The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler
YMSM 532
Head of a Young Girl
Date
Head of a Young Girl dates from the late 1890s. It was first exhibited in the Spring Exhibition, Goupil Gallery, London, 1900 (cat. no. 27) as 'Head of a Young Girl'. Whistler immediately wrote to ask William Stephen Marchant (1868-1925) at Goupil's, 'I wish now - for hitherto I have had no time to enquire - that you would tell me what is all this that you have been exhibiting without a word of request or warning to me! ... What is the Young Girl's head you have - and to whom does it belong?' 1 This was almost certainly Alice Butt (1) y437, which dates from between 1896 and 1898.
Images
Head of a Young Girl, Whereabouts Unknown
Alice Butt, Private collection
Subject
Titles
Only one title has been suggested:
- ‘Head of a Young Girl’ (1900, Goupil). 2
- 'Head of a Young Girl' (1980, YMSM). 3
Description
A portrait head of a young girl: see Alice Butt (1) y437.
Sitter
See Alice Butt (1) y437.
Technique
Technique
See Alice Butt (1) y437.
History
Exhibitions
- 1900: Spring Exhibition, Goupil Gallery, London, 1900 (cat. no. 27) as ‘Head of a Young Girl’.
This was probably Alice Butt (1) y437.
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. 532) as 'Head of a Young Girl'.
Catalogues 1855-1905
- Spring Exhibition, Goupil Gallery, London, 1900 (cat. no. 27) as ‘Head of a Young Girl’.
Notes:
1: [25 March 1900], GUW #04237.
2: Spring Exhibition, Goupil Gallery, London, 1900 (cat. no. 27).
3: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 532).