The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

r.: Butterfly; v.: Butterfly with chequered wings were drawn in 1899 to illustrate a book: James McNeill Whistler, Eden versus Whistler: The Baronet and the Butterfly. A Valentine with a Verdict, Paris: Louis-Henry May, 1899. The drawing on the verso is fragmentary and faint.

r.: Butterfly, Art Institute of Chicago

They are catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1565).

Images

Subject

Titles

The drawing on the verso has been recorded by the Art Institute of Chicago as 'fragment of butterfly'. ¹

Description

r.: Butterfly, Art Institute of Chicago

A butterfly facing front, with broad semi circular shaded wings, and a wriggly barbed tail at lower left. The butterfly on the verso, like those on Butterfly with chequered wings m1578 and r.: Butterfly; v.: Butterfly with chequered wings m1579, had chequered wings, possibly in reference to Whistler's state of mourning for his wife, Beatrice Philip (Mrs E. W. Godwin, Mrs J. McN. Whistler) (1857-1896).

Comments

In 1894 William Eden (1849-1915) commissioned a portrait of his wife Sybil Frances Grey, Lady Eden (1867-1945). Whistler, dissatisfied with the amount (100gns) and manner of payment, retained and altered the portrait (Brown and Gold: Portrait of Lady Eden y408). After an appeal, in December 1897, the Court de Cassation let him retain the portrait but return the money. Whistler was well satisfied to see the Code Napoléon altered, to specify an artist's right to decide the fate of his works.

Whistler planned to publish an account of the affair, a compilation of letters, newspaper reports and legal documents, with William Heinemann (1863-1920), who had published the Gentle Art of Making Enemies in 1890. There was some problem with publishing in London, and, with Heinemann’s tacit agreement, Louis-Henry May in Paris took over the publication. A first proof was run off, using mainly butterflies originally drawn for the Gentle Art of Making Enemies. These butterflies were mostly replaced by new ones, in a second proof. There are at least two versions of some of the designs. They were slightly reduced in size in the final publication.

For the book, Whistler designed 15 butterflies, a club (A club on a cushion m1564), and a frog (Frog m1553). He also drew some butterflies which were not used (v.: Butterfly; r.: see No. 1268 m1572, Butterfly with chequered wings m1578, r.: Butterfly; v.: Butterfly with chequered wings m1579). The Baronet and the Butterfly was comparatively sparing of butterflies. Many marginal annotations, which in the Gentle Art of Making Enemies would have warranted a butterfly, did not get one. Some of the butterflies were very badly reproduced (r. and v.: Butterfly m1561, r.: Butterfly 'Encountered'; v.: Butterfly m1562). There were obviously publication problems, and it was not an entirely satisfactory venture. However, Whistler did not admit of criticism and seems, publicly, to have been entirely satisfied with the outcome.

Technique

Composition

r.: Butterfly, Art Institute of Chicago

This was drawn for publication in James McNeill Whistler, Eden versus Whistler: The Baronet and the Butterfly. A Valentine with a Verdict, Paris: Louis-Henry May, 1899, p. 6. The butterfly, much reduced in size, was reproduced to mark a marginal note by Whistler on Beurdeley's presentation of the case at the Court of Appeal in Paris in December 1897.

Technique

It was originally smaller, with shorter wings, curved in more at the top and back.

The drawing on the verso was torn across (the left part of the front drawing, and the top half of the back drawing, are missing). The butterfly on the verso is sideways to the recto. It is comparatively realistic, with shaded wings and leg shaped legs. There are grey blotches round it where corrections have been made, and sticking paper.

Conservation History

The thin, greying, card has rough edges on three sides (not on the right), and pinholes at the corners and in the centre of the left and right edges.

History

Provenance

• 1920: sold on 16 April by Albert Louis Roullier (1858-1920), art dealer, Chicago, to Walter Stanton Brewster (1872-1954);
• 1933: given to the Art Institute of Chicago.

The earlier provenance is unknown. See MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1561).

Exhibitions

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. 1565) as 'r.: Butterfly; v.: Butterfly with chequered wings'.

Authored by Whistler

• Whistler, James McNeill, Eden versus Whistler: The Baronet and the Butterfly. A Valentine with a Verdict, Paris: Louis-Henry May, 1899, repr. p. 6.

Websites

• 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. 42).
• 'Cats. 40–47 Butterflies and Club: Tombstone,' in Whistler Paintings and Drawings at the Art Institute of Chicago (The Art Institute of Chicago, 2020) URL (cat. no. 42) as 'Butterfly (recto); Fragment of Butterfly (verso)'.