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Description: | 29 x 20.2 Inscr. on backboard in red biro "Miss Birnie Philip"; in black biro "Unknown - Portrait of a Seated Girl"; printed label "CHAPMAN BROS. / Carvers Gilders & Frame Makers / 251 Kings Road / (opposite Carlyle Square) / N. B. ESTIMATES GIVEN FOR DECORATIVE GILDING. / LONDON SW" CRE WHISTLER, Beatrix; (English; 1857-1896) Beatrix Whistler's surviving oil paintings are mostly small-scale, intimate studies of domestic settings. They show the women and children of her family reading, sewing, taking tea, etc., subjects echoed by many other female painters of the period. In order to avoid being judged as an amateur woman painter, Beatrix Whistler exhibited under the pseudonym 'Rix Birnie' (an adaptation of her maiden name, Beatrice Birnie Philip), and called herself 'a pupil of Whistler' when she exhibited at the Royal Society of British Artists, 1885-8.
This could be a portrait of one of the artist's younger sisters, perhaps Rosalind. Birnie Philip (1873-1958). She was Whistler's executrix, ward and personal assistant. His nickname for her, with West Point associations, was 'Major' - Whistler, of course, was the 'General'. Whistler bequeathed his estate to her. This included the collection of his wife's paintings, prints and drawings, as well as personalia. In this painting she could be aged about 10 to 12, indicating a date of 1883-5. The careful, detailed style of painting also indicates a date before the artist's marriage to Whistler in 1888. There is a painting of a house and garden on the back.
The wicker chair she is sitting on is similar to the 'Beaconsfield' Chair manufactured by Barker & Son, Loughborough, and advertised at the back of a catalogue of designs by Beatrix Whistler's first husband, E. W. Godwin (1833-1886), architect and designer ('Artistic Conservatories from Designs by E. W. Godwin ....', London, 1880).
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: | PORTRAIT : GODWIN, EDWARD WILLIAM : BEACONSFIELD CHAIR : PHILIP, ROSALIND BIRNIE : GIRL : BOOK : | 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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