Annabel Lee

Object Details

• Artist

  James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)

• Label

  When Freer purchased this drawing of a statuesque figure, he noted that the seller thought the subject was Niobe. The drawing has carried the title Annabel Lee since 1905. Both subjects are associated with the sense of death. Niobe was the daughter of Tantalus; she was turned to stone while bewailing the loss of her children. Annabel Lee, who probably symbolized Edgar Allan Poe's young wife, also is lost:

  For the moon never beams, with out bringing me dreams

  of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

  And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes

  of the beautiful Annabel Lee:

  And so, all the night tide, I lie down by the side

  Of my darling-my darling-my life and my bride,

  in her sepulchre there by the sea-

  in her tomb by the sounding sea.

  The figure itself has marked affinities with the neoclassical works of Albert Moore. Like Degas's ballet dancers, Whistler's draped models continue to reappear, slightly varied and invested with new meaning. This figure has been generated from the woman in Variation in Blue and Green (F1903.178) and follows a similar color scheme. A shimmering inverted rainbow of blue and green gauze hangs behind the figure, separating the viewer from the space she occupies. Whistler's butterfly and a single violet iris balance the composition. With her head cast down and her back turned to us, the figure is as inaccessible and melancholy as she is beautiful. Whether the subject is Niobe or Annabel Lee is probably less important than our recognition of the painter's poetry: "The amazing invention that shall have put form and colour into such perfect harmony, that exquisiteness is the result."

• Provenance

  To 1905

  Thomas Way Sr. (1827-1915), London, or Thomas Robert Way (1861-1913), London, to 1905 [1]

  From 1905 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Thomas Way Sr. or Thomas Robert Way in 1905 [2]

  From 1920

  Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]

  Notes:

  [1] See Original Whistler List, Paintings, pg. 31, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Thomas Way Sr. and his son, Thomas Robert Way, were lithographers who worked closely with Whistler on several of his projects. They helped with the printing of his etchings, as well as the printing of Whistler’s promotional materials. Both Thomas Way Sr. and Thomas Robert Way owned many Whistler works. Thomas Way Sr. acquired several of these works at the time of Whistler’s bankruptcy, and he passed some of them on to his son (see The Correspondence of James McNeill Whistler, 1855-1903, ed. Margaret F. MacDonald, Patricia de Montfort and Nigel Thorp, On-line Edition, People, biographies of Thomas Way and Thomas Robert Way; http://www.whistler.arts.gla.ac.uk/correspondence).

  Charles Lang Freer acquired many Whistler pieces from the Ways. However, museum records do not always specify whether it was the younger or elder Way who was the source of a particular object. Further, archival sources indicate that the junior Way sometimes acted on behalf of his father: whilst negotiating the sale of his own Whistler works to C.L. Freer, he would concurrently negotiate the sale of some of his father’s Whistler works to Freer. In cases where it is unclear whether it was the junior or senior Way who actually owned a piece acquired by C.L. Freer, the provenance record will simply state that the object was purchased from “Thomas Way Sr. or Thomas Robert Way.”

  [2] See note 1.

  [3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  The Lost Symphony: Whistler & the Perfection of Art (January 16 to May 30, 2016)

  Chinamania (2010) (August 7, 2010 to August 7, 2011)

  Whistler & Japan (May 14, 1995 to January 1, 1996)

  James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art—Whistler and the Figure (May 11, 1984 to December 16, 1984)

  James McNeill Whistler Pastels, Etchings, Paintings, Watercolors (November 11, 1976 to June 24, 1977)

  American Paintings (April 15, 1975 to December 5, 1975)

  Whistler Pastels and Water Colors (July 1 to July 31, 1974)

  Centennial Exhibition, Galleries 10 and 11 (February 25, 1956 to November 3, 1959)

  Untitled Exhibition, Whistler Paintings and Drawings (December 14, 1955 to February 25, 1956)

  Untitled Exhibition, Works of Whistler (September 22, 1947 to April 11, 1955)

  Untitled Exhibition, Whistler Watercolors, Oil Paintings, and Pastels (January 20, 1944 to October 13, 1947)

  Whistler Pastels and Drawings, Re-arranged and some additions (January 7, 1924 to January 20, 1944)

  American Paintings, Pastels, and Water Colors, and Drawings. J.A.McN. Whistler (May 2, 1923 to January 7, 1924)

  Paintings in Oil and Pastel by James A. McNeill Whistler (March 15 to May 31, 1910)

  Memorial Exhibition of the Works of the late James McNeill Whistler (February 22 to April 15, 1905)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  United States

• Credit Line

  Gift of Charles Lang Freer

• Type

  Drawing

• Restrictions and Rights

  CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1880s

• Name

  Freer, Charles Lang

• Place

  United States

• Topic

  Water, Charles Lang Freer collection, Art, American Art, Ocean, Woman

• Culture

  Americans

• Object Type

  Drawings