The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Butterfly was drawn for publication in Whistler 1890 [more].

Butterfly, Freer Gallery of Art

It is catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1244).

Images

Subject

Description

Butterfly, Freer Gallery of Art

A butterfly remotely based on Whistler's monogram 'JW', with the addition of a long barbed tail at lower left, and a shaded trefoil. It was designed for Whistler 1890 [more].

Technique

Composition

Butterfly, Freer Gallery of Art

A design for Whistler 1890 [more], reproduced om p. 60, in correspondence concerning an article in The Cuckoo, 30 April 1881. Corrections to the pencil outlines were made in white body colour before the butterfly was sent for publication.

History

Provenance

• 1890: probably sent by Whistler to William Heinemann (1863-1920), London publisher.
• 1905: bought from Obach, London art dealers, by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919), Detroit, June 1905;
• 1919: bequeathed to the Freer Gallery of Art.

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. 1244) as 'Butterfly'.

Authored by Whistler

• Whistler, James McNeill, The Gentle Art of Making Enemies, London, 1890, repr. p. 60.