Blue Girl

The Blue Girl is one of numerous studies of individual female figures, often nude or draped in sheer fabric, that James McNeill Whistler made in the medium of pastel late in his career. The image is softly drawn and demonstrates the artist’s virtuoso technique in suggesting a thin film of gathered diaphanous material and the rounded flesh of the model’s figure beneath it. This may be one of a number of studies for a series of large oil paintings of women intended to represent legendary personifications of female beauty; Whistler was planning the series in the 1890s but it was never fully realized. For The Blue Girl Whistler deliberately used the rougher side of the brown paper, but he made a related study, now titled Woman Holding a Fan (TF 1999.146b), on the smoother reverse.

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. 79 (as The Blue Girl).

Whistler Pastels and Water Colours, Carroll Carstairs, New York, New York, January 12–February 5, 1938. [exh. cat.]

[recto probably exhibited] James McNeill Whistler, M. Knoedler & Company, New York, New York, November 2–30, 1960. [exh. cat.]

[recto probably exhibited] James McNeill Whistler, The Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois, January 13–February 25, 1968; Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, New York, March 17–April 28, 1968. [exh. cat.]

[recto probably exhibited] Notes, Harmonies, Nocturnes, M. Knoedler & Company, New York, New York, November 30–December 27, 1984. [exh. cat.]

[recto exhibited] 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, 1996–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.

[recto exhibited] Figures and Forms: Selections from the Terra Foundation for the Arts, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, May 9–July 9, 2000.

[recto exhibited] 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.

Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell. The Whistler Journal. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: J. B. Lippincott and Company, 1921. Ill. facing p. 78 (as Little Nude).

Whistler Pastels and Water Colours. (exh. cat., Carroll Carstairs). New York: Carroll Carstairs, 1938. Ill. no. 7 (black & white).

Sweet, Frederick A. James McNeill Whistler: Paintings, Pastels, Watercolors, Etchings, Lithographs. (exh. cat., The Art Institute of Chicago). Chicago, Illinois: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1968. Text no. 58, p. 91.

MacDonald, Margaret F. Notes, Harmonies & Nocturnes: Small Works by James McNeill Whistler. (exh. cat., M. Knoedler & Company, Inc.). New York: M. Knoedler & Company, Inc., 1984. Text nos. 42, 42A, p. 43; ill. no. 42, p. 43. (color).

MacDonald, Margaret F. James McNeill Whistler: Drawings, Pastels, and Watercolours; A Catalogue Raisonné. New Haven, Connecticut and London, England: Yale University Press, 1995. Text no. 1223, p. 442; ill. no. 1223r, p. 442 (color).