The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

r.: Three butterflies; v.: Four butterflies dates from 1890.

r.: Three butterflies, Freer Gallery of Art

v.: Four butterflies, Freer Gallery of Art

They are catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1254).

Images

Subject

Description

r.: Three butterflies, Freer Gallery of Art

v.: Four butterflies, Freer Gallery of Art

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

Technique

Composition

r.: Three butterflies, Freer Gallery of Art

v.: Four butterflies, Freer Gallery of Art

Designed for Whistler 1890 [more]. Parts of the butterflies were altered and one was rubbed out. The top one is like the butterfly on p. 225 in The Gentle Art of Making Enemies, but with different feelers; the second was used on p. 191, and the bottom one, crossed out, was not used.

On the recto is the signature for p. 191, 'Autre Temps autre Moeurs': a letter to the Editor, The Daily News, 26 Novembe 1886. On the verso there are two studies for p. 225, 'Aussi que diable allait-il faire dans cette galèrie": a letter to The Morning Post in April 1888. Whistler made a mistake when drawing the tail, and redrew the butterfly neatly, with the feelers a little further apart.

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.

Further details are given in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1251).

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. 1254) as 'r.: Three butterflies; v.: Four butterflies'.

Authored by Whistler

• Whistler, James McNeill, The Gentle Art of Making Enemies, London, 1890, repr. pp. 191, 225.