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

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r.: Female figure, seated; v.: Screen

Composition


                     v.: Screen, Freer Gallery of Art
v.: Screen, Freer Gallery of Art

                     v.: Screen, Freer Gallery of Art
v.: Screen, Freer Gallery of Art

The design on the verso shows three canvas or other woven rectangles attached at the edges to a slender wooden (bamboo?) frame. It is possible that this was a scheme for decoration in Whistler's own house, such as the screen seen in a photograph of Whistler's house in Lindsey Row, reproduced above. However, it could have been a design for William Cleverly Alexander (1840-1916) (see, for instance, Designs for the dining-room at Aubrey House: (a) chairs and door, plates on wall; (b) vase in arched recess [M.0488]) or a later design for furniture, as seen in Whistler's Sketchbook [M.1001].

Technique


                    r.: Female figure, seated, Freer Gallery of Art
r.: Female figure, seated, Freer Gallery of Art

See MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 390).

Last updated: 2nd March 2021 by Margaret