The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Woman carrying a basket dates from 1854 or 1855. It was given to Thomas de Kay Winans (1820-1878).

Woman carrying a basket, Metropolitan Museum of Art

It is fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 191).

Images

Subject

Description

Woman carrying a basket, Metropolitan Museum of Art

A young woman standing, holding a rectangular basket, facing left. She appears to be in some sort of traditional ethnic dress, possibly European. Her over-skirt is kilted up over a full skirt that is not full-length. She wears a tall bonnet possibly with flaps turned up at the sides.

Technique

Technique

Woman carrying a basket, Metropolitan Museum of Art

See MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 191).

Conservation History

This was among numerous drawings given to the Winans family and stuck into an album.

History

Provenance

• 1853/1854: given to Thomas de Kay Winans (1820-1878) and family;
• 1878-1970: passed by family descent to his daughter Celeste Marguerite Winans (Mrs G. M. Hutton) (1855-1925), her daughter Lucette Marguerite Hutton, Mrs H. A. Prichard (1885-1957), and grand-daughters, Margaret Celeste Prichard, Mrs T. A. Buell (1908-1970), Helen Lucette Prichard, Mrs J. M. King (1913-2005), and Sybil Agnes Prichard, Mrs E. G. Walk (1915-2009);
• 1970: given by Margaret C. Buell, Helen L. King, and Sybil A. Walk to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Exhibitions

Not, as far as is known, exhibited in Whistler's lifetime.

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 191) as 'Woman carrying a basket'.

Journals 1906-Present

• Pressly, Nancy D., 'Whistler in America: An Album of Early Drawings', Metropolitan Museum Journal, New York, vol. 5, 1972, pp. 125-54.

Websites

• Metropolitan Museum of Art website.