Hunterian Art Gallery Whistler Collections
WHISTLER, James McNeill; (American; 1834-1903)
Whistler's earliest surviving oil is a portrait of Annie Haden (1848-1937), who later became Mrs Charles Thynne. She was the eldest daughter of Whistler's half-sister Deborah and her husband Francis Seymour Haden, a surgeon and etcher. This work is also framed with an 1845 portrait of Whistler's mother, Anna Matilda McNeill (1804-1881), by the British miniaturist Thomas Wright (1792-1849), a tracing of his mother's sandal and a lock of his hair at the age of two. Two drawings of Annie Haden as a baby, executed in 1848, are also in this collection (See GLAHA 46005/46006). She also appears in later etchings and oils such as: "At the Piano" (YMSM 24) in the Taft Museum, Cincinnati, USA and "Harmony in Green and Rose: The Music Room" (YMSM 34) in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., USA. Another supposed portrait of her is now in the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. It was lent to the 1905 Paris Memorial Exhibition (31) by M. Jerome Doucet, but it is now no longer accepted as being by Whistler or indeed of depicting Annie Haden. Birnie Philip Gift, 1935, not lendable.
Today's inspiration is family. I adore the cherubic face that Whistler painted of his little niece. It's unfinished look reminds me that children are continuously growing and emerging. My gratitude today is for the wisdom of children - their innocence and new eyes help us to see the world as it is and help us to always be open to change.
One interesting note about Whistler is that his signature was a butterfly with a stinger. He said it was "a mark representing both his gentle, sensitive nature and his provocative, feisty spirit." Much like a little child, n'est-ce pas?
