The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Figures by a railing dates from 1870/1873.

Figures by a railing, Art Institute Of Chicago

It is catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 382) dated 'c.1870'.

Images

Subject

Description

Figures by a railing, Art Institute Of Chicago

Rough sketches of five draped female figures leaning on a railing, in horizontal format. At left are two faint figures, then, in the centre, a woman carrying a parasol, open but held at a downward slant; the next, to right, holds an open fan that partly conceals her face. The figure at far right leans on the rail, facing front.

Technique

Composition

Figures by a railing, Art Institute Of Chicago

Sea Beach and Figures, Fitzwilliam Museum

Figures by a railing m0382 is a study for Sea Beach and Figures m0384. ¹

Stephanie L. Strother comments:

'the sketch belongs to a group of pictures made during the late 1860s and early 1870s, when the artist continued his transition to decorative, subjectless pictures by experimenting with compositions that synthesized a range of Eastern and classical pictorial conventions. … The works from this period also generally share a common color scheme that draws heavily on pastel shades of blue, pink, green, and purple. The blue paper (now discolored) on which the Art Institute work was sketched would have lent a harmonizing note of color to the drawing.' ²

Technique

Figures by a railing, Art Institute Of Chicago

Fine lines in pen and ink are applied in sharp lines and curves to creat either angular shapes (like arms, and the fan) or curving ones (like the parasol), tried out in different positions.

See MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 382).

History

Provenance

• 1916: possibly bought from Kennedy or Rouillier, art dealers, by Walter Stanton Brewster (1872-1954);
• 1933: given by W. S. Brewster to the Art Institute of Chicago.

The earlier provenance is unknown. See MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 382).

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 382) as 'Figures by a railing'.

Websites

• 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. 11) as 'Figures by a Railing'.