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. 1252).

Images

Subject

Description

Three Butterflies, Freer Gallery of Art

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

Technique

Composition

Three Butterflies, Freer Gallery of Art

Designed for Whistler 1890 [more]. The top butterfly was for p. 114: 'The Easy Expert', a letter to Atlas, The World, 30 January 1884, about Atlas mistaking oils for watercolours and etchings for photographs. Below it, the butterfly on the right was not used, but the one at lower left, as corrected, was for p. 165: 'Quand même!', about a letter from Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) to the World, 24 November 1886, to which Whistler added a comment, '"A poor thing," Oscar!- but, for once, I suppose "your own."'

Technique

It appears to be in crayon, possibly lithographic crayon, with corrections in white paint.

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. 1252) as 'Three butterflies'.

Authored by Whistler

• Whistler, James McNeill, The Gentle Art of Making Enemies, London, 1890, repr. pp. 114, 165.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• Curry, David Park, James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art, New York and London, 1984, p. 282, pl. 288.

Websites

• Freer Gallery of Art website at https://asia.si.edu/object/F1904.447, as 'Three Butterflies'.