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Description: | CRE UNKNOWN; This well-made cabinet may well have been made for Whistler's personal use, to his specification, for storage of artist's materials and tools. It has 11 internal sliding drawers, each with one central brass, flush-fitted, ring chest handle and forward falling double-hinged fronts. The cabinet is centrally opening with two panelled doors and a single lock. This item is part of a group of furniture from the Whistler estate bequeathed by the artist's sister-in-law, Miss Rosalind Birnie Philip, in 1958. It is not always certain whether the pieces of furniture she bequeathed had been Whistler's or were part of the Philip family collection. Many of the items of furniture owned by Whistler were used as studio props and appear in several works by the artist. Whistler took great care over the decoration of his successive homes, favouring sparsely furnished interiors painted in plain harmonious colours. One visitor to the Whistlers' Paris home, Arthur Eddy, recorded that their reception room was "simple, dignified, harmonious...it was restful and charming, to the last degree... The floor was covered with a coarse dark-blue matting; the panelled walls were in pure white and blue, while the ceiling was in a light shade of blue...The few pieces of furniture were of an old pattern, graceful almost to fragility and covered with some light stuff which harmonised with the tone of the walls." (Arthur Eddy 1903, 'Recollections and Impressions of James A. McNeill Whistler', J.B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia and London, pp 220-221) While he also created interior schemes for others, William Alexander at Aubrey House, and the Leylands' London home, no furniture designs by him are known. The pieces he acquired for his own use show a preference for English and French furniture of the 18th and 19th centuries.
Birnie Philip Bequest, 1958. | License: | http://www.hmag.gla.ac.uk/spirit/rights/ | Publisher: | Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, University of Glasgow | Rights holder: | Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, University of Glasgow | Subjects: | DECORATIVE ART : CABINET : STORAGE : FURNITURE : WHISTLER'S STUDIO : FRENCH POLISHING : WHISTLER CENTENARY : | Source: | Hunterian Museum | Creator: | Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, University of Glasgow | Identifier: | http://www.huntsearch.gla.ac.uk/cgi-bin/... | Language: | en-GB | Go to resource |
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