The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Butterfly dates from 1890.

Butterfly, Art Institute of Chicago

It is catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1258).

Images

Subject

Description

Butterfly, Art Institute of Chicago

A butterfly based on Whistler's monogram 'JW', with the addition of a long, curved, barbed tail. It was designed for Whistler, James McNeill, The Gentle Art of Making Enemies, London, 1890.

Technique

Composition

Butterfly, Art Institute of Chicago

Designed for Whistler, James McNeill, The Gentle Art of Making Enemies, London, 1890. It is the signature to 'The Habit of Second Natures', a letter to Truth, 2 January1890 on plagiarism.

History

Provenance

• 1890: probably sent by Whistler to William Heinemann (1863-1920), London publisher.
• 1920: sold on 16 April by Albert Louis Roullier (1858-1920), Chicago art dealer, to Walter Stanton Brewster (1872-1954), Chicago;
• 1933: given to the Art Institute of Chicago.

Exhibitions

It was not, as far as is known, exhibited in Whistler's lifetime.

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 1258) as 'Butterfly'.

Authored by Whistler

• Whistler, James McNeill, The Gentle Art of Making Enemies, London, 1890, repr. p. 238.

Websites

• Art Institute of Chicago website at https://www.artic.edu.
• Clarke, Jay A., and Sarah Kelly Oehler, eds., Whistler Paintings and Drawings at the Art Institute of Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, 2020, website (cat. no. 28).