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

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M.1376
Green and Blue: The Dancer

Artist: James McNeill Whistler
Date: 1893
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number: 1988.219
Medium: watercolour, opaque watercolour and charcoal
Support: brown wove paper laid down on card
Size: 10 13/16 x 7 3/16" (275 x 182 mm)
Signature: none
Inscription: v.: 'g' in unknown hand; on back of frame, 'Green & Blue - The Dancer', signed with butterfly

Green and Blue: The Dancer

Composition

Green and Blue: The Dancer, Art Institute of Chicago
Green and Blue: The Dancer, Art Institute of Chicago

A model in similar costume is seen in lithographs such as The Draped Figure, Back View c077. Several earlier studies of dancing girls, started in chalk or pastels and completed in gouache, relate to this watercolour (Grey and Pink [M.1209] and The Rose Drapery [M.1213]).

Technique

The figure was drawn first in charcoal on the prepared board. There are some hard edged, full brush strokes down her leg and at the bottom of the drapes, and dark accents, shadows, under her chin and foot. Other areas are soft and glowing where the colours coat the fibres. 1

A sharp vertical cut or indentation in the paper which goes through her elbow made the brush jump and caused a break in the wash.

Notes:

1: The initial drawing was in charcoal rather than chalk, as previously (1995) suggested. See Clarke, Jay A., and Sarah Kelly Oehler, eds., Whistler Paintings and Drawings at the Art Institute of Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, 2020, website (cat. no. 31).

Last updated: 11th December 2020 by Margaret