ID: 700001804 Page link: http://vocab.getty.edu/page/cona/700001804	Record Type: Movable Work
Images: 1

Girl at her toilet (oil painting (visual work); Glyn Philpot (British painter, sculptor, and illustrator, 18...; ca. 1910; Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (Wellington, Welling...; registration number: 1912-0021-2)

Note: Glyn Philpot made his debut at the Royal Academy, London, in 1904 but then took a more independent path, studying in Paris in 1905 and travelling in Spain the following year. Returning to London, he established a portrait practice and kept company with the more idiosyncratic of his contemporaries such as Charles Ricketts, Charles Shannon and Australian expatriate George Lambert. He had his first solo show with the London art dealer John Baillie in 1910, and it was from the exhibition organised by Baillie for New Zealand in 1912 that this painting was purchased. It seemed to represent the work of one of the most important younger artists of the day, begging comparison with paintings by Walter Sickert and William Orpen that challenged prevailing taste.Girl at her toilet is typical in many respects of British painting in the years immediately preceding the First World War. It makes a deliberate contrast with John Singer Sargent’s notorious Madame X, 1884 (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), as well as referring to the suggestive interior scenes of the Dutch tradition that set sexual innuendo in everyday environments. The plain looks of the model (the artist’s sister and devoted supporter, Daisy, who posed for him more than once) and the dark colouring of the setting fit well with the deglamourisation of the female figure that Philpot seems to have been aiming for. Though erotically suggestive in the Western tradition of half-dressed female figures in their private quarters, this woman’s pale and passive face, gauche stance and studied indifference make the intimacy that is forced on the viewer, positioned at close quarters with the subject in this limited space, very unsettling. The only decorative relief - the pattern on the dress, which hangs around the woman’s reluctantly displayed body - is played down, while the dark browns and greys emphasise the absence of cheer. These effects have probably been exaggerated with time, as contemporary reviewers noted the brilliance of the flesh tones, but the work offers a stark and bitter contrast with the much more stylish portraiture for which Philpot later became known. On his return from the First World War, he chose to establish himself in the mainstream, and exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy until his death in 1937.

Titles:

Girl at her toilet (preferred,C,U,RP,English,U,U)

Catalog Level: item

Work Types:

oil painting (visual work) [300033799] (preferred)

..... (Objects Facet, Visual and Verbal Communication (hierarchy name), Visual Works (hierarchy name), visual works (works), <visual works by material or technique>, paintings (visual works), <paintings by material or technique>)

Classifications:

paintings (preferred)

Creation Date: ca. 1910

Creator Display:

Glyn Philpot (British painter, sculptor, and illustrator, 1884-1937) [preferred,VP]

painter Philpot, Glyn Warren (English painter and sculptor, 1884-1937) [500002654]

Locations:

Current: Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand) [500311561] Corporate Bodies (Corp. Body)

Repository Numbers: registration number: 1912-0021-2

Credit Line: Purchased 1912 by public subscription

Display Materials: oil on canvas

	oil paint (paint) [300015050]
	.......(Materials Facet, Materials (hierarchy name), materials (substances), <materials by function>, coating (material), <coating by form>, paint (coating), <paint by composition or origin>)

	canvas (textile material) [300014078]
	.......(Materials Facet, Materials (hierarchy name), materials (substances), <materials by form>, <materials by physical form>, <fiber and fiber by product>, <fiber by product>, textile materials, <textile materials by process or technique>)

Dimensions: Image: 1000 x 850 mm; Frame: 1207 x 1056 x 74 mm

General Subject:

human figures (preferred)

Specific Subjects:

	portrait [300015637]
	.....(Objects Facet, Visual and Verbal Communication (hierarchy name), Visual Works (hierarchy name), visual works (works), <visual works by subject type>) (AAT)

	female [300189557]
	.....(Associated Concepts Facet, Associated Concepts (hierarchy name), scientific concepts, biological concepts, sex (biological characteristic)) (AAT)

	interior spaces (spaces by location) [300078790]
	.....(Objects Facet, Components (hierarchy name), components (objects parts), <components by specific context>, building divisions, rooms and spaces, <rooms and spaces by location or context>) (AAT)

List/Hierarchical Position:

..... Movable Works

.......... Movable Works by class: drawings, paintings, prints, other two-dimensional media

Sources and Contributors:
Girl at her toilet	........ [VP,TePapa]
	........ Te Papa online (2000-) http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/ObjectDetails.aspx?oid=41085; accessed 21 August 2012
	........ Te Papa spreadsheet (2012) accessed 21 August 2012

Subject: ....... [VP,TePapa]

....................... Te Papa online (2000-) accessed 21 August 2012

....................... Te Papa spreadsheet (2012)

Note:
English	..... [VP]
	..... Te Papa online (2000-) accessed 21 August 2012