Composition

Three Butterflies, Freer Gallery of Art

Designed for Whistler 1890 [more] . The butterflyat centre right was for p. 108, and there is a line below it, to indicate which way up it was to be printed and at what angle. It formed the signature to 'An Apology' : a letter to Atlas, The World, 28 February 1883. The top butterfly was for p. 243, 'Just Indignation': a letter to Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) about his Polish costume. The alterations made to the lines at the top were not reproduced, but the reproduction was fairly close - in fact the butterfly was reproduced at an even greater angle. The third butterfly was drawn upside down, then scribbled out, and was not used.