Detail from The Canal, Amsterdam, 1889, James McNeill Whistler, The Hunterian, University of Glasgow

 

M.1245
Four butterflies

Artist: James McNeill Whistler
Date: 1890
Collection: Library of Congress, Washington, DC
Accession Number: Pennell Collection
Medium: black crayon and white paint
Support: off-white wove paper laid down on cream wove paper, stuck in a copy of 'The Gentle Art of Making Enemies' (Whistler 1890) on p. 1, opposite Whistler's butterfly and numbering ('No. 37') of the edition
Size: 8 1/4 x 6 7/16" (209 x 163 mm)
Signature: butterflies
Inscription: '164' in unknown hand

Four butterflies

Composition

Four butterflies, Library of Congress
Four butterflies, Library of Congress

Designs for Whistler 1890 [more] .

One butterfly was used on p. 65, marking the end of the "Painter-Etcher" dispute of 1881, and another butterfly, on p.165, as signature for a letter deriding the idea of a 'National Art Exhibition' involving Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) (The World, 17 November 1888.)

Last updated: 18th March 2021 by Margaret