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A woman stands with her back to us wearing a silver and black gown as she turns to look to our right in profile in this vertical portrait painting. We look slightly down onto the woman, and her features are painted with blended brushstrokes, making some details indistinct. She has pale, peachy skin, a straight nose, a strong chin, and her pink lips are closed. Black bangs brush the temple we can see, and her hair is pulled up into a bun high on the back of her head. Her black bodice has elbow-length, ruffled silver sleeves, which seem to be overlaid with translucent black material gathered in tiers. More gauzy black material covers her upper back to a high, black collar. A pearl-white bow at her lower back is nearly the width of her waist. The silver fabric of her long skirt drapes to and on the floor in a short train in deep folds. The woman’s right arm hangs by her side, and she holds what might be a piece of black fabric. A baseboard angles in a shallow diagonal down to our right across her hips. The wall above is smoky mauve-purple and below is charcoal gray. The shape of a butterfly within a darker oval is on the wall just to our right of the woman’s wrist.

James McNeill Whistler

Mother of Pearl and Silver: The Andalusian, 1888(?)-1900

West Building, Main Floor — Gallery 69

Medium

oil on canvas

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.)

Credit Line

Harris Whittemore Collection

Accession Number

1943.6.1

Artists / Makers

James McNeill Whistler (artist) American, 1834 - 1903

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Overview

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).

Inscription

center right with the artist's butterfly mark

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.

Associated Names

Kennedy, Edward G.
Whittemore Company, J.H.
Whittemore, Gertrude B., Miss
Whittemore, John Howard
Wunderlich & Co., H.

Exhibition History

1900: Fine Arts Exhibit of the United States of America, Exposition Universelle, Paris, 1900, no. 103, as Mother-of-Pearl and Silver--The Andalusian.

1902: 24th Annual Exhibition, Society of American Artists, New York, 1902, no. 21, as L'Andalousienne.

1902: 71st Annual Exhibition, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 1902, no. 49, as The Andalusian.

1904: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Mr. J. McNeill Whistler: Oil Paintings, Water Colors, Pastels, & Drawings, Copley Society of Boston, Copley Hall, Boston, 1904, no. 46, as L'Andalusienne.

1905: Oeuvres de James McNeill Whistler, Palais de l'École des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1905, no. 25, as L'Andalouse.

1910: Paintings in Oil and Pastel by James McNeill Whistler, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1910, no. 33, as L'Andalusienne: Mother of Pearl and Silver.

1934: A Century of Progress Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, Art Institute of Chicago, 1934, no. 417, repro., as L'Andalouse, Mother of Pearl and Silver.

1934: Oils, Water-colors, Drawings and Prints by James McNeill Whistler, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1934, no. 5, as L'Andalusienne.

1937: American Painting from 1860 until Today, The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1937, no. 208, repro., as L'Andalusienne.

1938: Exhibition of Paintings, The Tuttle House, Naugatuck, Connecticut, 1938, no. 37.

1940: Survey of American Painting, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, 1940, no. 138, as L'Andalusienne.

1941: Paintings from the Whittemore Collection, Mattatuck Historical Society, Waterbury, Connecticut, 1941, no. [ ].

1980: La Pintura de Los Estados Unidos de Museos de la Ciudad de Washington, Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City, 1980-1981, no. 19, color repro.

1994: James McNeill Whistler, Tate Gallery, London; Musée d'Orsay, Paris; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1994-1995, no. 196, repro.

1998: James McNeill Whistler, Walter Richard Sickert, Sala de Exposiciones de la Fundación "la Caixa", Madrid; Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 1998, no. 16, repro. (shown only in Madrid).

1999: Paris 1900: 'The American School' at the Universal Exposition, 4 venues, shown only at 2nd and 3rd, Museum of American Art of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia; Columbus Museum of Art, 1999-2001, no. 27, repro.

2004: The Edwardians: Secrets and Desires, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 2004, no. 144, repro.

Bibliography

1905: Bénédite, Léonce. "Artistes contemporains: Whistler." Gazette des Beaux-Arts 33 (1905): 246.

1907: Cary, Elizabeth Luther. The Works of James McNeill Whistler: A Study, with a Tentative List of the Artist's Works. New York, 1907: no. 46, 163.

1908: Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell. The Life of James McNeill Whistler. 2 vols. London, 1908: 2:158, 251.

1917: Duret, Théodore. Whistler. Translated by Frank Rutter. London, 1917: 206 (original edition, Paris, 1904).

1957: Shapley, Fern Rusk. Comparisons in Art: A Companion to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. London, 1957 (reprinted 1959): pl. 88, as L'Andalouse.

1963: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 328, repro., as L'Andalouse.

1970: American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 120, repro., as L'Andalouse, Mother-of-Pearl and Silver.

1980: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 257, repro., as L'Andalouse, Mother-of-Pearl and Silver.

1980: Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1980: 112, repro.

1980: Young, Andrew McLaren, Margaret F. MacDonald, and Robin Spencer, with the assistance of Hamish Miles. The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler. 2 vols. New Haven, 1980: 1:170, no. 378; 2:pl. 242.

1981: Williams, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1981: 131, color repro. 154, as L'Andalouse, Mother-of-Pearl and Silver.

1984: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 561, no. 852, color repro.

1988: Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. Rev. ed. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1988: 142, repro., as L'Andalouse, Mother-of-Pearl and Silver.

1992: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 381, repro.

1994: Dorment, Richard, and Margaret F. MacDonald. James McNeill Whistler. Exh. cat. Tate Gallery, London; Musée d'Orsay, Paris; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. London, 1994: no. 196, 275-276, color repro.

1996: Quesada, Luis. Pintores Españoles y Extranjeros en Andalucia, Sevilla, 1996: no. 263, repro.

1998: Torchia, Robert Wilson, with Deborah Chotner and Ellen G. Miles. American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part II. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1998: 248-252, color repro.

2001: Bruson, Jean-Marie, and Fischer, Diane P., eds. Paris 1900: Les Artistes Américains à l'Exposition Universelle. Exh. cat. Musée Carnavalet, Paris, 2001: 35, fig. 24 (not in the exhibition).

2001: Paris 1900: Les artistes Américains à L'exposition Universelle. Exh. cat. Musée Carnavalet, Paris. Paris, 2001: 35 fig. 24.

2003: Merrill, Linda, et al. After Whistler: The Artist and His Influence on American Painting. Exh. cat. High Museum of Art, Atlanta; The Detroit Institute of Arts. Atlanta, 2003: 136, fig. 92, 247 n. 63.