Artwork
Edward Guthrie Kennedy
Edward Guthrie Kennedy is an oil painting by the American Impressionist artist James McNeill Whistler. It dates from 1894 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
- Accession no.
- 09.222
- Credit line
- Gift of Edward G. Kennedy, 1909
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The work serves as a visual record of the individual, capturing his presence through Whistler's artistic interpretation.
Executed in 1893, this oil painting on wood panel functions as a formal portrait depicting Edward Guthrie Kennedy. The work's iconography is strictly representational, focusing entirely on the likeness of the male subject without incorporating additional allegorical figures or complex symbolic attributes. As a commissioned portrait housed in the American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the piece primarily represents a documentation of Kennedy's identity and social standing during the late nineteenth century.
The composition adheres to the conventions of portraiture, where the meaning is derived from the accurate rendering of the sitter's features rather than through narrative storytelling or hidden metaphors. The work serves as a visual record of the individual, capturing his presence through Whistler's artistic interpretation.
Technique & Style
The painting Edward G. Kennedy, completed in 1893, is executed in oil on a wooden panel, the medium and support recorded for the work. Whistler applied oil paint to the panel, which serves as the support for the composition. The portrait measures approximately 29.4 cm in height and 17.8 cm in width, as documented in the catalog entry.
It depicts Edward G. Kennedy and is classified as a portrait within The American Wing collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
History & Provenance
Edward Guthrie Kennedy is an oil portrait painted by James McNeill Whistler in 1893 on a wood panel (oil on wood), measuring 29.4 cm by 17.8 cm. The work portrays the sitter identified as Edward G. Kennedy and was classified within The American Wing as a portrait. Whistler created the piece in his studio that year, employing oil paint on a prepared panel to render a realistic likeness. The painting entered the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it remains on view, and has been catalogued under the museum’s records as part of the institution’s permanent holdings.
Overview
James McNeill Whistler completed this oil portrait of Edward Guthrie Kennedy in 1894. Rendered on a wood panel, the work captures Kennedy, an art dealer and friend of the artist, in a seated pose. The composition emphasizes the sitter's presence through a focused use of light and a simplified background, characteristic of Whistler's approach to portraiture during this period.
Artist & collection
Artist
James Abbott McNeill Whistler (; July 10, 1834 – July 17, 1903) was an American painter in oils and watercolor, and printmaker, active during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom.
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