- Provenance
-
To 1902
Thomas Way Sr. (1837-1915), London, to 1902 [1]From 1902 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Thomas Way Sr., through William S. Marchant and Co., London, in 1902 [2]From 1920
Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]Notes:
[1] See Original Whistler List, Paintings, pg. 6, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Thomas Way Sr. was the father of Thomas Robert Way.
[2] See note 1.
[3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.
- Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)
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Thomas Way Sr. (C.L. Freer source) 1837-1915
Charles Lang Freer 1854-1919
- Label
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This work is a study for a never-completed painting called The Three Girls that was intended to hang opposite The Princess from the Land of Porcelain in the Peacock Room, which was originally a dining room in the home of Whistler’s patron, Frederick Richards Leyland. Whistler envisioned the painting as the fourth of his “White Symphonies.” It was undertaken when he was exploring a range of artistic sources and seeking a distinctive signature style. By borrowing freely from Japanese prints, classical Greek sculpture, eighteenth-century Rococo painting, and the neoclassicism of his own time, Whistler hoped to liberate his art from the chains of narrative realism and Victorian morality.
- Published References
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- Susan Hobbs. Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. vol. 120, no. 5 New York, November 1981. pl. 5.
- Geneva Frances Morgan Tilleux. The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler, 1857-1873. Ann Arbor. fig. 47.
- Hilary Taylor. James McNeill Whistler. New York. pl. 33.
- Judith Elaine Gorder. James McNeill Whistler: A Study of the Oil Paintings 1855-1869. Ann Arbor. fig. 58.
- , (Introduction) Elizabeth Robins Pennell, (Introduction) Joseph Pennell. James McNeill Whistler. Distinguished American artists New York, 1924. pl. 20.
- Elizabeth Robins Pennell, Joseph Pennell. The Life of James McNeill Whistler. 2 vols., London and Philadelphia. vol. 1 pp. 147-149, vol.2 p. 130.
- Andrew McLaren Young, Margaret F. MacDonald, Robin Spencer. The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler. Studies in British Art 2 vols. New Haven, 1980. vol. 2: pl. 62.
- Burns A. Stubbs. Paintings, Pastels, Drawings, Prints, and Copper Plates by and Attributed to American and European Artists, Together with a List of Original Whistleriana, in the Freer Gallery of Art. vol. 1, no. 2, 2nd ed. Washington, 1967. pl. 22.
- Patricia de Montfort, Clare Willsdon. Whistler And Nature. Exh. cat. London, England. p. 7 and p. 89, fig. 49.
- Bunkio Matsuki. James A. McNeill Whistler: In Memoriam. vol. 5. p. 9.
- Grace Dunham Guest. Whistler: The Artist and the Man. Smithsonian Institution Radio Program, vol. 10, no. 3 New York. p. 13.
- David Fraser Jenkins, Avis Berman. Whistler, Sargent and Steer: Impressionists in London from the Tate Collections. Exh. cat. Nashville, Tennessee. p. 15, fig. 6.
- Thomas Robert Way, G. R. Dennis. The Art of James McNeill Whistler: An Appreciation by T.R. Way and G.R. Dennis. London, 1903. pp. 25-26, 30-32, 100.
- Deborah Gribbon. Whistler's sketch of an unfinished symphony. Boston. pp. 26-33, fig. 2.
- Thomas Robert Way. Memories of James McNeill Whistler, the artist. London. pp. 26-28.
- James McNeill Whistler in Context: Essays from the Whistler Centenary Symposium, University of Glasgow, 2003. vol. 2, 1st ed. Washington, 2008. p. 26, fig. 2.4.
- Linda Merrill. A Pot of Paint: Aesthetics on Trial in Whistler v. Ruskin. Washington and London. p. 28, fig. 15.
- David Park Curry. James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art. Washington and New York, 1984. pp. 28, 45, 109, pl. 11.
- With Kindest Regards: The Correspondence of Charles Lang Freer and James McNeill Whistler 1890-1903. Washington. p. 30, fig. 10.
- Thomas Lawton, Linda Merrill. Freer: a legacy of art. Washington and New York, 1993. p. 36, fig. 23.
- Philadelphia Museum of Art, Department of Art History and Archaeology of Columbia University. From Realism to Symbolism, Whistler and his World. Exh. cat. New York and Philadelphia. p. 44.
- Ayako Ono. Japonisme in Britain: Whistler, Menpes, Henry, Hornel, and Nineteenth-Century Japan. London and New York, 2003. p. 51, fig. 2.9.
- John Sandberg. Whistler Studies. New York, March 1968. pp. 59-64.
- Elizabeth Prettejohn. Art for Art's Sake: Aestheticism in Victorian Painting. p. 60.
- Denys Sutton. Nocturne: The Art of James McNeill Whistler. Philadelphia and New York, 1964. p. 83.
- Allen Staley. The Condition of Music. vol. 33 New York. p. 85.
- Linda Merrill. The Peacock Room: A Cultural Biography. Washington and New Haven. p. 86, fig. 2.7.
- Susan Hobbs. A Connoisseur's Vision of America: The American Collection of Charles Lang Freer., August 1977. p. 90.
- Susan Grace Galassi, Margaret F. MacDonald, Aileen Ribeiro. Whistler, Women, and Fashion. Exh. cat. New Haven and New York, April 22 - July 13, 2003. p. 98, fig. 90.
- Musée d’Orsay, The Frick Collection. James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), Chefs-d'œuvre de la Frick Collection, New York. Exh. cat. Paris, France, January 2022. p. 116, plate 78.
- Laurie Schneider Adams. The Making and Meaning of Art. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. p. 124, fig. 6.26.
- Margaret F. MacDonald, Patricia de Montfort, Pamela Robertson, Lee Glazer. James McNeill Whistler Retrospective. Exh. cat. Tokyo, 2014. p. 150, fig. 36.
- Bernhard Sickert. Whistler. London and New York. cat. 31, p. 154.
- Elisabeth Luther Cary. The Works of James McNeill Whistler: A Study., 1st ed. New York, 1907. cat. 19, p. 158.
- The New Painting of the 1860s. New Haven and London. p. 175, fig. 155.
- Kenyon Cox. Old Masters and New: essays in art criticism. Freerport, New York. p. 236.
- William Michael Rossetti. The Rossetti Papers. London. p. 320.
- Collection Area(s)
- American Art
- Web Resources
- Google Cultural Institute
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