: The Neighbours y423, both of which were in Whistler's hands in 1901.

Technique

Technique

Unknown.

Conservation History

Unknown.

Frame

Unknown.

History

Provenance

• 1901: recorded as ‘Doorway in College Street’ in Whistler's London studio on 16 February 1901. ⁶

No further record is known.

Exhibitions

Unknown.

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. 528) as 'Doorway in College Street'.

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• None.

Journals 1855-1905

• None.

General