An Orange Note: Sweet Shop
date: label: Date
content: 1883 or 1884
name: label: Artist
content: James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)
notes: label: Label
content: This is one of several paintings of shop fronts that Whistler completed while in St. Ives. Sympathetic critics singled it out for enthusiastic praise when Whistler exhibited it in London in 1884. One declared, it "is probably the most perfect little thing of its kind that was ever wrought by an artist who has learnt how to see….It is without detail, without apparent labour, without dramatic interest; but it is exquisite in colour, faultless in tone, and its well-considered mystery has, at least, the interest of suggestiveness."
label: Label
content: Quotation from Mr. Whistler's Exhibition, Standard, May 19, 1884.
label: Provenance
content: To 1904
label: Provenance
content: Wickham Flower (circa 1836-1904), London, to 1904 [1]
label: Provenance
content: 1904
label: Provenance
content: Colnaghi, London, purchased at the sale of the Wickham Flower Collection, Christie's, December 17, 1904 [2]
label: Provenance
content: From 1904 to 1919
label: Provenance
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Colnaghi in 1904 [3]
label: Provenance
content: From 1920
label: Provenance
content: Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [4]
label: Provenance
content: Notes:
label: Provenance
content: [1] According to Curatorial Remark 1 in the object record: " Purchased from Mr. Desprez of P. and D. Colnaghi and Co., London, in 1904, and by them purchased at Christie's Sale, December 17, 1904, of the Wickham Flower Collection."
label: Provenance
content: [2] See Original Whistler List, Paintings, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.
label: Provenance
content: [3] See note 2.
label: Provenance
content: [4] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.
label: Collection
content: Freer Gallery of Art Collection
label: Exhibition History
content: Whistler: Streetscapes, Urban Change (November 18, 2023 to May 4, 2024)
label: Exhibition History
content: Whistler in Watercolor (May 18 to November 3, 2019)
label: Exhibition History
content: Whistler's Neighborhood: Impressions of a Changing London (September 8, 2012 to September 8, 2013)
label: Exhibition History
content: Small Masterpieces: Whistler Paintings from the 1880s (April 2, 2005 to November 11, 2008)
label: Exhibition History
content: Mr. Whistler's Galleries: Avant-garde in Victorian London, 1883 (November 20, 2003 to April 4, 2004)
label: Exhibition History
content: Arrangement in Yellow and Gold: Paintings by James McNeill Whistler (March 14, 1986 to April 1, 1987)
label: Exhibition History
content: American Paintings: James McNeill Whistler 1834-1903 (February 6, 1985 to March 4, 1986)
label: Exhibition History
content: James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art—Whistler and Modern Life (May 11, 1984 to December 16, 1984)
label: Exhibition History
content: American Paintings (March 20, 1981 to September 24, 1981)
label: Exhibition History
content: Whistler Paintings (September 8, 1961 to October 15, 1969)
label: Exhibition History
content: American Paintings (June 9, 1960 to September 8, 1961)
label: Exhibition History
content: Centennial Exhibition, Galleries 10 and 11 (February 25, 1956 to November 3, 1959)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, Works of Whistler (September 22, 1947 to April 11, 1955)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, American Oil Paintings, Gallery 3, 1947 (September 25, 1947 to April 12, 1955)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, Whistler Watercolors, Oil Paintings, and Pastels (January 20, 1944 to October 13, 1947)
label: Exhibition History
content: Whistler Oils Exhibition (January 8, 1925 to January 20, 1928)
label: Exhibition History
content: Whistler Pastels and Drawings, Re-arranged and some additions (January 7, 1924 to January 20, 1944)
label: Exhibition History
content: American Paintings by J.A.McN. Whistler (May 2, 1923 to January 8, 1925)
label: Exhibition History
content: A Selection of Art Objects from the Freer Collection Exhibited in the New Building of the National Museum (April 15 to June 15, 1912)
label: Exhibition History
content: Exposition des Oeuvres de James McNeill Whistler (May 1905)
label: Exhibition History
content: "Notes"—"Harmonies"—"Nocturnes" (May 1884)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Wickham Flower (ca. 1836-1904)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Colnaghi (established 1760) (C.L. Freer source)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
place: label: Origin
content: United States
topic: label: Topic
content: fruit
label: Topic
content: United States
label: Topic
content: American Art
label: Topic
content: store front
label: Topic
content: Charles Lang Freer collection
setName: label: On View
content: West Building (Freer Gallery of Art), Gallery 11: Ruffled Feathers: Creating Whistler's Peacock Room
label: Related Online Resources
content: Google Arts & Culture
label: See more items in
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Charles Lang Freer
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: F1904.315a-c
objectType: label: Type
content: Painting
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Oil on wood panel
label: Dimensions
content: H x W: 12.2 x 21.5 cm (4 13/16 x 8 7/16 in)