The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

The Ocean Wave may date from Whistler's painting expedition to Cornwall between January and March 1884, but the butterfly signature suggests a later date.

The Ocean Wave, Freer Gallery of Art

This work was catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 919).

Images

Subject

Site

The Ocean Wave, Freer Gallery of Art

Although this could be a coastal scene near St Ives in Cornwall, south-west England, it does not have any distinguishing features and could easily be another site on the coast of Holland, France, or England.

Technique

Technique

The Ocean Wave, Freer Gallery of Art

See MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 919).

History

Provenance

• 1906: bought from Obach, London dealers, by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919), Detroit, in February;
• 1919: bequeathed to the Freer Gallery of Art.

Earlier history is unknown; see MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 919).

Exhibitions

By the terms of Freer's will, this work cannot be lent to another venue.

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 919) as 'The Ocean Wave'.

Books on Whistler

• Glazer, Lee, Emily Jacobson, Blythe McCarthy, and Katherine Roeder, Whistler in Watercolor: Lovely Little Games, New Haven and London, 2019.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• Curry, David Park, James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art, New York and London, 1984, p. 188, pl. 112.

Websites

• Freer Gallery of Art website at https://asia.si.edu/object/F1906.54a-b.
• Whistler in Watercolour, Freer|Sackler, Washington, 2019, website.