The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Japanese lady decorating a fan probably dates from 1872. On 20 March 1872 Sir Henry Cole commissioned Whistler to design a figure of 'a Japanese art worker' for an arch in South Kensington Museum. ¹ The drawing on the recto is one of several possible ideas for the figure.

Japanese lady decorating a fan, Cleveland Museum of Art

The drawing on the recto is catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 460). That on the verso was not included in the catalogue in 1995.

The drawing on the verso is one of several similar studies that include r.: A study of a draped female figure; v.: Design m0377,Draped female figure m0378 and The Dancing Girl m0379. These have been dated 1870/1873.

Images

Subject

Sitter

The model has not been identified.

Technique

Composition

Japanese lady decorating a fan, Cleveland Museum of Art

On 20 March 1872 Sir Henry Cole commissioned Whistler to design a figure of 'a Japanese art worker' for an arch in South Kensington Museum. ² This drawing is one of several possible ideas for the figure, which was never completed.

Draped female figure, Freer Gallery of Art

The Dancing Girl, Private Collection

The drawing on the verso is one of several similar studies that include r.: A study of a draped female figure; v.: Design m0377 , Draped female figure m0378 and The Dancing Girl m0379.

Technique

The figure on the verso has numerous pentimenti. The proportions have not been satisfactorily drawn: her right arm, crossing the body and holding the drapery, it too long in relation to her body, and her right leg is rather disjointed. This may be the first of several related studies mentioned above.

History

Provenance

• Before 1892: owned by Henry Graves (1806-1892), London dealer;
• 1893: sold at auction, London, Christie, 20 April 1893 (lot 121) as 'Japanese lady with fan', and possibly bought by 'Parsons'.
• Date unknown: at some time with William Stephen Marchant (1868-1925), London dealer (label).
• 1930: 'Figure in Japanese drapery', bought on 26 February from Robert Dunthorne (1850-1925), London dealer, by Colnaghi, London dealers, (#5781);
• 1930: passed on 28 February to Kennedy, New York dealers, who sold it on 29 January 1931.
• 1933: given by Josephine Pettengill Everett, Mrs Henry A. Everett (1866-1937) to Cleveland Art Museum, for the Dorothy Burnham Everett Memorial Collection, 19 June 1933.

Exhibitions

• 1874: possibly Mr Whistler's Exhibition, Flemish Gallery, 48 Pall Mall, London, 1874 (cat. no. 15) as 'Design for Mosaic'.

See also Japanese lady decorating a fan m0460.

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 460) as 'Japanese lady decorating a fan'.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• Possibly Mr Whistler's Exhibition, Flemish Gallery, 48 Pall Mall, London, 1874 (cat. no. 15) as 'Design for Mosaic'.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• Pure Color: Pastels from the Cleveland Museum of Art, The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2016-2017.

Websites

• Cleveland Museum of Art website at https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1933.222, as 'Japanese Woman Painting a Fan (recto); Standing Woman Holding Up Her Dress (verso)'.