Lot 92: Miss Jane Aitken

Edward Arthur Walton, R.S.A., P.R.S.W., R.P., H.R.W..S., H.R.I. (1860-1922) Miss Jane Aitken signed 'EA Walton' (lower left) oil on canvas 75 x 38 in. (190.5 x 96.5 cm.)

190.5 x 96.5 cm.

Glasgow, The Royal Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts, Annual Exhibition, 1894, no. 279. Paris, Champ-de-Mars, Exposition Nationale des Beaux Arts, 1896, no. 1235. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, 1896-97. Berlin, Eduard Schulte Gallery, 1900. Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery, Autumn Exhibition, 1901, no. 387.

'The Glasgow Institute ', Glasgow Herald, 2 February 1894, p. 9. 'The Glasgow Institute ', Falkirk Herald and Linlithgow Journal, 7 February 1894, p. 5. The Art Journal, 1894, p. 125. 'The New Salon', Glasgow Herald, 2 May 1895, p. 4. J.L. Caw, 'A Scottish Painter, EA Walton ARSA', The Studio, vol. 26, 1902, p. 167. F. MacSporran, Edward Arthur Walton, 1860-1922, Glasgow, 1987, p. 51.

Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, Belgravia, 13 April 1976, lot 322.

When Walton's portrait of Miss Jane Aitken was first shown at the Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts in February 1894, a reporter called it 'a bold departure from conventional portraiture' (Falkirk Herald and Linlithgow Journal, loc. cit.). Even though it was poorly hung and difficult to see, its radicalism was clear (the picture was 'skied' and therefore difficult to see, according to the Glasgow Herald, 1894 loc. cit.). Walton had adopted 'slightly varying shades' of monochrome to create a subtle overall effect, harmonizing the figure with its background. Miss Aitken's everyday clothes - her tight-fitting jacket and full skirt - are crisply delineated and as she fingers her gloves she is either about to leave or has just come in from the street. She cuts a striking silhouette that Walton first noted in a small version (Study for 'Miss Jane Aitken', c. 1893, sold from the collection of Alberto Morocco, Christie's, South Kensington, 11 July 2012, lot 124) of what would become his principal Institute contribution of that year. Comparisons are instructive: where he places a circular convex mirror to the left of the head in the sketch, it was obvious that this device - reflecting a distorted view of the artist and studio - would be an unwelcome distraction in the final picture. The convex Georgian mirror was a device used to great effect in later years by William Orpen. Instead, Miss Aitken poses by a bow-fronted side-table, as though standing in a hallway. In the present work, Whistler, and to a lesser extent, Orchardson, were Walton's mentors. For the portrait, specifically the full-length portrait, the American expatriate had developed formal and aesthetic strictures that placed emphasis on shape, colour and tonal harmony which in some instances, discreetly uncovered the extrovert aspects of contemporary chic. When shown at the Salon in Paris, The Glasgow Herald summed up Walton's 'grace of tone and grace of subject' in this, his principal exhibit. Later reviewers might consider that tailoring had taken the place of character, as the influential George Moore began to rail against the parade of 'white satin duchesses', purveyed by Sargent and Shannon. Nevertheless while James L. Caw might bemoan the sacrifice of character in Walton's later work, he recalled 'with special pleasure the strikingly simple full-length portrait of Miss Aitken' (J.L. Caw, loc. cit.). KMc.