Symphony in White, No. 2: The Little White Girl
Symphony in White, No. 2: The Little White Girl | |
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Artist | James McNeill Whistler |
Year | 1864–65 |
Medium | Oil on canvas |
Dimensions | 76 cm × 51 cm (30 in × 20 in) |
Location | Tate Britain, London |
Symphony in White, No. 2, also known as The Little White Girl is a painting by
Whistler created the painting in the winter of 1864, and it was displayed at the
Artist and model
It was also in London that Whistler met Joanna Hiffernan, the model who would become his lover. Their relationship has been referred to as a "marriage without benefit of clergy."[6] By 1861, Whistler had already used her as a model for other paintings. In Wapping, painted between 1860 and 1864, Hiffernan (according to Whistler) portrayed a prostitute.[7] The direct precursor of The Little White Girl was a painting created in the winter of 1861–62, initially called The White Girl and later renamed Symphony in White, No. 1.[8] Hiffernan supposedly had a strong influence over Whistler; his brother-in-law Francis Seymour Haden refused a dinner invitation in the winter of 1863–64 due to her dominant presence in the household.[9]
History of the painting and Swinburne's poem
Whistler painted The Little White Girl in 1864, with Hiffernan as his model. In 1865 it was exhibited at the
In 1862 Whistler had met the English poet Algernon Charles Swinburne, with whom he developed a close friendship.[14] The relationship between the two was mutually beneficial. Inspired by Whistler's Little White Girl, Swinburne wrote a poem with the title "Before the Mirror".[5] Before the painting went on exhibition at the Royal Academy, Whistler pasted the poem written on gold leaf onto the frame.[15] The idea of decorating a painting's frame with a poem was one Whistler had gotten from Rossetti, who had similarly pasted a golden paper with one of his poems on the frame of his 1849 painting The Girlhood of Mary.[16] To Whistler, this poem underlined his idea of the autonomous nature of the painted medium. It showed that painters were more than mere illustrators, and that visual art could be an inspiration for poetry, not just the other way around.[15]
A misconception circulated at the time that the painting had been inspired by Swinburne's poem. In a letter to a newspaper, Whistler refuted this, while still showing his respect for Swinburne's work; "those lines" he wrote "were only written, in my studio, after the picture was painted. And the writing of them was a rare and graceful tribute from the poet to the painter – a noble recognition of work by the production of a nobler one."[17] Swinburne repaid the compliment: "...whatever merit my song may have, it is not so complete in beauty, in tenderness and significance, in exquisite execution and delicate strength, as Whistler's picture..."[18]
Composition and interpretation
Whistler, especially in his later career, resented the idea that his paintings should have any meaning beyond what could be seen on the canvas. He is known as a central proponent of the "art for art's sake" philosophy.[19] The development of this philosophy he owed largely to Swinburne, who pioneered it in his 1868 book William Blake: a Critical Essay.[5] Later, Whistler began referring to The Little White Girl as Symphony in White, No. 2.[8] By the musical analogy, he further emphasized his philosophy that the composition was the central thing, not the subject matter.[20]
One of the most conspicuous elements of the painting is the ring on the model's ring finger. Resting on the mantelpiece, it becomes a focal point of the composition.[9] The ring was a device of which Whistler was conscious; it had not been present in The White Girl. Though he and Hiffernan were not married, the ring showed a development in how he represented her in his art; from prostitute in Wapping, to mistress in The White Girl, and finally a wife in The Little White Girl. At the same time, this development reflected Whistler's notion of his own position in the English art world: towards greater legitimacy.[9] The ring is also an allusion to the Christian sacrament of marriage, which lends a religious aspect to the aestheticism that he and Swinburne were trying to develop.[21]
In The Little White Girl, Whistler can be seen to clearly move away from the realism of the French painter
References
- ^ Anderson & Koval (1994), pp. 3–6.
- ^ Weintraub (1974), pp. 6–9.
- ^ Anderson & Koval (1994), pp. 26–31.
- ^ MacDonald (1999).
- ^ a b c d Spencer (2004)
- ^ Weintraub (1974), p. 71.
- ^ Spencer (1998), p. 306.
- ^ a b Craven (2003), pp. 342–3.
- ^ a b c d Spencer (1998), p. 309.
- ^ Laver (1951), p. 107.
- ^ Anderson & Koval (1994), p. 353.
- ^ Prettejohn (1999), p. 66.
- ^ a b Wilton (1997), p. 116–7.
- ^ Taylor (1978), p. 32.
- ^ a b Spencer (1998), p. 311.
- ^ Horowitz (1978–80), p. 125.
- ^ Prettejohn (1998), p. 89.
- ^ Weintraub (1974), p. 98.
- ^ Batchelor (2002), p. 219.
- ^ Spencer (1998), p. 300.
- ^ Prettejohn (1998), p. 64.
- ^ Taylor (1978), p. 30.
- ^ Sutton (1960), pp. 460–1.
- ^ Merrill (1994), p. 687.
- ^ Kramer & Kimball (1974), pp. 72–3.
Sources
- Anderson, Ronald; Koval, Anne (1994). James McNeill Whistler: Beyond the Myth. London: John Murray. ISBN 0-7195-5027-0.
- Batchelor, Bob (2002). The 1900s. Westport, Conn.; London: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-31334-2. Retrieved 9 September 2009.
- Craven, Wayne (2003). American Art: History and Culture. New York: McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-141524-6. Retrieved 9 September 2009.
- Horowitz, Ira M. (1979–1980). "Whistler's Frames". JSTOR 776398.
- Kramer, Hilton; Kimball, Roger (1974). The Age of the Avant-Garde: An Art Chronicle of 1956-1972. London: Secker and Warburg. pp. 72–3. ISBN 0-436-23685-0. Retrieved 9 September 2009.
- MacDonald, Margaret F. (1999). "Whistler, James (Abbott) McNeill". Grove Art Online. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Retrieved 9 September 2009.
- Merrill, Linda (1994). "Whistler and the 'Lange Lijzen'". JSTOR 886200.
- ISBN 0-7190-5405-2. Retrieved 12 September 2009.
- Spencer, Robin (1998). "Whistler's 'The White Girl': Painting, Poetry and Meaning". JSTOR 887886.
- Spencer, Robin (2004). "Whistler, James Abbott McNeill". doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/36855. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- Sutton, Denys (1960). "A Whistler Exhibition". JSTOR 873234.
- Taylor, Hilary (1978). James McNeill Whistler. London: Studio Vista. ISBN 0-289-70836-2.
- Weintraub, Stanley (1974). Whistler: A biography. London: Collins. ISBN 0-00-211994-3.
External links
- Media related to James McNeill Whistler at Wikimedia Commons