Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/james-abbott-mcneill-whistler-598" aria-label="More by James Abbott McNeill Whistler" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">James Abbott McNeill Whistler</a>
Three Figures Pink and Grey
Purchased with the aid of contributions from the International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers as a Memorial to Whistler, and from Francis Howard 1950
actions: postures and motions
adults
beauty
blossom
clothing and personal items
crouching
emotions, concepts and ideas
female
group
groups
nudes
objects
parasol
people
standing
universal concepts
woman
<p>Whistler wanted his paintings to create a mood or atmosphere rather than tell a story or suggest any kind of theme, He was influenced by Japanese art, shown here in the blossoming tree and parasol as well as the shallow composition. It has been suggested that Whistler’s colour scheme and the women’s draping clothes were influenced by ancient Greek terracotta (‘tangara’) figures. He would have seen these in the British Museum, which was opposite his London studio. Whistler wasn’t happy with this work, describing it as 'a picture in no way representative, and in its actual condition absolutely worthless'.</p><p><em>Gallery label, January 2019</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
11 October 2002 – 5 January 2003
2003-01-05
11 October 2002 – 5 January 2003
2003-01-05
2002-10-11
Frist Center for the Visual Arts (Nashville, USA)
2002-10-11
Whistler Sargent and Steer - Frist
Tate partnerships & programmes
28 April 2003 – 18 April 2004
2004-04-18
28 April 2003 – 18 April 2004
2004-04-18
2003-04-28
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2003-04-28
Decadence
Collection based display
19 December 2005 – 13 November 2006
2006-11-13
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2005-12-19
J. A. M. Whistler
Collection based display
29 September 2007 – 20 January 2008
2008-01-20
29 September 2007 – 20 January 2008
2008-01-20
2007-09-29
Bowes Museum (Barnard Castle, UK)
http://www.bowesmuseum.org.uk
2007-09-29
Gallé and the Origins of Art Nouveau
Loan-out
1 May 2009 – 2 December 2010
2010-12-02
1 May 2009 – 2 December 2010
2010-12-02
2009-05-01
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2009-05-01
James Abbott McNeill Whistler
Collection based display
2 April 2011 – 17 June 2012
2012-06-17
2 April 2011 – 17 July 2011
2011-07-17
2011-04-02
Victoria and Albert Museum (London, UK)
http://www.vam.ac.uk
2011-04-02
The Cult of Beauty: The Aesthetic Movement 1860-1900
Loan-out
31 January 2012 – 12 August 2012
2012-08-12
31 January 2012 – 12 August 2012
2012-08-12
2012-01-31
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2012-01-31
Migrations
Exhibition
13 September 2014 – 1 March 2015
2015-03-01
13 September 2014 – 16 November 2014
2014-11-16
2014-09-13
National Museum of Modern Art (Kyoto, Japan)
6 December 2014 – 1 March 2015
2015-03-01
2014-12-06
Yokohama Museum of Art (Yokohama, Japan)
2014-09-13
James McN. Whistler Retrospective
Loan-out
18 February 2016 – 23 April 2017
2017-04-23
19 January 2017 – 23 April 2017
2017-04-23
2017-01-19
Statens Museum for Kunst (Copenhagen, Denmark)
2016-02-18
Japanomania in the North
Loan-out
11 May 2016 – 25 September 2016
2016-09-25
11 May 2016 – 25 September 2016
2016-09-25
2016-05-11
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2016-05-11
Painting with Light: Art and Photography from the Pre-Raphaelites to the modern age
Exhibition
12 October 2019 – 30 August 2020
2020-08-30
5 October 2019 – 23 February 2020
2020-02-23
2019-10-05
Laing Art Gallery (Newcastle upon Tyne, UK)
http://www.twmuseums.org.uk/
8 March 2020 – 30 August 2020
2020-08-30
2020-03-08
Guildhall Art Gallery (London, UK)
http://www.guildhall-art-gallery.org.uk
2019-10-12
The Enchanted Interior
Loan-out
21 September 2023 – 18 February 2024
2024-02-18
21 September 2023 – 18 February 2024
2024-02-18
2023-09-21
Ashmolean Museum (Oxford, UK)
http://www.ashmol.ox.ac.uk/
2023-09-21
Colour Revolution: Turner to Whistler
Loan-out
Three Figures: Pink and Grey
support: 1391 × 1854 mm
frame: 1701 × 2158 × 75 mm
Purchased with the aid of contributions from the International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers as a Memorial to Whistler, and from Francis Howard 1950
<p>This picture derives from one of six oil sketches that Whistler produced in 1868 as part of a plan for a frieze, commissioned by the businessman F.R. Leyland (1831-92), founder of the Leyland shipping line.  Known as the 'Six Projects', the sketches (now in the Freer Art Gallery, Washington) were all scenes with women and flowers, and all six were strongly influenced by his admiration for Japanese art. Another precedent for these works was <i>The Story of St George</i>, a frieze that Edward Burne-Jones (1833-98) executed for the artist and illustrator Myles Birket Foster (1825-99) in 1865-7.  The series of large pictures was destined for Leyland's house at Prince's Gate, but never produced, and only one - <i>The White Symphony: Three Girls</i> (1867) was finished, but was later lost.  Whistler embarked on a new version, <i>Three Figures: Pink and Grey</i>, but was never satisfied with this later <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a>, and described it as, 'a picture in no way representative, and in its actual condition absolutely worthless' (quoted in Wilton and Upstone, p.117). He followed the original sketch closely, but made a number of <i>pentimenti</i> which suggest that the picture is not simply a copy of the lost work. In spite of Whistler's dissatisfaction, it has some brilliant touches and a startlingly original <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/composition" title="Glossary definition for 'Composition'"><span>composition</span></a>.

</p><p>Although the three figures are clearly engaged in tending a flowering cherry tree, Whistler's aim in this picture is to create a mood or atmosphere, rather than to suggest any kind of theme. Parallels have been drawn with the work of Albert Moore, whose work of this period is equally devoid of <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/n/narrative" title="Glossary definition for 'Narrative'"><span>narrative</span></a> meaning. The design is economical and the picture space is partitioned like a Japanese interior. The shallow, frieze-like arrangement, the blossoming plant and the right-hand figure's parasol are also signs of deliberate <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/j/japonisme" title="Glossary definition for 'Japonisme'"><span>Japonisme</span></a>. Whistler has suppressed some of the details in the oil sketch, effectively disrobing the young girls by depicting them in diaphanous robes. The painting is characterised by pastel shades, a 'harmony' of pink and grey, punctuated by the brighter reds of the flower pot and the girls' bandannas, and the turquoise wall behind. It has been suggested that Whistler derived his colour schemes, and even the figures themselves, in their rhythmically flowing drapery, from polychrome Tanagra figures in the British Museum, which was opposite his studio in Great Russell Street.

</p><p><b>Further reading: <br/></b>Richard Dorment and Margaret F. MacDonald, <i>James McNeill Whistler</i>, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1994, pp.92-4.<br/>Andrew Wilton and Robert Upstone (eds), <i>The Age of Rossetti, Burne-Jones &amp; Watts - Symbolism in Britain 1860-1910</i>, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1997, pp.117-8, no.16, reproduced p.118, in colour.

</p><p>Frances Fowle<br/>December 2000</p>
Summary
2005-09-15T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
<div class="text">
<p>Whistler wanted his paintings to create a mood or atmosphere rather than tell a story or suggest any kind of theme, He was influenced by Japanese art, shown here in the blossoming tree and parasol as well as the shallow composition. It has been suggested that Whistler’s colour scheme and the women’s draping clothes were influenced by ancient Greek terracotta (‘tangara’) figures. He would have seen these in the British Museum, which was opposite his London studio. Whistler wasn’t happy with this work, describing it as 'a picture in no way representative, and in its actual condition absolutely worthless'.</p>
</div>

Display caption
2019-01-09T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
actions: postures and motions adults beauty blossom clothing and personal items crouching emotions, concepts and ideas female group groups nudes objects parasol people standing universal concepts woman