The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler
M.1378
Nude raising robes over her head
Date
Nude raising robes over her head and Standing figure m1295 are thought to date from late 1893, when Whistler was in Paris. and using a fine-grained papier viennoise transfer paper
Nude raising robes over her head, Fogg Art Museum
It was catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1378).
Images
Nude raising robes over her head, Fogg Art Museum
Subject
Sitter
Nude raising robes over her head, Fogg Art Museum
Unidentified.
Technique
Composition
The pose relates to the lithograph Model Draping c031, which dates from 1889.
Technique
Nude raising robes over her head, Fogg Art Museum
It was apparently intended as a lithograph but was never transferred to stone and printed. In this case Whistler stopped in the middle of the work. The crayon drawing had been amended by scraping along her left leg and hip, to left of her right leg, and inside the outer line of her left leg and her left arm. There is a very soft effect from the stump work over her head, and, unevenly, over her body. The chalky surface gives the drawing a silvery look.
Conservation History
The paper has a strong, irregular dotted grain, and browned streaks at lower left, arising from oxidisation of the lead-white coating on the textured lithographic transfer paper. The lithographic paper was laid down on card.
History
Provenance
- 1943: bequest of Grenville Lindell Winthrop (1864-1943) to the Fogg Art Museum.
The earier provenance is unknown.
Exhibitions
As far as is known, it was not 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. 1378) as 'Nude raising robes over her head'.
- Spink, Nesta R., Harriet K. Stratis, and Martha Tedeschi, The Lithographs of James McNeill Whistler, (gen. eds, Harriet K. Stratis and Martha Tedeschi), 2 vols., Chicago, 1998, vol. 1 (cat. no. VIII), pp. 507-08, repr. p. 507 as 'Nude raising robes over her head'.
Websites
- Harvard Art Museums website at https://www.harvardartmuseums.org.