Pastel drawing of standing woman wearing sheer garment
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

A woman stands facing the viewer. She wears a long, sheer garment with short sleeves and gathering near the bust. Her mouth is open. Purple pastel near her hairline suggests she is wearing a headband. Her garment has several areas of light blue and green shading. Her navel and the outline of her legs are visible through the fabric. The garment’s many folds are indicated by numerous sketchy black lines. There appears to be a bench behind the woman, which she leans on. Whistler’s “butterfly” signature is drawn on the left, colored with blue pastel.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1943.611
People
James Abbott McNeill Whistler, American (Lowell, MA 1834 - 1903 London, England)
Frame by M. Grieve Co.
Title
Girl in Transparent Drapery
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
1885 - 1890
Culture
American
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/308004

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Pastel on brown wove paper, mounted on board
Dimensions
27.9 x 18.2 cm (11 x 7 3/16 in.)
frame: 44.5 × 34.3 cm (17 1/2 × 13 1/2 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: Black and blue pastel, l.l.: butterfly monogram
  • inscription: verso, blue crayon: [at top center:] 9753; [at bottom center:] 2983
  • label: verso, printed in blue ink: partially torn label: ...Rue Ga... / ... l'Avenue de l'Opéra

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Alphonse Kann; his sale to Grenville L. Winthrop through Martin Birnbaum, July 1927; his bequest to the Fogg Art Museum, 1943.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.611
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Theodore Duret, Histoire de J. McN. Whistler et de son Oeuvre., Henri Floury (Paris, France, 1904), reproduced, p. 123
  • Dorothy W. Gillerman, ed., Grenville L. Winthrop: Retrospective for a Collector, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, 1969), p. 243
  • Margaret F. MacDonald, James McNeill Whistler: Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours: A Catalogue Raisonné, Yale University Press (New Haven, CT and London, England, 1995), pp. 402 - 403, no. 1078, reproduced
  • Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr., Virginia Anderson, and Kimberly Orcutt, ed., American Paintings at Harvard, Volume Two, Paintings, Drawings, Pastels and Stained Glass by Artists Born 1826-1856, Harvard Art Museums and Yale University Press (U.S.) (Cambridge, MA and New Haven, CT, 2008), p. 426-427, cat. no. 453, reproduced in b&w

Exhibition History

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