Variations in Pink and Grey: Chelsea
date: label: Date
content: 1871-1872
name: label: Artist
content: James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)
notes: label: Label
content: Like the prints in Hiroshige's One Hundred Famous Views of Edo, this painting records a scene from everyday life in a modern city. Perhaps inspired by the vantage point of his second-story window, Whistler adopted the bird's-eye perspective typical of Hiroshige prints, in which distant objects appear high in the composition. The artist's view in 1872 would have encompassed the construction of the Chelsea Embankment, an enormous enterprise to reclaim acres of mud from the river and build massive, granite-faced walls and landing stages along the Thames; Whistler incorporated the construction fence and a newly planted sapling in his composition.
label: Provenance
content: To 1902
label: Provenance
content: John James Cowan (1846-1936), Edinburgh, Scotland, to 1902 [1]
label: Provenance
content: From 1902 to 1919
label: Provenance
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from John James Cowan in December 1902 [2]
label: Provenance
content: From 1920
label: Provenance
content: Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]
label: Provenance
content: Notes:
label: Provenance
content: [1] See Original Whistler List, Paintings, pg. 5, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.
label: Provenance
content: [2] See note 1.
label: Provenance
content: [3] 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: An American in London: Whistler and the Thames (May 3 to August 17, 2014)
label: Exhibition History
content: Freer & Whistler: Points of Contact (February 23, 2008 to January 3, 2016)
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: Beyond the Legacy--Anniversary Acquisitions of the Freer Gallery of Art (October 11, 1998 to April 11, 1999)
label: Exhibition History
content: Whistler & Japan (May 14, 1995 to January 1, 1996)
label: Exhibition History
content: American Art - James McNeill Whistler (May 9, 1993 to June 30, 1997)
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: James McNeill Whistler 1834-1903 (September 16, 1981 to March 26, 1984)
label: Exhibition History
content: American Paintings: James McNeill Whistler (November 11, 1976 to March 18, 1981)
label: Exhibition History
content: Paintings by James McNeill Whistler (August 1, 1974 to December 5, 1975)
label: Exhibition History
content: Whistler—Landscapes and Seascapes (October 14, 1969 to September 25, 1971)
label: Exhibition History
content: Whistler Paintings (September 8, 1961 to October 15, 1969)
label: Exhibition History
content: Centennial Exhibition, Galleries 10 and 11 (February 25, 1956 to November 3, 1959)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, Whistler Oil Paintings, Gallery 3, 1955 (December 16, 1955 to February 25, 1956)
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: Untitled Exhibition, Whistler Oil Paintings (February 12, 1944 to May 10, 1945)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, American Oil Paintings (May 1, 1933 to February 6, 1944)
label: Exhibition History
content: Whistler Landscapes, Oil (January 20, 1928 to May 1, 1933)
label: Exhibition History
content: Whistler Oils Exhibition (January 8, 1925 to January 20, 1928)
label: Exhibition History
content: American Paintings by J.A.McN. Whistler (May 2, 1923 to January 8, 1925)
label: Exhibition History
content: American Paintings, J.A.McN. Whistler (May 2, 1923 to February 12, 1944)
label: Exhibition History
content: Exhibition of Paintings by T.W. Dewing, A.H. Thayer, D.W. Tryon, J.A.McNeill Whistler (February 10 to 26, 1910)
label: Exhibition History
content: Exposition des Oeuvres de James McNeill Whistler (May 1905)
label: Exhibition History
content: Oil Paintings, Water Colors, Pastels and Drawings: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Mr. J. McNeill Whistler (February 23 to March 22, 1904)
label: Exhibition History
content: Nocturnes, Marines and Chevalet Pieces (March through April, 1892)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: John James Cowan (1846-1936) (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: water
label: Topic
content: river
label: Topic
content: United States
label: Topic
content: American Art
label: Topic
content: store front
label: Topic
content: Charles Lang Freer collection
setName: 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: F1902.249a-b
objectType: label: Type
content: Painting
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Oil on canvas
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (frame): 82 × 62.7 cm (32 5/16 × 24 11/16 in)