The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

M.0311
Two figures

Artist: James McNeill Whistler
Date: 1866/1868
Collection: Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, NY
Accession Number: 69.92
Medium: pen and dark brown ink
Support: off-white laid paper
Size: 6 15/16 x 4 7/16" (177 x 112 mm)
Signature: none
Inscription: none

Date

Two figures, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute

Two figures dates from between 1866 and 1868.

The drawing is fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 311) where it was dated '1863/8'.

Images

Two figures, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute

Harmony in Flesh Colour and Red. Boston Museum of Fine Arts

Subject

Sitter

Not identified.

Technique

Composition

Two figures. Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute

Harmony in Flesh Colour and Red. Boston Museum of Fine Arts

The drawing appears to be an early study for Harmony in Flesh Colour and Red y091.

Conservation History

It was torn up by the artist but retrieved and repaired, probably by Thomas Way (1837-1915) or his son Thomas Robert Way (1861-1913).

History

Provenance

1866/1868: torn and thrown away by the artist but retrieved by Thomas Way (1837-1915), London, and passed to his son Thomas Robert Way (1861-1913);
1913: probably bought from T. R. Way's widow by Pickford Robert Waller (1849-1930);
1930: bequeathed to Sybil Christina Waller (1882-1973);
1965: sold at auction, Christie's, London, 12 November 1965 (lot 34) as 'Two figures' and bought by Knoedler, New York dealers ( WCA 3549 #9);
1969: bought on 19 May by the Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute.

Exhibitions

It was not 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. 311) 'Two Figures'.
Young, Andrew McLaren, Margaret F. MacDonald, Robin Spencer, and Hamish Miles, The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler, New Haven and London, 1980 (cat. no. 91) oil, 'Harmony in Flesh Colour and Red'.