The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Three butterflies dates from 1890.

Three Butterflies, Freer Gallery of Art

They are catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1251).

Images

Subject

Description

Three Butterflies, Freer Gallery of Art

Three butterflies based on Whistler's monogram 'JW', with the addition of very long barbed tails. They were designed for Whistler 1890 [more].

Technique

Composition

Three Butterflies, Freer Gallery of Art

Designed for Whistler 1890 [more]. The butterflyat centre right was for p. 108, and there is a line below it, to indicate which way up it was to be printed and at what angle. It formed the signature to 'An Apology' : a letter to Atlas, The World, 28 February 1883. The top butterfly was for p. 243, 'Just Indignation': a letter to Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) about his Polish costume. The alterations made to the lines at the top were not reproduced, but the reproduction was fairly close - in fact the butterfly was reproduced at an even greater angle. The third butterfly was drawn upside down, then scribbled out, and was not used.

History

Provenance

• 1890: probably sent by Whistler to William Heinemann (1863-1920), London publisher.
• 1904: bought from Obach, London art dealers, by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919), Detroit;
• 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. 1251) as 'Three butterflies'.

Authored by Whistler

• Whistler, James McNeill, The Gentle Art of Making Enemies, London, 1890, repr. pp. 108, 243.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• Curry, David Park, James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art, New York and London, 1984, p. 283, pl. 290.

Websites

• Freer Gallery of Art website at https://asia.si.edu/object/F1904.452, as 'Three Butterflies'.