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

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M.1393
The Little Blue Cap

Artist: James McNeill Whistler
Date: 1894/1895
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number: 2012.96
Medium: charcoal, watercolour and gouache
Support: brown wove paper laid down on board
Size: 10 15/16 x 7 3/16" (278 x 182 mm)
Signature: none
Inscription: v.: 'No.1./ 60 [crossed out] 61/ "The Little Blue Cap"/ 22 x 16/ Exhibited Paris 1905/ Rotterdam' in unknown hands

The Little Blue Cap

Composition

The Little Blue Cap, Art Institute of Chicago
The Little Blue Cap, Art Institute of Chicago
Blue and Gold - The Rose Azalea, Freer Gallery of Art
Blue and Gold - The Rose Azalea, Freer Gallery of Art

Blue and Gold - The Rose Azalea [M.1392] and The Little Blue Cap [M.1393] are closely related.

Technique

The paper is grey-brown in colour, fibrous, with bits of wood-stalk visible. The drawing was done in charcoal, with great freedom. Sharp brushstrokes radiate from her shoulder. Her shoulders were carefully outlined. Paint was applied carefully between the outlines and a white wash was used for the background. 1

Notes:

1: See further details in 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. 32).

Last updated: 11th December 2020 by Margaret