The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Loie Fuller dancing probably dates from November or December 1892. At that time Isabella Stewart Gardner (1840-1924) asked Whistler to show her 'the whirling tracings of Loie Fuller that you pencilled.' ¹

Loie Fuller dancing, The Hunterian

It was catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1346).

Images

Subject

Site

Loie Fuller, a singer from Chicago, made her debut as a dancer at the Folies Bergère in Paris on 5 November 1892.

Sitter

Loie Fuller dancing, The Hunterian

Loie Fuller (1862-1928), whose 'Butterfly dance' of whirling draperies, called 'Le Papillon', incidentally echoed Whistler's signature.

Technique

Technique

Loie Fuller dancing, The Hunterian

See MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1346).

Conservation History

The sheet has been folded vertically and is slightly soiled and darkened.

History

Provenance

• 1903: in Whistler's studio at his death in 1903 and bequeathed to his sister-in-law, Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958);
• 1958: bequeathed by Miss Birnie Philip to the University of Glasgow.

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. 1346) as 'Loie Fuller dancing'.

Websites

• The Hunterian website at http://collections.gla.ac.uk