Evening star., 1941-10-19
National Gallery Shoavs Paintings From
Whlttemore and Phillips Collections
Important Loans
Include Works
Rv Whistler
BY Leila Mechhn.

received elgnJ important lOdIlS-
seven from the Harris Whittemore
collection, one from Duncan Phillips
and all of them, with Mr.. Phillips
recent gift, q painting by Daumler
entitled advice to a Young Artist"
are now on view in a gallery on the
main floor opening off the east hall.
The Whittemore loans comprise
three paintings by Whistler, two by
Renoir and two by Degas, while the
Phillips loan is a landscape by COrot,
Dairy Farm" an outstanding eX-
ample of the work of this great
French artist which, for some years,
has been included in the Phillips
collection.
With the large collection of paint
tngs, prints and Peacock Room" by
whistler in the Freer Gallery Of
Art, and the Whistler collection of
prints. manuscripts and diversified
memorabilia assembled by Mr.. and
Mrs Joseph Pennen and now in the
Library of Congress, it might be
thought that the accomplishments
of this brilliant and whimsical artist
we're fully known here, but the
Whittemore loans will be found to
add materially to this already eX-
tensive knowledge. They are THE
White Girl" also known as
symphony in White" most
famous canvas; L'AndaluSienne."
also a full-length figure but OF much
later date and in different key, and
q marine entitled The Sea-"
Model From London.
.The White Girl" was painted in
Paris in 1862 in studio which
for the time being, was hung all IN
white. A favorite model, Joanna
Hefferman. 40" went from London
TO pose for the figure. She is por-
traved in a white dress, with a White
flower in her left hand, standing
against backdrop of white brocade.
on the floor is a blue-and-Whlte
carpet strewn with pink flowers:
beneath her feet IS fur rug
terminating in an animals head.
Her dark hair hangs about her lace
and over her shoulder. She looks
directly toward the observer with
wide eyes and almost a paucity of
expression. This is perhaps one OF
the quietest pictures ever painted,
and in related values it approXimates
perfection.
Where else would one go to find
so many shades of white in one
CpH1I9
Beaux's "Ernesta' in the Metro
politan Museum of Art, or her New
England Gentlewoman" in the Penn
svlvania Academy-both of which
are, however, very different in style,
broadly and brilliantly rendered, but
not so retiCent. Here we have not
shimmering textiles transcribed but
those which depend for charm upon
delicate nuances of light and shade,
and. in the absence of color, take on
eolorful significance.
an nothing" say the Pencils in
their biography, had Whistler been
so completely himself as in The
White Girl'-and it failed to please"
He sent it to the Royal Academy,
London, in 1862, and it was rejected,
although two others Of his paintings
got in. The Paris Salon of 1863 like
wise turned it down, but with re-
jected works by Manet, LegroS, Fan
tin-Latour, Vollon and other French
painters, it was exhibited in the
Salon des Refuses, held by order OF
Napoleon III in the same building,
the Palais de lIndustrie. at which it
attracted considerable notice. It was
in a review of this exhibition pub
lished in the Gazette deS BeauX Arts
that Paul Mantz referred to The
White Girl as symphonic du
Blanc" which term Whistler
adopted. and, with variations, made
repeated use of, it not only meeting
his needs, but giving direction TO his
inclinationS.
Exceptional Importance.
"The White Girl" was shown in
the Paris Salon of 1867 and again
the same year in the French Uni
versal Exhibition. 1t appeared in
the International Exhibition at
South Kensington in 1872, then
listed merely as symphony in
White, No. l." J. H. Whittemore
acquired it about 10 years later,
and for q time 1t hung as loan
in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
1t is of exceptional Importance, as
well as interest, because it repre-
sents the first effulgent blooming of
Whistler's talent. In 1859 he had
produced his inimitable etchings of
France and London-the French
set, by the way, consisting Of II
prints, then selling for quineas in
both London and Paris. In 1860
his interest turned to painting, and
he did both 1.-THE Music Room" now
in the F'reer Gallery, and the we'll
known "At the Piano" In 1861 he
went to Paris and saw much of
Courbet, by whom he was strongly
Influenced. Then came The White
Girl and, quite possibly, The
Sea-" which now, in our National
Gallery, hangs to its right, lovely
marine. painted with broad brush
and bold sweeps of pigment, but most
effective. Also belonging to this pc
Rod are some Of the paintings in the
Freer Gallery and the Little White
Girl" in the British National Col
lection, for which 30" also posed,
but less successfully. According to
the Pencils, it was while painting
"The White Girl" that Whistler
established his determination hence
forth to pick and choose" But he
was inherently an individualist and
nothing could have prevented him
from picking and choosing. Un-
fortunately, he did not always do it
so well as in this instance, but it
must be understood that his inter-