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A drawing of two women seated together and playing a piano.

In this drawing, two women are shown seated together at a piano. They have long, black dresses on, and have their dark hair pulled up and away from their faces. Both of them are facing right in profile and look down to where their hands rest on the keys. Part of a chair or bench is in front of the piano flat towards the viewer. While the women and furniture are clearly rendered through hatching and cross-hatching, the architecture of the rest of the room is roughly blocked out.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
M12121
People
James Abbott McNeill Whistler, American (Lowell, MA 1834 - 1903 London, England)
Printed by Thomas R. Way, British (1862 - 1913)
Title
The Duet
Other Titles
Alternate Title: The Duet, No. 1
Classification
Prints
Work Type
print
Date
1894
Places
Creation Place: North America, United States
Culture
American
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/262920

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Transfer lithograph with stumping print in black in on off-white paper
Technique
Lithograph
Dimensions
sheet: 30.4 x 21.2 cm (11 15/16 x 8 3/8 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: graphite butterfly
  • watermark: paper, compression: anchor within circle [see Stratis 7, Art Institute of Chicago catalogue]
  • inscription: lower left, graphite: Way 64
  • inscription: lower margin, left of center, graphite: [butterfly]
  • inscription: verso, lower left corner, graphite: A90711
  • collector's mark: verso, lower left corner, brown stamp: BP [within an approximately rectangular borderline] [ (Lugt 406) Rosalind Birnie Philip (lifetime stamp; design by Whistler)}
  • inscription: verso, lower right, graphite: HNO

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Rosalind Birnie Philip (L. 406). Edwin de T. Bechtel (L. 347a), gift to Fogg Art Museum, 1947.

State, Edition, Standard Reference Number

State
only state
Standard Reference Number
Way 64; Art Institute of Chicago 104

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Edwin de T. Bechtel
Accession Year
1947
Object Number
M12121
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
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Publication History

  • Harriet K. Stratis and Martha Tedeschi, The Lithographs of James McNeill Whistler, The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, IL, 1998), p. 312, entry 7

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu