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Portraits, Pastels, Prints: Whistler in The Frick Collection 
June 2 through August 23, 2009

	James McNeill Whistler (1834–1903), Arrangement in Brown and Black: Portrait of Miss Rosa Corder, 1876–78, oil on canvas, The Frick Collection

Arrangement in Brown and Black:
Portrait of Miss Rosa Corder

Rosa Corder, an artist herself, was acquainted with Whistler through her lover and his agent, Charles Augustus Howell. Posed with her left arm on her hip, her back straight and head high, she wears the tailored jacket and loose skirt favored by the nineteenth-century professional woman.

The painting is one of several in which Whistler explores the juxtaposition of black forms against a black background, a practice inspired by the dark palettes of some seventeenth-century Spanish and Dutch paintings. Strong light and deep shadows give form to Corder’s plumed hat, which provides a visual counterpoint to her thick brown hair.

See the video podcast by Curatorial Assistant Joanna Sheers.

Introduction to the Exhibition

James McNeill Whistler (1834–1903)

The Paintings
Whistler's Working Method

Symphony in Grey and Green: The Ocean
Podcast | Video

Symphony in Flesh Colour and Pink: Portrait of Mrs Frances Leyland
Podcast | Video

Arrangement in Brown and Black: Portrait of Miss Rosa Corder
Podcast | Video

Harmony in Pink and Grey: Portrait of Lady Meux
Podcast | Video

Arrangement in Black and Gold: Comte Robert de Montesquiou-Fezensac
Podcast | Video

Pastels and Prints: Whistler in Venice
Pastels
Etchings

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