The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Butterfly dates from 1890.

Butterfly, Freer Gallery of Art

It is catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1255).

Images

Subject

Description

Butterfly, Freer Gallery of Art

A butterfly based on Whistler's monogram 'JW', with the addition of a long barbed tail. It was designed for Whistler 1890 [more].

Technique

Composition

Butterfly, Freer Gallery of Art

Designed for Whistler 1890 [more]. The exuberant butterfly formed the signature for 'A Played-out Policy', Pall Mall Gazette, 9 December 1886, about The Times' reluctance to publish Whistler's correspondence.

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. 1255) as 'Butterfly'.

Authored by Whistler

• Whistler, James McNeill, The Gentle Art of Making Enemies, London, 1890, repr. p. 204.