The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler
M.0958
Butterfly for a valance at Dowdeswell's Gallery
Date
Butterfly for a valance at Dowdeswell's Gallery dates from May 1884.
Butterfly for a valance at Dowdeswell's Gallery, Fogg Art Museum
This work is catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 958); the record is now updated.
Images
Butterfly for a valance at Dowdeswell's Gallery, Fogg Art Museum
Verso not reproduced.
Subject
Description
Butterfly for a valance at Dowdeswell's Gallery, Fogg Art Museum
A large butterfly, set against a coloured semi-circle.
Technique
Composition
Butterfly for a valance at Dowdeswell's Gallery, Fogg Art Museum
This was a design for Whistler's monogram, a butterfly, to be embroidered on the valance for the rooms of Messrs Dowdeswell for Whistler's exhibition, 'Notes' - 'Harmonies' - 'Nocturnes', Messrs Dowdeswell, London, 1884.
History
Provenance
- 1884: acquired by Alexander J. Taylor, London.
- 1911: with Ernst Arnold (1818-1951), Dresden art dealer (label).
- 1930s?: with Konrad Zimmermann, art dealer, Rahmanstatten, Berlin.
- 1953: owned by a private collector, UK.
- 1962-1966: Nordness Galleries, New York art dealers.
- 1974: sold at auction, Sotheby's, London, 19 June 1974 (lot 50) and bought by The Fine Art Society, London art dealers;
- After 2001: sold to a private collector.
- 2005: given by Patricia Cornwell, Belmont, MA, to Harvard University Art Museums.
Exhibitions
Although this was a design related to the décor in Whistler's exhibition, 'Notes' - 'Harmonies' - 'Nocturnes', Messrs Dowdeswell, London, 1884, it was not itself exhibited.
Bibliography
Catalogues Raisonnés
- MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 958) as 'r.: Butterfly for a valance at Dowdeswell's Gallery; v.: curtain'.
Catalogues 1906-Present
EXHIBITION:
- MacDonald, Margaret F., Notes, Harmonies, & Nocturnes: Small Works by James McNeill Whistler, Knoedler & Co. Inc., New York, 1984 (cat. no. 6), repr.
- Whistler and Godwin, The Fine Art Society, London, 2001 (cat. no. 146).
SALE:
- Sotheby's, London, 19 June 1974 (lot 50).
Websites
- Harvard Art Museums website.