About the Artwork
In this painting, Whistler explores problems in technique and composition, as well as his own psyche; the viewer is confronted by a cool, appraising gaze from a face of deceptive immediacy. The flattened forms, subtle gradations of gray, and asymmetrical composition of the work reveal a strong Japanese influence.
Arrangement in Gray: Portrait of the Painter
ca. 1872
James Abbott McNeill Whistler
1834 - 1903
American
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Oil on canvas
Unframed: 29 1/2 × 21 inches (74.9 × 53.3 cm) Framed: 39 5/8 × 31 5/8 × 2 1/2 inches (100.6 × 80.3 × 6.4 cm)
Paintings
American Art before 1950
Bequest of Henry Glover Stevens in memory of Ellen P. Stevens and Mary M. Stevens
34.27
Public Domain
Markings
Signed, at left: [butterfly in circle]
Signed, on the verso: frame decorated by Whistler [according to the 1905 memorial exhibition catalogue]
Provenance
Alexander Ionides.Alecco Ionides.
1895, George McCulloch (London, England);
1907, his widow, Mrs. Coutts Michie.
until 1911, William O'Leary Fine Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA).
1911-1934, Henry Glover Stevens (Detroit, Michigan, USA);
1934-present, bequest to the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)
For more information on provenance, please visit:
Provenance pageExhibition History
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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.
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Society of French Artists 6th Exhibition, 1873, no. 130.
Exposition International. Exh. cat., Galerie Georges Petit. 1883, no. 2.
Way, T. and G.R. Dennis. The Art of James McNeill Whistler. London, 1905.
London Memorial Exhibition. 1905, no. 30.
Pennell, E.R. The Life of James McNeill Whistler. London, 1908, p. 80.
Gallatin, A.E. “Whistler- The Self-Portrait in Oil.” Art in America, 1 (1913):p. 151.
Second Annual Exhibition of American Artists. Detroit Museum of Art, 1916, no. 103.
Seventh Annual Exhibition. Detroit Institute of Arts, 1921, no. 134.
Bulletin of the DIA, 14, 2 (1934): p. 20.
Whistler Loan Exhibition. Exh. cat., Macbeth Gallery. New York, 1947, no. 20 (cover ill.).
Exhibition of James McNeill Whistler. Exh. cat., Lyman Allyn Museum. New London, CT, 1949, no. 14.
America and Impressionism. Exh. cat., Museum of Art. Birmingham, AL, 1951, p. 56.
Expatriates: Whistler, Cassatt, Sargent. Exh. cat., Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute. Utica, 1953.
Sargent, Whistler, and Mary Cassatt. Exh. cat., Art Institute of Chicago. Chicago, 1954, no. 103.
Art News, 53, 2 (April 1954): p. 21 (ill.).
Directions in Twentieth Century American Painting. Exh. cat., Dallas Museum of Fine Arts. Dallas, October 7-November 12, 1961, pg. 7, cat. no. 8.
The Birth of Impressionism. Exh. cat., Wildenstein’s. New York, 1963, no. 67.
Sutton, D. “Nocturne: The Art of James McNeill Whistler.” Country Life (1963): frontispiece.
______________. James McNeill Whistler, Paintings, Etchings. 1966, p. 190 (pl. 59).
Triumph of Realism. Exh. cat., Brooklyn Museum. Brooklyn, 1967, no. 7 (ill.). [catalogue dates art as 1867]
James McNeill Whistler. Exh. cat., Nationalgalerie. Berlin, 1969, p. 73 (pl. 20).
The World of Whistler 1834-1903. Time-Life Library of Art, 1970, pp. 120-121 (ill.). [as Arrangement in Grey]
Spencer, R. Aesthetic Movement. London, 1972, p. 94 (ill.).
McMullen, R. Victorian Outsider. New York, 1973, p. 17 (ill.).
Arts and Crafts in Detroit. Exh. cat., Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1976, p. 246 (ill.)
Heritage and Horizon. Exh. cat., Albright-Knox Gallery. Buffalo, 1976, no. 29 (ill.).
“Family Art Game.” DIA Advertising Supplement. Detroit News (May 20, 1979): p. 27 (ill.).
Young, Andrew McLaren, Margaret MacDonald, and Robin Spencer. The Painting of James McNeill Whistler. New Haven, 1980, Vol. 1, pp. 74-75, no. 122.
“Family Art Game.” DIA Advertising Supplement. Detroit News (April 18, 1982): p. 23 (ill.).
Stein, D. Whistler. New York, 1984 (frontispiece).
100 Masterworks from the Detroit Institute of Arts. New York, 1985, pp. 200-201 (ill.).
“Family Art Game.” DIA Advertising Supplement. Detroit News (April 14, 1985): p. 26 (ill.).
Kondek, Donna. “Whistler’s Other.” Wayne State, 1, 2 (1987): p. 13.
Reff, Theodore. Degas, The Artist’s Mind. Cambridge, 1987 (fig. 2).
Spencer. 1989, p. 108 (pl. 44).
Washington. 1995, p. 59 (fig 2:10).
Crane, Michael. Detroit’s Annual Exhibition of American Art: The Foundation of a Collection. www.dia.org/research/online_publications/annual_american_art, 2005.
James McNeill Whistler Retrospective. Exh. cat., The National Museum of Modern Art. Kyoto, 2014, no. 11.
Enaud-Lechien, Isabelle. Exposer/S'exposer: Edgard Degas et James McNeill Whistler Médiateurs de Leur Art. Lille, 2023, p. 307, p. 310 (fig. 94).
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Credit Line for Reproduction
James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Arrangement in Gray: Portrait of the Painter, ca. 1872, oil on canvas. Detroit Institute of Arts, Bequest of Henry Glover Stevens in memory of Ellen P. Stevens and Mary M. Stevens, 34.27.
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