The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

r.: Study for the Tall Flower; v.: Design for a Wall Decoration date from 1890/1895.

r.: Study for the Tall Flower, Freer Gallery of Art

v.: Design for a Wall Decoration, Freer Gallery of Art

They are fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1089) dated 'c. 1886'.

Images

Subject

Description

The drawing on the verso looks as if it is a design for curtains or a wall, but it could equally be a study for a painting.

Sitter

The nude on the recto has not been identified. She appears also in Blue and Silver: Forget-me-not m1090.

Technique

Composition

r.: Study for the Tall Flower, Freer Gallery of Art

Blue and Silver: Forget-me-not, Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester

r.: Study for the Tall Flower; v.: Design for a Wall Decoration m1089 and Blue and Silver: Forget-me-not m1090 are closely connected although it is by no means clear if one is a study for the other.

The Freer Gallery of Art label, quoted on the website asserts:

'Although titled Study, there is no evidence that Whistler painted a more finished version of this figure titled The Tall Flower. The verso of this sketch is decorative floral design for a wall that seems to be divided into three sections and illustrates Whistler's interest in Rococo revival interior design.' ¹

Technique

See technical details in Whistler in Watercolour, Freer|Sackler, Washington, 2019, website.

History

Provenance

• 1903: in Whistler's studio at his death and bequeathed to his sister-in-law, Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958);
• 1904: bought from Obach, London art dealers, by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919), Detroit, on 24 May 1904;
• 1919: bequeathed to the Freer Gallery of Art.

Exhibitions

By the terms of Freer's bequest, 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. 1089) as 'r.: Study for the Tall Flower; v.: Design for a Wall Decoration'.

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, pp. 44, 176, pl. 93.

Websites

• Freer Gallery of Art website at https://asia.si.edu/object/F1904.63a-c, as 'The Tall Flower'.
• Whistler in Watercolour, Freer|Sackler, Washington, 2019, website.