The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

r.: Study of a seated nude for 'Variations in Blue and Green'; v.: Two seated nudes date from 1868/1870. The butterfly on the recto is a later addition dating from ca 1874.

r.: Study of a seated nude for 'Variations in Blue and Green', private collection

v.: Two seated nudes, private collection

The drawings are fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 348) where it is dated '1868/72'.

Images

Subject

Sitter

r.: Study of a seated nude for 'Variations in Blue and Green', private collection

These two drawings of the nude may show the same figure, with her hair coiled in a bun. She has not been idetified but does appear in other drawings.

Technique

Composition

r.: Study of a seated nude for 'Variations in Blue and Green', private collection

Variations in Blue and Green, Freer Gallery of Art

The drawing on the recto may be a study for Variations in Blue and Green y084.

History

Provenance

• 1880: possibly bought at the artist's bankruptcy sale by Thomas Way (1837-1915), London;
• By 1903: passed to his son, Thomas Robert Way (1861-1913);
• After 1903: a 'Nude (with another nude on verso)' was acquired from Way by William Eden (1849-1915), according to A. E. Gallatin (letter to Lyman Allyn Museum);
• Before 1915: acquired from Eden by Tregaskis (probably James Tregaskis (1850-1926), book and art dealer at 232 High Holborn, London);
• Before 1926: bought from Tregaskis by Albert Eugene Gallatin (1882-1952), who owned it in 1949.
• Before 1984: bought from Zeitlin, Los Angeles art dealers, for a private collection.

Much of this provenance is based on the letter sent by A. E. Galletin to the Lyman Allyn Museum at the time of an exhibition in 1949: it is unsubstantiated. It is also possible that the 'Tregaskis' mentioned was another of that name, and the drawing was acquired at a later date by Gallatin.

For further details see MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 348); this record has been revised.

Exhibitions

There is no record of an exhibition 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. 348) as 'r.: Study of a seated nude for 'Variations in Blue and Green'; v.: Two seated nudes'.
• Young, Andrew McLaren, Margaret F. MacDonald, Robin Spencer, and Hamish Miles, The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler, New Haven and London, 1980 (cat. no. 84, oil).

Books on Whistler

• Way, Thomas Robert, and G. R. Dennis, The Art of James McNeill Whistler: An Appreciation, 1st edition, London, 1903, facsimile of recto by T. R.Way repr. f.p. 94 as 'Nude Study'.
• Way, Thomas Robert, Memories of James McNeill Whistler, the Artist, London and New York, 1912, verso repr. f.p. 26 as 'Study'.