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'

r. and v.: Butterfly

Composition

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

Designs for Whistler 1892 [more] . The butterfly on the recto was used as the signature to 'Auto-Biographical'- a letter to the Editor of the Pall Mall Gazette, dated 27 July and published 28 July 1891, stating that a painting exhibited at Dowdeswell's gallery (Pink and Grey: Three Figures [YMSM 089]) had been thrown out for destruction by Whistler. The butterfly on the verso is the opposite way up from the recto, and has been crossed out. It was not used in either edition.

Last updated: 19th March 2021 by Margaret