James McNeill Whistler

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Artist: Alice Pike Barney (American, 1857–1931)
Medium: Pastel on paper mounted on paperboard
Size: 19 × 19 1/4 in. (48.6 × 48.7 cm)
Museum: Smithsonian Institution
Rights: CC0 — no rights reserved

The popularity and financial success of Whistler's Venetian works marked a turning point in his career, and the artist promoted his energetic style with a colorful public persona. His lectures and awards earned respect, while contentious relations with clients and critics garnered less favorable press. Artist and Washington, D.C., socialite Alice Pike Barney captures some of Whistler's intensity and arrogance in this dynamic pastel.

Barney toured Europe at an early age and became a patron and collector as well as a prolific artist in her own right. After her death, her daughters donated her studio and its contents to the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Pastels were among her favorite media, and she honed these skills in Paris in the 1890s, counting Whistler (another expert in pastels) among her instructors.