Detail from The Canal, Amsterdam, 1889, James McNeill Whistler, The Hunterian, University of Glasgow

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M.1261
r. and v.: Butterfly

Artist: James McNeill Whistler
Date: 1890/1892
Collection: Library of Congress, Washington, DC
Accession Number: 2006685421
Medium: r.: pen and black ink; v.: pen and purple ink
Support: off-white card, with printed butterfly on small rectangle, 22 x 18 mm (7/8 x 11/16") of tan paper cut from a book (Whistler 1890) stuck to it
Size: 7/8 x 7/16" (22 x 11 mm)
Signature: r. and v.: butterfly
Inscription: 'Top.'/ 'No. l./ 'Page 288.' and 'size'
print

r. and v.: Butterfly

Description

r.: Butterfly, Library of Congress
r.: Butterfly, Library of Congress
v.: Butterfly, Library of Congress
v.: Butterfly, Library of Congress

A butterfly on a distorted trefoil, remotely derived from Whistler's monogram 'JW', with in addition, a barbed tail; the one on the verso is crossed out. It is a design for Whistler 1892 [more]. A cut-out butterfly from the first edition of The Gentle Art of Making Enemies is stuck on the recto.

Last updated: 19th March 2021 by Margaret