Black, grey and a touch of pink
James McNeill Whistler
James McNeill Whistler, an American who settled in London, in the 1870s and 1880s. The critic Théodore Duret in evening dress with a pink cloak over his arm, the actor Henry Irving as Philip II of Spain, a lady in grey against the dark, a woman leaning back by the fire in a yellow room, evening crowds at Cremorne Gardens, and the market square at Dieppe. He called his pictures arrangements and notes, and meant it.
As a puzzle
Quiet pictures, slow to build. Start with what catches the light: Duret’s pink cloak and white shirt front, the lilac dress in the yellow room, the stalls of the Dieppe market. Irving and the lady in grey are mostly dark ground around a single figure, Duret stands on one even flesh colour, and Cremorne is an evening haze, so keep the count low to moderate.
A good size here: 40–150 pieces.
Also filed under American Painting
Subjects here: PortraitsEveryday LifeGardensInteriors
7 pictures, pick one to build
The Yellow Room ca. 1883–84 
Arrangement in Flesh Colour and Black: Portrait of Theodore Duret 1883 
Cremorne Gardens, No. 2 ca. 1870–80 
Lady in Gray ca. 1883 
Arrangement in Black, No. 3: Sir Henry Irving as Philip II of Spain 1876, reworked 1885 
Note in Pink and Brown ca. 1880 
Variations in Violet and Grey—Market Place, Dieppe 1885