Note in Red: The Siesta

Note in Red: The Siesta portrays Englishwoman Maud (Mary) Franklin, James McNeill Whistler’s model and mistress between the mid-1870s and 1888, lying on a red divan, a studio prop that appears in other works of the early 1880s. Quickly and sketchily executed in a nervous series of long brushstrokes, Maud’s recumbent form, enclosed within a voluptuous swath of dress fabric and upholstery, suggests an unposed moment, a siesta for the weary model, whose voluminous skirt trails carelessly along the floor as she rests with her face turned from the viewer. The setting is unspecified, as if the painting is deliberately unfinished; above the back edge of the sofa, the stylized butterfly, Whistler’s idiosyncratic "signature," asserts the reality of the flat panel surface on which the artist has pictured the scene.

The casual, even erotic intimacy of Note in Red: The Siesta, underscored by the brilliant color that dominates the painting, reflects the artist’s personal relationship with his subject, who had borne him two daughters. Maud, who called herself Mrs. Whistler, was the last in a series of women who were both Whistler’s models and his mistresses; he abruptly ended their more than decade-long affair in 1888 to marry Beatrice Birnie Philip Godwin. Maud posed for innumerable paintings, drawings, and prints (including several works in the Terra Foundation collection), but Whistler never individualized her features or allowed her name to appear in the titles of oil paintings he exhibited. As the impersonal title of this painting suggests, Whistler did not paint Maud so much as the decorative effect she occasioned, an approach consistent with his pursuit of an art defined by the harmonious arrangement of color and form rather than the illusionistic representation of subject matter. Note in Red: The Siesta was shown at a London gallery in 1884 in Whistler’s one-person exhibition significantly entitled 'Notes'—'Harmonies'—'Nocturnes', for which the artist designed the color-coordinated installation. Whistler used such titles drawn from names for musical compositions to draw an analogy between painting and music, a "pure" art form in which representation need play no part.

Throughout his career, the female figure served as a medium for the development of Whistler’s art. In images ranging from formal, full-length society portraits to such seemingly private, sketch-like works as Note in Red: The Siesta, Whistler pioneered the theme of woman as decorative object. He was deeply influenced by the stylized, languorously elegant women pictured in the Japanese woodcut prints he admired, and his treatments, in turn, set a precedent for two generations of American artists. Nude or clothed, the recumbent woman, caught in an idle moment of private rest or reverie in the private setting of the bedroom or boudoir, was a particular theme to which he repeatedly returned. Although it has precedents in Renaissance paintings of subjects from classical literature, Whistler treated the subject in a thoroughly modern manner, painting Maud in a fashionable, body-hugging dress with a rapidity and immediacy that emphasizes his presence and thus his personal relationship to the sleeping model. In both its exaltation of the quotidian, private moment and its assertion of the individual artist’s persona and process, Note in Red: The Siesta attests to Whistler’s status as a founder of artistic modernism.

'Notes'—'Harmonies'—'Nocturnes,' Dowdeswell Gallery, London, England, May 1884, no. 17.

Annual Exhibition of Sketches, Dublin Sketching Club, Dublin, Ireland December 1, 1884, no. 236.

III Internationale Kunst-Austellung, Koniglichen Glaspalast, Munich, Germany (organizer). Venue: Koniglichen Glaspalast, Munich, Germany, July 1888, no. 58 (as Eine rote Stimmung and listed by Whistler as Une note rouge).

Notes-Harmonies-Nocturnes, H. Wunderlich & Company, New York, New York (organizer). Venue: H. Wunderlich & Company, New York, New York, March 1889 (as Red Note-The Sofa).

Exhibition, Goupil Gallery (branch from London gallery), Paris, France, September 1891.

Loan Collection: Oil Paintings, Water Colors, Pastels, & Drawings: Memorial Exhibition of Mr. J. McNeill Whistler, Copley Society of Boston, Massachusetts, February 1904 (as La Note Rouge).

Memorial Exhibition of the Works of the late James McNeill Whistler, First President of the International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, New Gallery, London, England, February 22–April 15, 1905, no. 142 (as La Note Rouge). [exh. cat.]

Principal Pictures from the Collection of Sir George Drummond, Barbizon House, London, England (organizer). Venue: Barbizon House, London, England, 1919, no. 19.

Woman, Terra Museum of American Art, Evanston, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Evanston, Illinois, February 21–April 22, 1984. [exh. cat.]

Notes, Harmonies, and Nocturnes: Small Works by James McNeill Whistler, M. Knoedler & Company, Inc., New York, New York (organizer). Venue: M. Knoedler & Company, Inc., New York, New York, November 30–December 27, 1984. [exh. cat.]

Selections from the Permanent Collection, Terra Museum of American Art, Evanston, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Evanston, Illinois, July 19–September 14, 1985.

A Proud Heritage: Two Centuries of American Art, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, April 21–June 21, 1987. [exh. cat.]

Collection Cameo, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, July 1988.

An American Revelation: The Daniel J. Terra Collection, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, February 28–October 1, 1988.

Whistler and His Circle, Minnesota Museum of Art, St. Paul, Minnesota, April 9–June 25, 1989. [exh. cat.]

Discerning Tastes: Montreal Collectors, 1880–1920, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, Quebec, Canada (organizer). Venue: Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, December 8, 1989–February 25, 1990. [exh. cat.]

Regard sur James Abbott McNeill Whistler (James Abbott McNeill Whistler at a Glance), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–October 30, 1994 (on exhibit partial run: April 1–September 18, 1994).

James McNeill Whistler: Retrospective Exhibition 1994–1995, Tate Gallery, London, England (organizer). Venues: Tate Gallery, London, England, October 12, 1994–January 8, 1995; Réunion des Musées Nationaux (Musée d'Orsay), Paris, France, February 6–April 30, 1995; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., May 28–August 20, 1995. [exh. cat.]

American Treasures: Chase, Whistler and the Prendergasts, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, April 26, 1995–January 5, 1997.

The Decorative Form: The Aesthetic Movement, Arts & Crafts and the Asian Influence in American Art, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, September 16–December 5, 1999.

On Process: Studio Themes, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, January 13–March 4, 2001.

Héroïque et le quotidien: les artistes américains, 1820–1920 (The Extraordinary and the Everyday: American Perspectives, 1820–1920), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–November 30, 2001. [exh. cat.]

D'une colonie à une collection: le Musée d'Art Américain Giverny fête ses dix ans (From a Colony to a Collection: Celebrating the Tenth Anniversary of the Musée d'Art Américain Giverny), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, March 30–June 16, 2002.

A Place on the Avenue: Terra Museum of American Art Celebrates 15 Years in Chicago, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, November 16, 2002–February 16, 2003 (on exhibit extended run: November 2, 2002–March 2, 2003).

Modern Harmonies: Whistler Reflects on his Art, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, May 31–August 31, 2003.

Studied Abroad: Painted Impressions from the Collection, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, September 6, 2003–April 4, 2004.

Collection Cameo, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, July 2004.

Expanded Galleries of American Art with Loans from the Terra Foundation for American Art Collection, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, April 15, 2005–June 2007.

Le Temps des loisirs : peintures américaines (At Leisure: American Paintings), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, July 15–October 31, 2007.

Portrait of a Lady : peintures et photographies américaines en France, 1870–1915 (Portrait of a Lady: American Paintings and Photographs in France, 1870–1915), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, Giverny, France and Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France (organizers). Venues: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, Giverny, France, April 1–July 14, 2008; Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France, September 25, 2008–January 5, 2009. [exh. cat.].

Galleries of American Art with Loans from the Terra Foundation for American Art Collection, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, July 2009–March 2013.

American Impressionism: a New Vision, 1880–1900 (L'Impressionnisme et les Américains/ Impresionismo Americano (French & Spanish titles), Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny, Giverny, France and the Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago, Illinois in collaboration with the National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, United Kingdom and the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, Spain (organizers). Venues: Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny, Giverny, France, March 28–June 29, 2014; Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh, United Kingdom, July 19–October 19, 2014; Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, Spain, November 4, 2014–February 1, 2015. [exh. cat.]

Gallery Installation, Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, Massachusetts (organizer). Venues: Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, Massachusetts, June 27, 2015 – May 31, 2016.

Pathways to Modernism: American Art, 1865–1945 Art Institute of Chicago and Terra Foundation for American Art (organizers). Venue: Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, China, September 28, 2018–January 6, 2019. [exh. cat.]

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"Tips from the Pros: Whistler's Veils of Paint." American Artist 48 (April 1984): 102. Ill. p. 102 (color).

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Von Rolf Bothe, Herausgegeben. Curt Hermann 1854–1929: Ein Maler Der Moderne In Berlin. (exh. cat., Berlin Museum). Berlin, Germany: Berlin Museum and Verlag Willmuth Arenhovel, 1989. Text pp. 147, 150, 152; ill. p. 150 (color).

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