The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Butterfly dates from 1890/1892.

Butterfly, Library Of Congress

It is catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1265).

Images

Subject

Description

Butterfly, Library Of Congress

The butterfly derives from Whistler's monogram 'JW', with, in addition, a barbed tail and broad trefoil. It is a design for Whistler 1892 [more]. A cut-out butterfly from the first edition of The Gentle Art of Making Enemies is stuck on the recto.

Technique

Composition

Butterfly, Library Of Congress

A design for Whistler 1892 [more]. The butterfly was reduced for publication in 1892 to the width of the one on the accompanying proof, from p. 69 in the 1890 edition, but is smaller in height. There is no butterfly on p. 320 of the 1892 catlogue.

It was printed at the end of the catalogue entries and their accompanying presscuttings in the catalogue of Nocturnes, Marines & Chevalet Pieces, Goupil Gallery, London, 1892, as reprinted in the Gentle Art: it came before the 'Résumé', taken from the Advertiser, 'It is impossible to take Mr.Whistler seriously.'

History

Provenance

• 1890/1892: probably sent by Whistler to William Heinemann (1863-1920), London publisher.
• 1917/1921: given by Elizabeth Robins Pennell (1855-1936) and Joseph Pennell (1860-1926) to the Library of Congress.

For further details see MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1265).

Exhibitions

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

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• 18 x 25 mm (11/16 x 1")18 x 25 mm (11/16 x 1")MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 1265) as 'Butterfly'.

Authored by Whistler

• Whistler, James McNeill, The Gentle Art of Making Enemies, London, 1890, p. 69.
• Whistler, James McNeill, The Gentle Art of Making Enemies, 2nd edition, London and New York, 1892, repr. p. 328.

Websites

• Library of Congress website at https://www.loc.gov.