As part of Whistler 2003 marking the centenary of the death of the internationally celebrated American-born painter, James McNeill Whistler (1834 ﾖ 1903), the Hunterian Art Gallery's important collection of Whistler's paintings are on the move in all their finery.

For the first time, the art of James McNeill Whistler is explored through the fashions of the time, and the women that shared his house, his studio and his bed. The exhibition, "Whistler, Women and Fashion", features eight magnificent full-length oil portraits of women by Whistler and sixty-three other works, including drawings, pastel studies and costume designs as well as fashion plates of the period.

Whistler's sister-in-law, Ethel Birnie Philip, in a red coat/dress trimmed with brown, and slinky black boa, is on her way from the Hunterian Art Gallery, Glasgow to New York to meet her other 'selves'. She will travel from Washington in an 'Andalusian' evening dress of grey and pink silk, with layers of frills on her puffed sleeves- while for the journey from Chicago, she is wearing a practical slim suit and less practical feathered hat.

Far away in Hawaii, Valerie Meux wears something more assertive for her trip to New York: an opulent black dress showing off the spectacular diamonds presented by her besotted young husband. On 22 April, they will join Whistler's most beautiful subject, Frances Leyland, wife of the Liverpool ship-owner, (wearing a dress designed by Whistler) at The Frick Collection in New York, for a fascinating exhibition, "Whistler, Women and Fashion".

The exhibition has been organised by Dr Margaret MacDonald, Principal Research Fellow at the Centre for Whistler Studies at the University of Glasgow and Susan Grace Galassi, Curator at The Frick Collection. Aileen Ribeiro, Head of the History of Dress Department at the Courtauld Institute of Art at the University of London, is the costume consultant for the exhibition. All agree it was immensely exciting to tackle the art-works from this new angle, through the fashion and culture of the time, as well as discover the hidden secrets of the lives of Whistler and his models.

The three scholars, joined by Patricia de Montfort, Research Fellow at the Centre for Whistler Studies, are the authors of a fully illustrated accompanying book to be published by Yale University Press. The publication is the first venture between art and dress history that places fashion at the centre of a great artist's work. The book will also include new biographical material about Whistler's sitters, among them artists, actresses, society women, and members of his family, and their roles in his life and work

Meanwhile, Whistler's Mother is gearing up for her trip to Glasgow, in rather more modest apparel, a black dress and carefully laundered white cap for her long awaited arrival at the Hunterian Art Gallery, at the end of June.

Media Relations Office (media@gla.ac.uk)

The Whistler, Women and Fashion exhibition will run from April 22 ? July 13 at The Frick Collection, New York

The image on this press release is available from the Press Office at j.hodgson@admin.gla.ac.uk. For other images, please contact Harriet Gaston 0141 330 3310 at The Hunterian Art Gallery and Museum.

Further information can be found at Whistler 2003

Other Whistler exhibitions in 2003

Anna Matilda Whistler ? A Life 21 June ? 4 October Hunterian Art Gallery

Whistler?s mother will be the focus of a special exhibition based on previously unpublished correspondence and archival material, revealing the life behind the iconic image.

Beauty and the Butterfly: Whistler?s Depictions of Women 21 June ? 4 October Hunterian Art Gallery

This exhibition focuses on how he depicted women in his works on paper. In particular, the exquisite pastel drawings in which he expressed an idealised vision of graceful, unattainable beauty.

1890?s Women 21 June ? 24 December Hunterian Art Gallery

Depictions of women by Whistler?s contemporaries ? Beardsley, Mackintosh, Carlos Schwabe and others ? inspired by fantasy, imagination and symbolism

First published: 22 April 2003