Mother of Pearl and Silver: The Andalusian
James Abbott McNeill Whistler1888(?)-1900
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
Washington, DC, United States
Ethel Philip, Whistler's sister-in-law and a favorite subject of the artist, whose likeness appears in drawings, etchings, lithographs, and at least five full-size oil paintings, stands against an empty, shallow background with her back to the viewer. She wears a grey silk gown topped with a bolero jacket of transparent silk gauze or fine net—a design inspired by traditional costumes from Spain's Andalusian region. Ethel's head and shoulders are turned slightly to the right to reveal her profile. This graceful pose emphasizes her costume's long, sweeping cascade to the floor, drawing the viewer's attention not to the model's features but to her dramatic attire. One art historian concluded that "it is not a portrait of a person, but of a dress," transforming Ethel Philip into a fashion model or mannequin rather than the subject of a formal, full-length portrait.
The work's title may also have sartorial origins—the result of Whistler's extended stay in Paris, a city renowned for its luxury fashion houses and couturiers. At that time, couture dresses were often given individual names to emphasize their uniqueness. It is possible that Whistler's title refers not to a Spanish woman, but to the model of the dress worn by Ethel.
Whistler had demonstrated a strong interest in women's fashion and its role in his portraiture long before he painted _The Andalusian_. In the 1870s, apparently dissatisfied with British fashions at the time, the artist himself designed the elaborate dresses worn by the female subjects of _Harmony in Grey and Green: Miss Cicely Alexander_ (Tate Gallery, London) and _Symphony in Flesh Color and Pink: Portrait of Mrs. Frances Leyland_ (Frick Collection).
More information on this painting can be found in the Gallery publication _American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part II,_ pages 248-252, which is available as a free PDF (21MB).
- Title: Mother of Pearl and Silver: The Andalusian
- Creator: James McNeill Whistler
- Date Created: 1888(?)-1900
- Physical Dimensions: overall: 191.5 x 89.8 cm (75 3/8 x 35 3/8 in.) framed: 212.4 x 109.9 cm (83 5/8 x 43 1/4 in.)
- Provenance: Sold 1900/1901 by the artist to Edward G. Kennedy, New York; his firm, (H. Wunderlich & Co., New York [later Kennedy Galleries]); sold January 1902 to John Howard Whittemore [d. 1910], Naugatuck, Connecticut; probably bequeathed to the J. H. Whittemore Company, Naugatuck, Connecticut, with life interest to his daughter, Miss Gertrude B. Whittemore [d. 1941], Naugatuck, Connecticut;[1] gift 1943 to NGA. [1] Andrew McLaren Young, Margaret F. MacDonald, and Robin Spencer, with the assistance of Hamish Miles, _The Paintings of James McNeil Whistler_, New Haven, 1980: 170, dates the transcation with Whittemore to 1900, based on a note by Kennedy in the New York Public Library. However, according to a letter (signed by Hermann Wunderlich) of 24 November 1934 from Kennedy & Co. to the J.H. Whittemore Company, the painting was purchased directly from the artist in May 1901 (recounted in letter of 7 April 1948 from Clarence E. Jones, Whittemore Co. treasurer, to James Lane, in NGA curatorial files). In addition, the invoice for the sale from Wunderlich to Whittemore is dated 6 January 1902, with payment received 22 January (copy in NGA curtaorial files). The artist Edward Austin Abbey recommended the painting, as "the property of a Mr. Whittemore of Naugatuck," to Isabella Stewart Gardner when it was exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in early 1902 (letter of 30 January 1902, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, copy in NGA curatorial files). Another question in the records seems to be which "Mr. Whittemore" purchased the painting, John Howard Whittemore, or his son, Harris Whittemore. Most of the records seem to point to John Howard Whittemore. The 1902 invoice was made out to "J. H. Whittemore," and the loan of the painting to five exhibitions prior to John Whittemore's death in 1910 was credited to either "John H. Whittemore" or "J.H. Whittemore." Although not explicitly documented, it seems that, as with _Symphony in White, No. 1: The White Girl_, John Howard Whittemore's daughter, Gertrude B. Whittemore, was given a life interest in the painting after it became owned by the J.H. Whittemore Company, a company formed after John Howard Whittemore's death. Miss Whittemore is credited as the owner of the painting in the six exhibitions to which it was lent prior to her death in 1941. Despite this evidence, letters in NGA curatorial files from the Whittemore Company always discuss the painting as having been owned by Harris Whittemore, and the 1980 catalogue raisonné (p. 170), confuses the two Whittemore names, referring to "J. Harris Whittemore" at one point.
- Rights: CC0
- Medium: oil on canvas
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