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When _The White Girl_ debuted in London in 1862, it puzzled viewers. At the time, portraits of this scale usually featured well-known people. The subject here is Joanna Hiffernan, an Irish immigrant with little standing in British society. Hiffernan was Whistler’s primary model and collaborator during the early 1860s.


Whistler created two more paintings of Hiffernan in white dresses, eventually grouping all three under the shared title _Symphony in White_. Surprising audiences yet again, he declared that, like music, these works were solely about abstract qualities such as line and color.


Despite the artist’s stated intentions, this imposing image of Hiffernan seems to have a story to tell. What does it say to you?

Details

  • Title: Symphony in White, No. 1: The White Girl
  • Creator: James McNeill Whistler
  • Date created: 1861-1863, 1872
  • Physical Dimensions: overall: 213 x 107.9 cm (83 7/8 x 42 1/2 in.) framed: 244.2 x 136.5 x 8.3 cm (96 1/8 x 53 3/4 x 3 1/4 in.)
  • Provenance: Sold 1866 by the artist to his half-brother, George W. Whistler [d. 1869], London, but retained possession; bequeathed to his wife, Mrs. George W. Whistler [d. 1875]; sent 1875 by the artist to her son, Thomas Delano Whistler, Baltimore, Maryland; sold 28 February 1896 for Thomas D. Whistler by (Boussod Valladon & Cie, New York) to Harris Whittemore [1864-1927], Naugatuck, Connecticut; sold 1897 to his father, John Howard Whittemore [d. 1910], Naugatuck, Connecticut; bequeathed to the J.H. Whittemore Company, Naugatuck, Connecticut, with life interest to John Howard Whittemore's 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 McNeill Whistler_, New Haven, 1980: 18, lists the last owners of the painting as Harris Whittemore's son and daughter, Harris Whittemore, Jr., and Mrs. Charles S. Upson. They were officers of the J. H. Whittemore Company (Harris Whittemore, Jr., was President), the actual owner of the painting.
  • Medium: oil on canvas

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