Caprice in Purple and Gold: The Golden Screen

Object Details

Artist

James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)

Label

In the mid-1860s Whistler undertook a series of works in which recognizably English models in exotic costumes are depicted as Japanese courtesans surrounded by objects from the artist’s personal collection of Asian art. Here, he presents the Irish model Joanna Hiffernan in the guise of a Japanese courtesan, contemplating a print from Utagawa Hiroshige’s Views of the Sixty-odd Provinces, an iconic series of meisho-e, or images of notable places. When Charles Lang Freer first saw this painting in 1902, he had acquired an impressive collection of Japanese prints and paintings as well as hundreds of works by Whistler. Freer declared that Caprice was “one of the most perfect things in composition and colouring in the whole range of Mr. Whistler’s art.”

Provenance

1864-Before 1892

James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), painted in 1864 [1]

By 1892-1904

Cyril Flower, The Lord Battersea (1843-1907), method of acquisition unknown [2]

1904-1920

Charles Lang Freer, purchased from The Lord Battersea, through William Merchant and Company, London [3]

From 1920

Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer [4]

Notes:

[1] See note 2.

[2] When Cyril Flower purchased the painting from Whistler remains unknown. However, Flowers owned it by 1892 when he loaned it to the Goupil Gallery's exhibition "Nocturnes, Marines, & Chevalet Pieces," see: Goupil Gallery, "Nocturnes, Marines, & Chevalet Pieces: Small Collection Kindly Lent by Their Owners" [exhibition catalogue] (London: Goupil Gallery, March 1892), no. 14. Flower sold the painting to Charles Lang Freer in 1904, see note 3.

[3] See Voucher No. 20, July 19, 1904, from Freer to Cyril Flower through William Merchant & Co, Box 112, Folder 9, Charles Lang Freer Papers, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, copy in object file.

[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.

Research completed August 9, 2022.

Collection

Freer Gallery of Art Collection

Exhibition History

Ruffled Feathers: Creating Whistler's Peacock Room (July 13, 2024 to January 21, 2027)

Whistler: Streetscapes, Urban Change (November 18, 2023 to May 4, 2024)

An American in London: Whistler and the Thames (May 3 to August 17, 2014)

Freer & Whistler: Points of Contact (February 23, 2008 to January 3, 2016)

Pretty Women: Freer and the Ideal of Feminine Beauty (August 13, 2005 to September 17, 2006)

Mr. Whistler's Galleries: Avant-garde in Victorian London, 1883 (November 20, 2003 to April 4, 2004)

Art for Art's Sake (July 23, 1997 to January 24, 2008)

Whistler & Japan (May 14, 1995 to January 1, 1996)

Freer North Corridor (May 9. 1993 to January 3, 2016)

Arrangement in Yellow and Gold: Paintings by James McNeill Whistler (March 14, 1986 to April 1, 1987)

American Paintings: James McNeill Whistler (January 17, 1985 to (end date unknown))

James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art: Artist and Patron (May 11, 1984 to January 17, 1985)

American Paintings: James McNeill Whistler 1834-1903 (September 16, 1981 to March 26, 1984)

American Paintings: James McNeill Whistler (November 11, 1976 to March 18, 1981)

Paintings by James McNeill Whistler (August 1, 1974 to December 5, 1975)

Portraits and Figure Painting by James McNeill Whistler (October 2, 1972 to May 2, 1973)

Whistler Paintings (October 15, 1969 to September 25, 1971)

Whistler Paintings (September 8, 1961 to October 15, 1969)

American Paintings (September 8, 1961 to May 2, 1973)

American Paintings (June 9, 1960 to September 8, 1961)

Centennial Exhibition, Galleries 10 and 11 (February 25, 1956 to November 3, 1959)

Untitled Exhibition, Whistler Oil Paintings, Gallery 3, 1955 (December 16, 1955 to February 25, 1956)

Untitled Exhibition, Works of Whistler (September 22, 1947 to April 11, 1955)

Untitled Exhibition, American Oil Paintings, Gallery 3, 1947 (September 25, 1947 to April 12, 1955)

American Paintings, J.A.McN. Whistler (May 2, 1923 to February 12, 1944)

Untitled Exhibition, University of Michigan Club, Detroit, 1914 (1914)

Paintings in Oil and Pastel by James A. McNeill Whistler (March 15 to May 31, 1910)

Exposition des Oeuvres de James McNeill Whistler (May 1905)

78th Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture (Spring or Autumn of 1904)

Nocturnes, Marines and Chevalet Pieces (March through April, 1892)

Sixth Exhibition of the Society of French Artists (1873)

97th Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts (January 1, 1865 to December 31, 1865)

Previous custodian or owner

Cyril Flower (1843-1907) (C.L. Freer source)

Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

Credit Line

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

1864

Accession Number

F1904.75a

Restrictions & Rights

CC0

Type

Painting

Medium

Oil on wood panel

Dimensions

H x W (painting): 50.1 × 68.5 cm (19 3/4 × 27 in)

H x W (frame (F1905.329)): 76.1 × 93.3 cm (29 15/16 × 36 3/4 in)

Origin

United States

On View

Freer Gallery 11: Ruffled Feathers: Creating Whistler's Peacock Room

Related Online Resources

Google Cultural Institute

See more items in

Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection

Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

Topic

screen

United States

ukiyo-e

American Art

Charles Lang Freer collection

Record ID

fsg_F1904.75a

Metadata Usage (text)

CC0

GUID (Link to Original Record)

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ye37284f58d-f9d7-4f41-9184-4e99334203c0