The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Nude reclining dates from 1893/1900.

Nude reclining, Terra Foundation for the Arts

The drawing is fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1385).

Images

Subject

Sitter

Nude reclining, Terra Foundation for the Arts

Not identified.

Technique

Composition

Nude reclining, Terra Foundation for the Arts

The reclining figure was drawn over a pastel of a seated woman, sideways on to this, (her head is concealed below the nude's elbow). The original model was seated, leaning forward, with legs outstretched; her skirt is just visible below the material hanging from the sofa. The touches of lilac, subtly integrated in the final drawing, may have derived from this abandoned pastel. There are also traces of sepia.

Technique

The reclining figure was outlined in several places with two fine fluent black chalk lines, and highlights of white were added on leg and elbow. The end of the pastel was used for modelling the creamy flesh colour of her body. The shadows were smoothed in.

History

Provenance

• 1903: in Whistler's studio at his death and bequeathed to Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958);
• 1943: on 1 June, bought by Colnaghi's, London art dealers, and sold to Villiers David (1906-1985), London;
• 1960: sold at auction, Sotheby's, London, 15 June 1960 (lot 55), as 'Reclining Female Nude', and bought by Colnaghi's;
• 1961: taken by the Laing Galleries, Toronto, 6 June.
• Date unknown: with P. Brissenden, Vancouver (label).
• 1970: with Jerrold Morris Gallery, Toronto.
• By January 1982: with Albert Starkman, Toronto.
• 1988: sold at auction, Christie's, New York, 2 December 1988 (lot 131);
• 1989: bought from David Tunick, New York art dealer, by Daniel J. Terra (1911-1996);
• 1996: bequeathed to the Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago;
• By 2005: transferred to the Art Institute of Chicago, Daniel J. Terra Collection.

See further details in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1385).

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. 1385) as 'Nude reclining'.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• A Selection of Drawings from the Morris Gallery, Morris Gallery, Toronto, 1976.
• American Treasures: Chase, Whistler and the Prendergasts, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, 1996-1997.
• Tedeschi, Martha, and Britt Salvesen, Songs on Stone: James McNeill Whistler and the Art of Lithography, Chicago, 1998
• Figures and Forms: Selections from the Terra Foundation for the Arts, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, 2000.
• Modern Harmonies: Whistler Reflects on his Art, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, 2003.
• Expanded Galleries of American Art with Loans from the Terra Foundation for American Art Collection, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, 2005.
• Hausberg, M., Whistler and Roussel: Linked Visions, Art Institute of Chicago, 2015 (cat. no. 7.8).

Journals 1906-Present

• Tedeschi, Martha, and Britt Salvesen, 'Songs on Stone: James McNeill Whistler and the Art of Lithography,' Museum Studies, vol. 24, no. 1, 1998, p. 56, cat. 109, p. 75, fig. 64, p. 58.

Websites

• David Tunick, Inc., website at https://www.tunickart.com/artwork/nude-reclining/.
• Terra Foundation, 2015, website.