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

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M367a
Nude tending a pot of flowers

Artist: James McNeill Whistler
Date: 1870/1873
Collection: Colby College Museum of Art
Accession Number: 2013.305
Medium: chalk
Support: brown wove paper
Size: 11 x 6 3/4" (279 cm x 172 mm)
Signature: none
Inscription: none

Nude tending a pot of flowers

Composition

Nude tending a pot of flowers, Colby Museum of Art
Nude tending a pot of flowers, Colby Museum of Art
The White Symphony: Three Girls, Freer Gallery of Art
The White Symphony: Three Girls, Freer Gallery of Art

The drawing may be related to the figure at left in The White Symphony: Three Girls [YMSM 087] and The Three Girls [YMSM 088]. 1

Technique

Nude tending a pot of flowers, Colby Museum of Art
Nude tending a pot of flowers, Colby Museum of Art

The figure was first drawn in black, with several outlines reinforcing the curve of her back and pentimenti suggesting small alterations in the position of her limbs. White chalk was then added, giving emphasis and roundness to the figure. To right of her feet are traces of an earlier drawing.

Notes:

1: YMSM 1980 [more] (oils, cat. nos. 87-88).

Last updated: 24th February 2021 by Margaret