Provenance

• 1898/1902: acquired from Whistler's studio by Carmen Rossi (b. ca 1878;
• 1903: sold at auction, Drouot, Paris, 25 November 1903 (lot 3, repr.) as 'La Femme à l'Evéntail', and bought by William Stephen Marchant (1868-1925), London art dealer;
• 1904: owned by Edward Hedley Cuthbertson (1863-1944), stockbroker, Bushey, Hertfordshire;
• 1909: sold at auction, Christie's, London, 21 May 1909 (lot 9) and bought by Wallis, London dealers;
• 1909: bought by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919), Detroit, 9 July 1909;
• 1919: bequeathed to the Freer Gallery of Art.

Further details are given in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1233).

Exhibitions

• Watercolours, Pastels, Drawings in Black and White, Sculptures and Bronzes By British and Foreign Artists Including A Selection of Works by H. B. Brabazon, and A Group of Works by the late James McNeill Whistler, W. Marchant & Co., Goupil Gallery, London, 1903 (cat. no. 169) as 'La Femme à l'éventail.'
• Watercolours, Pastels, Drawings in Black and White, Sculptures and Bronzes By British and Foreign Artists Including A Selection of Works by H. B. Brabazon, and A Group of Works by the late James McNeill Whistler, Goupil Gallery, London, 1904 (cat. no. 34) as 'La Femme à l'éventail.'

By the terms of Freer's will, this work cannot be lent to another venue.